Dear readers and contributors,
I spend my days working as a therapist with a focus on trauma. This was a career change later in life, one I chose because nothing is as meaningful to me as the human experience. My work is fulfilling, but there are limits and stressors I didn’t anticipate beyond paperwork: saying goodbye when someone heals. Sitting in depths of intractable suffering. And the isolation of everything said or felt living only between me and clients, no matter how powerful or universal.
Art subverts therapy’s shortcomings. It is for sharing, connecting, expanding. We can engage as much or as little as we want with what is offered. It’s an honor to experience what people share, and exhilarating to be able to pass it on.
This and the next two issues of Backchannels have a themed arc: Trauma, Resilence, and Joy. The works in this issue range from grief to tragedy to quiet reflection, through multiple genres and brillant takes on the theme. Laura, Mary, and I are working as a strong team these days and I couldn’t be more thankful for what this project provides. I hope you enjoy this edition as much as we enjoyed creating it.
With gratitude,
Leslie Caton Frey
Featuring work by: Louis Bourgeois, Christine Jackson, Mitchel Montagna, Michael Lee Johnson, Benjamin Macnair, Jim Piatt, Jonathan Chibuike Ukah, Cassandra Jordan, Maureen Moroney, Lisa Szymanski, Holly Day, O.P. Jha, Edward Michael Supranowicz, Jennifer Johnson, Terry Trott, Luke Beling, Becca Robertson, Alex Stolis, Catherine Arra, Joseph Joyce, KLH, and Anna Buynova
Cover art: Charles Corriher, 52, is an SSI recipient living in Greensboro, NC. He grew up and later attended college in Asheville, NC. He has been a volunteer worker at Weatherspoon Art Museum for the last eight years. His photos have been selected for publication in Posit, In Short, Ponder Review, and Wordgathering magazines.
Masthead
Mary Kilburg, Editor
Laura Johnson, Editor
Leslie Caton Frey, Editor
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