Volume 1, Issue 3 (2021)

Dear Readers,

The past year has been revolutionary and innovated, without a doubt. We have adapted to what the new normal has become, which has included meeting exclusively through Zoom and dealing with the hiccups of communication known as “breakout rooms.” The Diamond Line wanted to mimic the world as we see it, showcasing stories that push the limits of creativity and story building.

We are also celebrating our first birthday! So, we knew that The Diamond Line needed to go beyond the bounds of previous issues and change our image of who we are.

We aren’t drastically different from our previous issues, though. We are still a safe place to express, convey, and publish your most captivating work. Our vision developed to embody pieces that immerse you, the reader, into the author’s story, no matter the genre.

To deliver this to our readers, we chose a blind submission process, deleting the author’s name and pronouns from their biography. This eliminated bias and helped our editors focus on the most outstanding pieces for our first birthday issue. Only after the submissions were accepted did the rest of the editorial staff learn the contributors’ names.

Our image, on the other hand, is all about new formats, designs, and layouts with a hint of influence from our previous two issues. Each editor came to production with a new vision in mind: to create something that we could look back on and recognize as the foundational growth of The Diamond Line. And we wanted to stand out as a modern undergraduate literary magazine and look clean, professional, and personable.

We wanted vulnerability in this issue, too, picking our editor’s favorite pieces that are chosen for their excellent use of craft and ability in storytelling. Every piece included gave us out-of-the-box experiences, grounded us in realness, or left us wishing the author or artist didn’t stop, all produced by diligent undergraduates at the University of Arkansas.

The Diamond Line is extremely proud of this issue and overwhelmed with the amount of support and submissions received this semester. We chose pieces that covered a variety of topics while not sacrificing quality. We hope that The Diamond Line can only continue improving in years to come.

The Diamond Line editorial staff has built a stronger foundation through layout and design while our featured writers and artists continue to break new ground for what literary magazines are. We are beyond excited to show you who The Diamond Line is and what we are growing into.

So, please sit back, grab a cup of tea or wine, and enjoy the stories that you are about to dive into. We trusted our authors and artists to show us their stories, so trust us to bring you through them.