Issue IV

Anniversary Issue

Cover Art: Glass Containment by McKenna Cao

Editor’s Note

This issue is particularly special to Diamond Gazette – it marks over a year now since we were first given the privilege of serving as a platform for young writers to express themselves. To celebrate our first-year anniversary, we decided to give two monetary prizes of $100 each to the top poetry and prose submissions of this issue. For the funding, we would like to thank GripTape.

For many, hunching over the computer and poring over sentences is not an ideal way to spend the afternoon. As editor-in-chief of Diamond Gazette, editing has become a compulsory part of my everyday schedule for a year now. However, this position comes with invaluable benefits. Everyday, I collaborate with accomplished editors and peruse works of prose and poetry from around the globe. Reading submissions has allowed me to catch glimpses of life in Ireland, Kenya, Malaysia, and more without moving an inch from the little corner of my room in small-town suburban Maryland. Storytelling is a universal language, and running the magazine has allowed me the honor of sharing these stories with the world. I wouldn’t exchange this part of my daily routine for anything.

Although this issue was unthemed, I sense a thread binding these varying works together: diversity. Literature, poetry, and art foster understanding, empathy, and appreciation for diverse perspectives and experiences. Something I have always been proud of since starting the magazine has been its ability to act as a bridge between cultures, allowing youth from around the world to connect, learn from each other, and celebrate their similarities and differences. In our prize winning submissions, you can read about the unique experience of being Asian or the heart-wrenching reality of womanhood. The rest of Issue IV offers a glimpse into the gradual loss of one’s native language, the mundane moments of an American teenager, and the rich imagination of a schoolteacher, among others.

I want to extend a formal thank you to our amazing staff team, writers (accepted or rejected, you make up our magazine!), and our readers. Thanks to the Gazette, this past year has been one of the most formative ones of my life. We ran into some considerable challenges along the way, but we’re still here! And we’re just getting started.

Happy reading, and thank you for being here,
Chloe Chang
Editor-In-Chief