Volume 1, Issue 8 (2023)

Dear Readers,

We are pleased to present the eighth edition of The Diamond Line, the University of Arkansas’s undergraduate magazine. We are dedicated to supporting and uplifting the voices of the U of A’s undergraduate community and publishing fantastic works of art presented by emerging young writers and artists.

For this issue, we made the decision to forego a theme. We wanted to allow submitters total creative freedom with their submitted works. Despite no plan for such a thing, a natural theme did emerge from the submitted pieces that we received this year; we felt obligated to lean into this.

Thus, our magazine became a journey, a reflection of life in all its tragic beauty—particularly focusing on grief and its many stages, pairing each stage of grief with a season to signify growth and change. Though not specifically mentioned, our magazine is a trek through the seasons, starting with summer, traveling through fall and winter, and ending in spring—the point of greatest change, but ultimately the greatest symbol of hope. We wanted our magazine to reflect not only the tragedies of grief and loss but also the light that can be found, the hope that was never lost.