EDITOR'S LETTER : DEC 2020
As I write, I am sitting in my bed. It’s the evening on a Monday. I’m listening to Terrace Martin’s Love You Bad. I think of how this year is close to being over. How there existed an endless amount of differences in each of our lives one year ago. Our lives changed collectively this year.
Personally, these differences aligned with a new life. Finishing high school, starting university - two experiences that had been different from the expectations I carried throughout my life. A lot of things are on my mind, especially as the year comes to an end. During days that feel significant to change, such as new year’s or our birthdays, I reflect on all that has changed and all that has stayed the same. New Years brings a collective consciousness. Humanity reflecting on the year that they had as well as the resolutions that they’ll carry throughout the next year. I realize that I couldn’t keep up with most of the changes that took place this year. During 2020, I have spent so much time analyzing all that I feel and documenting through written words what this year has meant for me so that I can look back one day.
SZA’s Good Days has felt like an anthem to me ever since I heard it for the first time at the end of the Hit Different music video. To me, the song is melancholy, yet reassuring. Even if what we go through today doesn’t feel close to fulfilling our ideas of a “good day”, there is no arguing that our lives will consist of many days that will have us feeling warm and loved. A reminder of trying to hold onto the days in which we felt our happiest when we are faced with more difficult moments in our lives. Today I look back at concerts, interacting with strangers, and going to school - all experiences that were so normal, and I am shocked with how utterly foreign these things feel now. This song feels defining during this part of my life. I can see me in a couple of years playing it, only to be brought back to this tender December – my family growing tired of me playing it consistently, the shitty 2020 montage I made in my grandparent’s dining room, and the excitement of the songs official release on Christmas day. Though most importantly, I’ll be brought back to hearing Good Days as the concluding song in a radio interview that I was featured in for CITR. Being featured on the radio has always been a goal, especially by means to talk about something I’m passionate about. Eternally grateful for the amazing Maya Preshyon who hosted the interview and asked me questions about Know-It-All, our team, and the direction of the magazine. If you’re interested in listening to the full interview, click here.
This year, we’ve experienced an outburst of love towards Know-It-All. From the release of our first physical copy at the start of the year last January to the expansion of our team, we thank everyone that has supported us. To everyone who has shared their appreciation for Know-It-All with us, we thank you. It was especially difficult for me to keep motivation with the events of this year, but all of your support has truly been a push to continue.
To our team; I love and appreciate each one of you so much. I am so glad and so grateful to be able to work alongside you in growing our magazine and following.
To our contributors; thank you for gifting us the opportunity to utilize our little platform to showcase not only your work but your voices and your talent. It has meant the absolute world to me, to be able to be a part of the process of sharing passion through art.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart,
Bella