No Feeling is Final

 

"Let everything happen to you. Beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.”

-Maria Rilke

 

Over the past year, Cheryl, Dakota, and I created Next Page Ink and turned it into a small but significant corner of the creative world for ourselves. To date, we have been working primarily with people we know personally, reaching out to friends, friends of friends, fraternity brothers, and colleagues so we could make each new issue a reality. So, when we decided we wanted to expand the magazine’s horizons and look to the next generation of writers and artists for their work, we had a very real fear that it might end up in a misfire. 

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Even as we announced our first-ever Young Writers’ and Artists’ Competition, we really all just hoped to get enough submissions to have a first, second, and third-place prize winner. But here we are, with not just a top three, but enough pieces to dedicate this entire issue to the writers and artists who have chosen to undertake the incredibly brave act of sharing their work with the world. 

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Indeed, as Henri Matisse said, “Creativity takes courage.” 

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Each of the pieces in this issue was chosen because our Next Page team felt there was something truly special being presented in alignment with the theme of the contest and issue: No Feeling is Final. For example, Sean Manley’s hilariously titled and incredibly relaxing lo-fi hip-hop piece, “Feelings are Temporary, Vibes are Forever” has provided a soundtrack to our fifth issue. And in her Judge’s Award pick, an essay by Samantha Young, Cheryl saw her own methods for dealing with the various hardships of life reflected in a younger (and likely wiser) author’s writing. 

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Every piece here represents a wealth of potential that we hope will be nurtured and cultivated in the coming years. It gives us hope that there will never be a lack of great writers, artists, and Next Page Ink contributors in the future.

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-Will Eichler

Co-editor, Next Page Ink

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Editor's note: To view each written piece, select it from the list below or select Issue 5 on the main menu.