Voices & Visions Journal

Dear Readers,

Welcome to the seventh edition of the Voices & Visions Literary Journal, themed “Environments.” It is an exciting time for our journal; in the last year, we expanded our submission pool to include alumnae who attended women’s educational institutions worldwide.  In addition, we reached readers in 111 countries– over half of the world– with the help of publicity from the National Museum of Women in the Arts, women’s rights activist Gloria Steinem (Smith College ‘56), and Ms. magazine, the first mainstream feminist magazine produced in the United States.

As our readership grows, so does our editorial staff.  We are thrilled to welcome three Smith College first-years to our team: Aviva Green, Abby Westgate, and STRIDE student Faith de Castro.  Past Voices & Visions contributor Faizah Aziz Aditya, a senior at the Asian University for Women, located in Bangladesh, also joins our staff as an international assistant editor.

It is a privilege to not only share the works of women around the world, but to work with a growing team of women who make this publication possible.  This fall, our staff found “Environments” a uniquely interdisciplinary theme, connecting politics, landscape studies, and stewardship with issues of home, change, and travel.  Contributors’ works inspired us to think of the ways in which our surroundings, familiar or new, are ever-evolving– constructed by us, the people who comprise them. They are fluid rather than static; vulnerable more than dependable. It is our responsibility to honor their strength and their fragility– to use our voices and execute our visions for the environments in which we live.

But what is an environment? Is it physical? Emotional? What of our communities exist apart from us? And what of them are projections of our own internality?

This issue offers twenty-one written and visual works that interpret, observe, and critique that which surrounds. Our spring issue, which you can submit work for here, will concern transitions.

Happy reading!

Sincerely,

Brittany Collins, Editor-in-Chief
Beth Derr, Managing Editor

on behalf of the Voices & Visions editorial staff

 

Table of Contents

Save the Earth / Catch of the Day / Life is Better on the Farm
Maryam Alizada, Asian University for Women, Bangladesh

Post-Partum
Sophia Giattina, Smith College, Massachusetts, USA

Rainbow Trout
Angela Su, Winsor School, Massachusetts, USA

A Vision of Venus
Natalia Perkins, Smith College, Massachusetts, USA

Beach Beauty
Fariya Rahman, Asian University for Women, Bangladesh

A Place to Ponder
Anna Hogarth, Kent Place School, New Jersey, USA

The Chaibandi
Harika Bommana, Hollins University, Virginia, USA

Learning to Fly
Biz Stahl, Kent Place School, New Jersey, USA

Dear Beautiful Strong Women
Rakhshinda Shakir, Asian University for Women, Bangladesh

Fishing / Reflections
Katie Tsai, Winsor School, Massachusetts, USA

Katabasis
Emily Ender, Smith College ‘06, Massachusetts, USA

Land of Imagination / Behind Bars
Ayse Artun, Castilleja High School, California, USA

Far Away Summer
Zoe Howard, Agnes Scott College, Georgia, USA

Shattered Glass
Caroline Grunwald, Nightingale Bamford High School, New York, USA

Silence is Beautiful
Neha Gauchan, Asian University for Women, Bangladesh

Say Something: A Visual Reprise
Bria Robinson, Agnes Scott College, Georgia, USA

Silently Selected or Endings
Marisca Pichette, Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts, USA

Sunset for Alex
Elizabeth Davidson-Blythe, Smith College, Massachusetts, USA