Common House Magazine

Good evening readers, writers, and relatives,

One might argue there is only so much pigeon-holing one can do with an open-themed issue… thankfully, our Common House team does not respect such opinions.

Welcome to Spring 2025: Issue 5 – “How We Got Here.”

It has truly been a pleasure working as Common House’s Editor-in-Chief these last few months. From the release of our first consecutive issues since the founding of the magazine, to the tripling of our masthead, it’s felt like that little seed we planted in the Fall has finally bloomed. I can’t thank the team enough for bearing with us through reorganizations and learning experiences (which included but are not limited to: always bringing a tablecloth to events, keeping an extra pen on-hand, and looking up what the knobs on a soundboard do before you’re set to perform). I am so proud of what we’ve accomplished as well as the team’s commitment to our vision, even through waves of submissions, essay seasons, and final exams. So this is where I shed my monocle for the next Editor-in-Chief, who will be the one greeting you in the Fall. I’m extremely excited to see what she has in store for you all.

Now, back to pigeon-holing. The beauty of themed issues is that you are presented with cohesion and well-roundedness because you have hundreds of writers and artists approaching the same topic from varying angles, heights, and prescriptions of beer goggles. It’s an appealing offer. And Common House may not always remain open-themed, but my favourite part of the submission process is finding that through-line across such a wide range of pieces. For about a week each submission period, I become a fanatic with red thread, dragging ties from narrative to narrative, artwork to artwork.

“How we got here” has an obvious connection to causality – it considers past, present, and future. It encapsulates the relationships we rely on in times of crisis and the hope on the other side. It can be retrospection, looking back on our past mistakes and the people we hated to be. It can be people we’ve somehow left behind. This issue also features pieces that confront humanity’s present: the darker aspects of technological advancement and the climate crisis.

However, amidst tragedy, there is family, and retrospection, and hope. The cover for this issue reminds us that community is a remedy for all kinds of grief – or a consolation, at least; that we keep moving, marching, lurching along towards the future, and that there might be something peaceful when we get there.

Naturally, in an issue all about causality, reading the pieces in the order decided upon by the team who selected, edited, and organized them might be recommended – but you are welcome to read the pieces in whatever order you wish (it’s not in our budget to track you down if you don’t).

Lights out,

Heidi Elder (Editor-in-Chief (on her way out))