Our Response to COVID-19

The past few weeks have been tumultuous for all of us. The Coronavirus Pandemic has affected everyone, the staff of Spectrum included. The University of California Santa Barbara Campus is shut down, and the College of Creative Studies has locked its building. Our staff can no longer meet in person and are relying on technology to remain in touch. Despite these challenges, we are still publishing the 63rd edition of Spectrum in June of 2020. We are excited and thrilled to be publishing this collection of powerful and meaningful stories during this strenuous time. We are, however, making a couple of changes to our plan for this year in light of this situation.

We are not planning a launch party at this time. Typically, Spectrum Staff holds a reception on the day our print editions of the journal are first available for purchase. The need for social distancing will hopefully be in the past by the time June arrives, but for now, we are assuming that this will not be the case. Should our plans change, we will announce it at that time.

It also may not be possible to mail new volumes of Spectrum to our contributors or purchasers immediately after the journal is printed, so we ask that everyone remain patient. We will make sure that everyone receives their journals as soon as possible. As of now, the schedule for printing and publishing the journal still put the publication in early June.

I will take this opportunity to reiterate the importance of following the CDC guidelines for social distancing and self-quarantine during the pandemic. Each of us is responsible for the health and safety of not just ourselves, but everyone around us, and as writers and readers, we have a unique opportunity to document this strange time that we live in.

- Madeleine Almond, Editor-in-Chief