We’ve spent the last year finding new ways. New ways to work: from home, not at all, or as safe as we can in our essential workplaces. New ways to connect: with the people we live with on a regular basis, with friends and family from near and far. New ways to be in public: distant, careful, sanitized.
Amid all this new, life goes on. The bulbs push into flower, the pantry runs low and needs to be restocked, people and animals need to be fed. Our spring and fall has come and gone like they always do, but this year has been a different one for us. Maybe a little imperfect, maybe a little quieter. Nevertheless, we search for the beauty and meaning in life, each in our own way.
In the 2020 collection of VoiceCatcher, our stories come from times before the pandemic hit and the quarantine happened. They cover a lifespan. “Apostate Child” looks at childhood and religion. “Offense Taken” is the story of growing up in Ireland in the eighties, while “Hechizo” is a short piece about a single moment in time. We then fast-forward to later life that has taken a different turn with “Times Like These.”
In 2020, we’ve all been turning in different ways. But even as we spin and turn, we seek the stories that hold us together. As you dive into the stories of past lives in this issue, we hope you will remember to keep on living—and finding joy in—your current one.
All the best,
Lindley McGuire
Marina Garcia
Patricia Collins
VoiceCatcher Prose Editors