Issue #29 Spring 2025
|
Dear Readers,
Welcome to the 29th Issue of Jet Fuel Review! The editors are excited to showcase the exquisite curated works featured in this issue. After months of reviewing over 800 submissions, the editors have thoughtfully selected a collection of poetry, prose, and art that unify to present a diverse and intriguing array of voices reflecting the complexities of the human condition and the inexhaustibility of lived experience. Housed at Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois, Jet Fuel Review is a student-run, faculty-advised, six-time CMA Pinnacle Award-winning literary journal that publishes writers and artists from across the globe. We are honored not only to provide a creative platform for people’s voices but also to produce a journal that is impactful to those who read it. Our featured cover piece for this issue, “The Shared Uncertainty of Experience,” by high school student Na Yoon Amelia Cha-Ryu, is a piece that explores “how intimate connections between everything in the world can craft this warmth.” Na Yoon uses her art to express the comprehensive reflections of their fluid worldview, which the editors deemed fit to reflect this issue of Jet Fuel Review. The poetry section of this issue highlights an expansive and engaging set of voices, such as the work of Cynthia Neely, a multiple award-winning author whose cento, “Because Nothing’s Ever Finished,” meditates on both the cento form itself and the human experiences of being lost and being found, utilizing the notion of the “found poem” via the work of Jane Hirshfield. The work of Rongfei Mu, a full-time student in Beijing, reflects on notions of family, temporality, spatiality, and the inseparability of one from one’s self. We’re also ecstatic to feature the works of Diego Báez and Angelique Zobitz, two poets the JFR team and the English Studies Department had the honor of hosting for our Guest Author’s Showcase. In these pages, you’ll also find pieces from our previous contributors Liam Strong, Pablo Otavalo, Alexandra van de Kamp, and David Moolten, all of whose works continue to stun us. We’re also thrilled to highlight the works of Debby Bacharach, Alejandra Hernández, Ash Bowen, Tamer Mostafa, Ben Kline, Shou Jie Eng, and so many more wonderful poets. The fiction section features a variety of topics and voices, including the work of Jessica Mosher, a Canadian actress who based her piece “A Woman Screams” on the death of Evelyn McHale and maneuvers the objectification of women in society while proclaiming an experi mental take on historical fiction. You may also read Meredith MacLeod Davidson’s “Hysteric,” which reflects a vivid depiction of the dismissal of mental health issues, or Vanessa Blakeslee’s “The Reclamation Agent,” a clever commentary on censorship. You’ll also find the science fiction piece, “The Mnemosyne” by Kennedy Coyle, an immersive story that uses a unique narrator to pull the reader into outer space and provide a distinct perspective on humanity. Our creative nonfiction collection comprises two narratives, including the work of Qur rat ul Ain Raza Abbas, a Pakistani writer and student at Hollins University, who interweaves an implication of sexual violence and domestic violence within her piece, “The Soil of Gods.” Also in the section is JM Huscher’s “Brontosaurus,” a story that blends bullying and parenting style while also educating the reader in an engagingly sophisticated way. In addition to the artwork created by our cover artist, Na Yoon Amelia Cha-Ryu, our art section showcases multimedia pieces by Jesse Howard, who makes powerful statements about Chicago’s vitality of street life and unique individuals. Jet Fuel Review also features the work of Elzbieta Zdunek, an acrylic artist from Germany whose pieces explore how subjective inter pretations of human experiences are influenced by personal history. In these pages, you will also find Marsha Solomon and Paul Simmons as well as one of our previous contributors, Irina Greciuhina. The literature and artwork in these pages are a testament to the diverse perspectives and experiences that are currently present in our society and to voices that are both candid and sincere. We invite you to dive into our 29th issue, and we hope that you appreciate the works that make up this issue as much as we do. Read on! Samuel McFerron, Katharine Svehla, and the Jet Fuel Review editors |