Editor's Note

There are perks to being involved in so many different things at one time. This is not one of them. For every piece of myself that I put into varying projects and groups on campus, there’s a goodbye I have to make now. None of them will be harder than this one. 

Quiddity changed my life. In the fall of 2019, I was sitting in the Easton Cafe when some people walked in with a mason jar full of paper. I was partially confused, but ultimately didn’t care enough to ask questions. I guess I kept looking up though, because after a bit Monica DiTomassi (if you’re reading this, hi) handed me a slip of paper with a writing prompt on it. So I wrote a poem. I never gave it back to the Quiddity staff, but I enjoyed writing that poem. It was right then and there that I knew I wanted to write more, and more importantly that I wanted to get involved with whatever these people were doing at Easton. And so I did.

These last four years have been the best of my life. I’ve created so many amazing things, met and worked with such incredible individuals, and ultimately made so many memories along the way. To the Quiddity staff, past, present, and future, thank you. Thank you for helping my dreams come true. And of course, to everyone who’s read and contributed to Quiddity, thank you as well. Without you, none of this would have ever been possible. I’m so proud of everything we’ve done together, all of us.

Now, I’m staring at my keyboard trying to find the keys that spell out goodbye. I don’t like goodbyes, and I’m not particularly good at them either. So, I’m not going to say it. At the end of the day, I’m still going to cheer you all on from the sidelines as the magazine that I’ve made home continues to grow. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

With that sappiness out of the way, I am excited to present one of our largest issues of Quiddity ever! Within you’ll find a collection of flash fiction pieces ranging from a dude that forgot to lock his gate to an unusual job interview, some compelling fiction and creative nonfiction pieces concerned with life, death, and everything in between, and of course, plenty of thought provoking poems for your every need. We all hope you enjoy the issue we’ve put together. I thank each and every one of you, staff, readers, and contributors, for making my last issue something special.

Ta ta for now (not goodbye),

Ryan Hiemenz