Issue V

2025

Cover Art: Painting of an Afghan Girl by Mary Angela Quiambao

Editor’s Note

I find it a great privilege to have access to the resources to run Diamond Gazette, to have been able to start this initiative in the first place. It’s also an immense privilege to have the final call in selecting works for the magazine. A privilege that writers are comfortable enough to share their thoughts, the ideas crawling around in their minds that they can’t quite articulate out loud but make sense, take shape, become something real, when it’s words on paper (I know the feeling). I read personal pieces everyday, vulnerable moments that make me blush or want to hold the writer’s hand through the screen or make me feel as if I am an intruder in their room.

Because of this amount of privilege I rarely let on to my friends or family the difficult parts of running the Gazette. When I am discussing the magazine with others, it’s mostly in the form of “Check out the latest issue!” or “Isn’t this artwork so awesome?!” In fact, right now as I am drafting this editor’s note in my Notes app, my mother is beside me, marveling at the wide range of authors featured in this issue (“Wow, this one is an undergrad biology student. And this is a poet from Poland!”). I take pride in the youth we publish and their raw talent. But I won’t pretend that there aren’t any hardships of being EIC — this year in particular, numerous technical difficulties and editing delays resulted in the push back of this issue’s release.

It’s easy to get caught up in deadlines and feel as if you’re letting people down during slow moments, especially when there is a community of youth thriving off of the Gazette’s work and making their voices heard. But the support from everyone has not gone unnoticed. Although I’ve sworn off of energy drinks, the encouraging and grateful comments and emails the Gazette receives regularly have acted as caffeine boosts throughout the year that allowed me to push through no matter what and get this issue out.

I would like to thank everyone for remaining patient as we navigated the unique challenges of being young and at once being for-youth. I think it goes without saying at this point, but I’m always giving infinite thanks to all our writers, staff, and readers.

I hope you didn’t miss us too much 😉 And if you did, this highly-anticipated issue won’t disappoint.

Happy reading,
Chloe Chang
Editor-In-Chief