RÉSONANCE vol. 6

Considering the anti-immigrant threats and false claims against Haitian Americans made during this current presidential election cycle, it feels important to me personally to highlight that this issue includes “Within One Year,” an bracingly full-bodied and full-throated poem by Samara Cole Doyon, an author with Haitian roots. (I have come to believe that we Franco-Americans can only understand the compass of our own history if we learn more about the history of those colonized and enslaved by the French.) I’m also delighted to watch how empathy fashions a bridge between people from different marginalized ethnic groups in Peter Albert’s niftily constructed short story “Prince of Madawaska.” And I’m haunted by Cynthia Graae’s description of the impact a parent’s shame about being Franco-American can have on a child—exactly the kind of shame exacerbated by the xenophobia being spewed during this election season.

More broadly, as the body of work published in our journal continues to expand, I’m amazed by how implicit conversations between pieces organically arise within and across different genres and volumes.

We are honored to include in volume 6 an interview with the extraordinary poet Jim Bishop.

We continue to be indebted to Jacob Albert for his help with our web presence.

And I must end with a shout-out to our Drama and Reviews editor Abby Paige, for once again securing just the right reviewers and curating reviews for a broad range of current publications. The responses contained here help deepen the Franco-American dialogue.

—Steven Riel, Editor-in-chief