We hesitated in thematizing this issue at all, let alone in choosing identity as the theme. How trite must we be to commission works engaging with a theme which has become so politicized in the past fifteen years? This notwithstanding the fact that identity—subjectivity, perspective, race, gender, or class—has been discussed and written about in as many words as could count each grain of sand. What right could we assume in presenting works on such a topic?

And so in our deliberation we rallied for and against it, ebbing and flowing toward and away from a decision. But in our debating we realized we were, in those instances, debating the identity of this journal and what it would represent. And as we are committed to this moment, which is only ours, we must take this opportunity to engage with identity as it exists for us. Identity, then, is not a question relegated to a trope, but a question which must be pulled from its punditry and tedium, precisely because it is the question which persists in haunting us throughout every age.

This age is ours to identify. To be an Encyclopedia, we must present the views which are unique to our time, even if they have been expressed otherwise elsewhere—especially if they have been expressed otherwise elsewhere—for we are cataloging our identities, our perspectives, our voices. This is not merely a collection of 21ˢᵗ century identities—it is a collection of identities in this moment: volatile, abrasive, and catechismic; this is an Encyclopedia of what we look like now. Perhaps in a future moment, we will be able to look back and see what we once were, and what we still might become.

—Marie Anne Arreola

—John Balquist

—Evangeline Beeching

—AB

—Gloria Glau

—Shoshana Groom

—Alex Van Huynh

—Stephanie Jones

—Ryan Kittleman

—Kaleigh Macchio

—Marilyn Moriarty

—Kendra Ruin

—J. Raisian

—J.J. Steinfeld

—Matthew Zuchetto

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