Outbreath flyers covered message boards and signposts, dorm hallways and bathroom doors. In truth, we aimed to satiate the campus with submission information. But until the deadline actually arrived it was impossible to gauge how well we had spread the word.

Suddenly the inbox was flooded. Story after story arrived – thirty-three in all, a record in Outbreath history. With two stories held over from last semester, we must now choose merely three more stories to print from this weighty stack. This proves a daunting challenge, for writers do not submit their work without first considering what will best demonstrate their talents. In other words, there are so many incredible stories from which to choose.

Outbreath’s group of readers examine each story, considering individual strengths. With no knowledge
of the authors’ identities, they must base their opinions solely on the merits of the writing and the fictions created. Heated discussions abound at readers meetings, as every reader has a different experience with a story and feels ties to certain works. Yet, somehow this group must decide together what stories will interest Tufts students and complement one another in the magazine. Indeed, this is no small task. Looking at all these submissions, I realized the authors of the stories we will dissect display a great deal of faith in Outbreath. After all, what gives us the right to say one piece is more apt for publication than another? Truthfully, nothing does. We can only claim to satisfy our own opinions with the hope that we will represent our fellow students and that we will choose stories that, at the least, excite an interest in our peers. And so I truly applaud and appreciate all those students who had the confidence in Outbreath to hand over the works of their imaginations.

In the past, Outbreath has included a reprinted story by a published author as well as a piece by a Tufts professor. But this semester we decided to diverge from tradition and print only student works. With such
limited space and a finite budget, but so many quality student submissions, we felt the importance of including as many student stories as possible in this issue. We hope you enjoy the stories and the photographs that complement them (of which we also received so many impressive submissions). With this issue completed we are looking to the spring, and welcome new members to the Outbreath staff. Submissions are accepted continually, and we look forward to the challenge they will certainly create.

~ Allison Luhrs
managing editor