Letter from the Editor
Just a punk chingona who can’t keep her mouth shut
I cannot express enough how excited I am to be your 2021–2022 Editor in Chief of Substance Magazine. Since I was young, I always dreamed of becoming a writer. The beginning of my writing career started in journal entries that were filled with pages of childhood and teenage angst. In high school, I wrote, produced and directed two plays successfully put into production. As an adult my writing became a well too known therapy for trauma that was written into pages that now consisted of love and tears. Although I had the passion and drive to write every single day, I never thought that I would one day contain the innate ability to become a true journalist, let alone an editor.
I remember walking into the newsroom at Mt. SAC for the first time and feeling a sense of inferiority. I didn’t believe in myself. I thought to be walking amongst giants of talent and I was not worthy. To be honest, I wasn’t at first. I came in and out of the journalism program for many years and not accomplishing much. Work, family and having a daughter really deterred from my dream of becoming a published journalist, and to be honest, I did so myself. I don’t stand alone in these feelings; especially as a college student that is striving for so much more than sediment mediocrity.
I have finally found my footing within the well-established, and award-winning magazine, Substance.
Throughout the spring semester at Mt. SAC, the entire staff of Substance Magazine have been tirelessly working hard — all through Zoom — to produce a publication that will represent the work of not only our editorial board, staff writers and digital artists proudly, but our campus as well. Although we did not have access or personal contact with one another or the newsroom, this magazine is a true testament that we as students, share a sense of resiliency in our work; that creativity can, and will flourish in the time of decay. Our stories are not just of our own but, yours as well.
These stories of my staff are ones of grief, acceptance and humor; stories that will make you cry, understand and hopefully, laugh. Having lived through a time that tried to derail our lives, I can be sure that this fall semester will be hit with a vendetta from Mt. SAC’s student body that is well deserved; this is OUR campus. Welcome back.
