I was asked to write the editor’s letter this issue in part because I spent the first four months of the year living in China. Because of this, I am supposed to have an interesting perspective, a different vantage point from which to view the work we’re doing here. But, (and I cringe to tell you this): I’m going to disappoint you on that front. I’m terribly sorry about that. I can’t think of anything special or magical to tell you about traveling and how it relates to writing or art. There is one thing I do have to say about China and living abroad (“abroad,” such a grand word!), but it’s not a pearl of wisdom or anything lofty. I just wish to express gratitude for the writers here, and even the writers who didn’t make it into this issue (when we say we read your work with interest, we actually mean that) for easing my loneliness. Your voices are funny and sarcastic and earnest and lovely, and in a country where I was language-lonely and deaf to the poetries, jokes and solidarities of Mandarin and Cantonese, reading your words buoyed me. Readers, I hope you enjoy our summer issue. Words to hear when you thought you’d gone deaf. Words to crowd you when you’re alone in an empty room!

Katie