We hope you find within these pages something that invokes wonder and that inspires you. In both the written and in the visual arts represented here, there can be found the quiet strength of student artists. Some pieces embrace the hope of the human spirit, some take a watchful look at its desperation. There is edginess, humor, fear, sadness and desire spread out on the page, raw and unflinching—all measuring sticks to be held up next to our own reflections on the life in which we stand. Above all, there is promise here—strong and fearless—of which each artist represented knows exists through their own experiences, their own gut feelings. Each has come out the other side, each has moved through the things of which they write and imagine. Each piece represents a clear, unabashed voice that tells us: Listen and look; there are still those of us who tell the true stories of the human condition. There are still those who will not be quieted. Find comfort in this. We speak for you.

As editors of The Ram’s Tale, we hope that you find solace in these pages; we hope you will celebrate the student artists who are represented here and also celebrate your own inner strength as observer and as participant in the world you move through daily. In her poem “Escalando Hacia Las Estrellas,” student poet Tannya Villalvazo calls each one of us to join her in her quest to accomplish her own dreams of working toward a more loving world: “...I hope that the ladder is sufficiently long to reach the stars./If it isn’t, I will build my own steps with all of my strength,/And I will accomplish my dream of being face to face with those beauties.”

May each one of us find the strength to accomplish the same for ourselves.

Managing Editors,

Zay Logan and Margaret Hiebert