Welcome to Other People Literary Magazine’s fifth collection, Eclipse! We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to present more incredible work from the artists of UCSD to the world. For the past four issues, we’ve opened submissions without casting a vision first; we chose the themes of previous collections as we discovered common currents in the beautiful art and writing that we received. But with this issue, for the first time, we sent out a call to the artists of UCSD with a theme created by our Co-Design Director, Kristy Lee: Eclipse.

An eclipse marks a new age, a doing away of the old, a place within shadow, where people may look to the sky and marvel at raw truth. As it passes by, it might brighten up the gloom, shadow elated emotions, or disperse arcs of light that bleed through darkness. And then the cycle starts anew. A place of transformation. A place of renewal. A time for evolution, when the wheel turns, and light and alignment reflect a greater part of ourselves.

And in response to this theme, our fifth collection was born. In the short stories, poetry and visual art of this issue, you’ll uncover in each piece a different phase of transformation: exploring how the absurd eclipses the mundane, dealing with the metamorphoses of time, examining the dualities of language and experience, and more.

We’re deeply grateful to so many people for making this issue possible. Thank you to everyone who submitted their work for sharing a piece of themselves with us; to the incredibly dedicated and talented members of the Other People staff for giving their time and energy to making all aspects of our club run; to our graduated alumni who created the foundation of this organization and entrusted it to us; to the faculty in the literature and visual arts departments who have cheered on and supported our publication issue after issue. And last but not least, thanks to you, our readers, for carving out a space in your life to connect with our work.

We celebrate the passion, resilience, and unwavering commitment of this truly special community, and we hope you enjoy your journey through the pages of Eclipse.

Happy reading!
Nina Gerardi & Zoe Wong, Co-Editors-in-Chief