Cover Art by Abigail Shim
Introduction by Max Dickman
“Whenever it’s raining, my dad always tells us to ‘pretend it’s London,’” my friend says.
Suddenly, the rain lightly taps my jacket. Each cool drop perfectly weathers the stiff leather I was so afraid of ruining. The ominous silhouette of Lawrinson Hall transforms to a beautifully illuminated clock tower.
My friend grabs my arm, and we dance in the rain to the orchestral jazz band we’ve created from the buzzing of our mouths. Passersby throw dollar bills and roses at our feet as the warm smell from nearby restaurants fill our noses with delight.
We trot to her destination and the clanking of our boots on the cement turns to muted splashes. The rain pours down even harder.
Our music dies down as we approach her building. She gives me a wink goodbye and runs into the dorm lobby.
As I walk back to my own dorm, the beautiful scene my friend built for me slowly dismantles itself. I no longer feel like a tourist in London, just a boy walking home alone in the pouring rain with a smile on his face.
Yet every time the wind blows too hard, or rain comes pouring down on the hardest of days, I will always pretend for a moment that I am in London.
Creative nonfiction allows readers and writers to immerse themselves into past experiences and adapt new perspectives. While going through the magazine, allow yourself to fully feel the experience that authors and artists are putting you through, as each page of Tell Your Story Walking holds a separate world that is waiting to be understood. Take yourself on a trip to New York City, learn how to knit a sweater, and contemplate the idea of having a twin flame somewhere out in the world. Appreciate the extraordinary range of lived experiences within this edition, and see the beauty in being able to turn the page and step into a completely different life.
Perhaps you can take that feeling outside of the magazine. Be excited about what other people’s stories can teach you, find fascination in how different their perspectives of the world are from yours, and learn from them. Creative nonfiction stories write themselves daily. They are a tangible version of a specific moment in time.
Read our publication with passion, humanity, and an open mind. Then take the new perspectives you have gained and apply them to your everyday life. Feel the rain pour down, and dance around like you are in London.
Max Dickman (he/him) ‘27 is a visual communications major. He found his love for writing in his senior year English class. His favorite activities include thrifting and making jewelry for his friends.
