I have written and deleted the beginning of this letter for a week now. I have watched the cursor blink on blank canvas for days, waiting for this fabled “Editor” to possess me and write something worthy of introducing you to the wonderful work I have had the privilege to read and share with you today. 

The question I have gotten most, under the September sun of the Info Fair, in class visits, and handing out books in the Viking Union, is: What is Jeopardy about? It was the question I asked myself when I first applied for this job, and certainly a question they asked me in my interview. It is a question that my editors and I strive every meeting to answer. 

What is Jeopardy about?

I came to Western at the height of the pandemic, when it was one to a dorm room and dozens of black squares on a screen every day for class. I wrote poetry when it rained and ate lunch with the small bubble of friends I had formed from my dorm. I melted ice cream in my mini-fridge freezer and I cried a lot. More than anything, I thought, I wish I could express these moments; I wish I could put them out into the world for someone to hear the echo and shout back. 

Two years later, I finally observed campus bloom. Spring in Bellingham is a timid process, and campus, like the cherry blossoms, took its time. But finally, I got to watch as Red Square was crowded with students; people, like robins, out on the grass when it got sunny. I savored coffee with classmates and saw people cry in the library, or sing in the arb. And I thought, finally. This is what Jeopardy is about. 

It’s about people, about connections, and sometimes losses. It's about community and finding a place where every moment can be expressed, where a feeling can be put out into the world and someone will hear and shout back, or sing back, or hug back. Reading through these pages, I hope you realize you are not alone, that you connect with the truths being laid before you and regard them with reverence. I hope you share them with your friends and family, and respond to them every day in your own way. 

Because that is what Jeopardy is all about. 

Warmly,

Caylee Caldwell

Editor-in-Chief, Jeopardy Magazine