Dear Friends of eMerge,

I am delighted to present to you the Summer 2022 edition of eMerge. This issue is full of summertime delights. Here you'll find fruit (don't miss Anna Gall's recipe for Peach-Ginger Cobbler), sunshine and rain, humor (see George Plautz's play Dropping A Line and Zeek Taylor's prose Just Smile), and poems for those we love and long to change. In the midst of celebrating the joys of summer, there are also more contemplative pieces--thoughtful meditations on freedoms and cages (such as Joanie Roberts Oh, These Wires We Place and Annie Klier Newcomer's A Wife Speaks To Her Husband During Visiting Hours at Douglas County Jail, among others.)

No matter what your summer looks like, I hope there is something for you here. Something to make you smile, something to whet your appetite, something to bring you thoughtfulness.

As always, I couldn't do this without the support of the Board of Directors and the staff at the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow (WCDH). I am also grateful to the WCDH community, including residents, alumni, and friends. You all make this place the special haven that it is.

Submissions for eMerge 2023 issues will open on August 1st, and I can't wait to read what you send my way! More information will follow through our social media accounts, but please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions.

May your summer evenings be long, sweet, and filled with the call of cicadas and glowing tempo of fireflies.

All the best,

Joy Clark