After ten-month of preparation, under the guidance of Dr. Benjamin Barber, students of DHSS’s English Language and Literature Studies Programme (ELLS) were pleased and proud to launch the forth issue of Elsewhere on December 1, 2021. Elsewhere is an English literary annual publication, which showcases outstanding writing by ELLS students. It also, features UIC student’s photography.

For issue four, we set “Hope and New Beginnings” as the theme. As young writers and editors embarked on our educational journeys during the global pandemic, we strives to remain hopeful and, in the midst of disaster and tragedy, look ahead to new beginnings. This issue of Elsewhere features vivid photographs and written works from various genres, including nature writing, fiction, poem, art reviews and memoir, which engage the concept of hope and new beginnings in its multifaceted valences and manifestations.

In the 2021 issue, we put great effort into designing the layout to highlight our chosen theme magazine. For instance, the cover image—which features the waves rush out of the slender cave and into the calm, endless sea—illustrates a bright new beginning to a dark and arduous journey. Our team wants to bring hope and the power of inspiration to all our readers. The themes of hope and new beginnings are also apparent in the color choice. Rather than using bright colors to express our understanding of “hope and beginnings”, we used softer, plainer, and calmer colors and page undertones. We wanted to create a calm atmosphere for the readers to welcome the new future with a gentler mind and manner.

In order to maintain continuity with the overarching theme of Elsewhere magazine as a literary voyage, the layout department chose to use the sea views and the water surfaces to signify our programme’s sense of literary study as an experience of adventure and discovery.

This issue of Elsewhere is unique, too, because it was being published under the midst of a pandemic. Under the globally tragedy, many people are living in the aftermath of the disaster, suffering the uneasy of life and the uncertainty of the future. We thought that in the era of spiritual and material upheaval, perhaps literature could be a placid part for people. So we set the theme of hope and beginnings, in an attempt to provide some spiritual solace for those who are lost and unsure. Finally, with the vision in mind, the magazine was finally published.

I, and our whole student-editorial team, are so pleased to share this issue of Elsewhere with you. We hope you are able to get your hands on a copy, and we wish you pleasant reading.

Dr. Benjamin Barber

Prof. Dai Fan talks with a student

Mr. Finley MacDonald talks with a student

From Shelia Bao 1830025001