The Escape: Letter From the Editor

In my last quarter at UCSB I had the pleasure of spearheading a mini-magazine with a team of 5 other artists, designers and writers. Together we made The Escape which describes stories from the Isla Vista neighboring college town, but with a bit of a dark twist. Below is the “Letter From the Editor” I wrote.

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Dear Reader,

Enclosed in your warm hands is the first ever edition of the mini-zine, The Escape, which comes from the collaborated minds of writers, editors, artist, and designer who have spent energy and passion into The Catalyst. This mini-zine is essentially a side project of The Catalyst, created in the hopes of showing you a side of Isla Vista that might be unfamiliar to you. So, sit with us for a while.

It’s okay to get away from the roommate drama, school stress, post Spring Break depression, possible worries about post-grad life, struggles of being in and out of love and sit with us for a while. Through these few pages is our voices and the captured idea of Isla Vista that we envision. Isla Vista offers an altered reality; a place to escape to or from, but that is your decision.

We welcome you to our first publication of The Escape. As mentioned, we are part of a larger student run collective that creates an interdisciplinary art, design, a writing course, an online blog, and the submission-based publication you know as The Catalyst. All the work is done by students, like you, in order to share their stories and feelings and to offer you a place to be vulnerable, inspired, and embraced.

We urge you to sit and read with us for a while. So that, maybe, you find a part of yourself through the issue and share your own story. Thank you, reader, for picking up this publication and don’t be afraid to escape and spill your voice.

Kind Thoughts,

Samantha Perez, Editor-in-Chief