Searching for Light | Spring 2025 Issue

As the long winter begins to loosen its grip on Central New York, the first signs of spring emerge—daffodils breaking through snow, the subtle lengthening of daylight, and the promise of warmer breezes. For many of us, however, this spring season has rolled in under the clouds of uncertainty, worry, anger, and fear.

In this issue, “Searching for Light,” our contributors hold space for the quiet flicker of strength that sustains us during difficult times. It is not a surprise, I think, that this Feb-May issue brings us so many meditations on finding one’s way through the cold and the dark of winter rather than celebrations of a bright green spring. While some of the contributors find solace in the small beauties of the everyday—from snowy forests and mountain hikes to the city bus and the thrift store—others nurture hope for a brighter tomorrow. Still others resist the glimmering allure of light as a metaphor for hope and pose questions that illuminate discomfiting realities. What does it feel like to live, captive, under the unrelenting light of a terrarium? What is the place of art and poetry in the face of anxiety, grief, and violence, both near and far?

We invite you to journey with us through these pages, and we hope you find a spark or two that will help sustain you throughout this season and the next.