SQUID Literary - Issue 03: Letter from the Editor

DEAR READER,

There’s no stopping life from dripping into what you create. And as I sit in confrontation with my place and purpose in this world as a woman, those thoughts were on my mind as I set the theme of this issue and subsequently curated its content.

So, the blooming garden of our third issue began.

For “Vernal Veneration”, we asked how you worship at the altar of blooms. What makes you feel connected to the earth, and as we work towards a more sustainable future, how do you welcome what new seasons bring?

While I pictured an issue focused on examining the connections between the natural world and the feminine body, I found another message: there is beauty also when the flowers wither, or don’t grow at all. In the language of petals and forest paths, I  was once again convinced of the constant dichotomy of the human experience. In softness and resilience. In receptivity and persistence. In roots and reaching. And in growth and also in stillness. 

We are born to create, and in this year of 2026, we are finding so many ways to fulfill that purpose.

As the idiocracy era tries to suppress our ability to think for ourselves, we are stubborn in our effort to build. Your ambition to continue creating will save us. So it is you and your garden, whatever that may look like for you, that I worship.

Thank you, as always, for supporting SQUID.

WITH LOVE,

Lori Noel

Editor-in-Chief, SQUID Literary