Everything Moves: a note from the Editor

My uncle died on the first day of this semester. Since then, I’ve felt a little like I’ve been hearing and seeing everything as if from the other side of a foggy window—distant, half-feeling, and grieving a world that contained a person I loved deeply. Connecting with others, especially through teaching and Saranac Review, has provided little islands of clarity and comfort. When I had the chance to speak with artists Robin Lasser and Marguerite Perret, whose work anchors this issue and was on display at Plattsburgh State Art Museum this semester, I felt that sense of lift that comes from being with individuals who care deeply about the world and the people in it.

Plattsburgh State Museum Director Tonya Cribb invited Lasser and Perret to campus in 2023 to embark on a residency about Lake Champlain, the watershed, and the Adirondack community. The result of that residency was the beautiful 2024 exhibition Climate’s Shipwreck Ballads and Transmutation Traces. Lasser’s and Perret’s stunning multimedia work examines our relationship with a particular body of water, but it feels universally relevant to the moment we’re in, a moment in which climate change is impacting every corner in the world, refugees are fleeing danger and devastation, and we’re in desperate need of humanity.

And so this twentieth issue of Saranac Review came together around the theme of water—source of life, of movement, and of connection. Kate Beck’s essay, “Damming the Sentimental” integrates her lovely watercolor paintings into a compelling exploration of the Bow River in Calgary and the impacts of human-fueled climate change. Susanna Rich’s evocative, watery poems bring us to shores of reflection and nourishment. Zoë Luh’s poem, “Unit 731: 1931-1945” is a testament to the human capacity for cruelty and violence, while Anne Schuchman’s essay, “Four Births and a Funeral” and Jane Zwart’s rich folio of poetry speak to the human capacity for reverence, mourning, and hope.

It is hope and connection that have helped me move through these difficult months of fall, and it is with hope that I want to launch Issue 20. Hope for kindness, joy, and a new kind of fearlessness in the months and years ahead. We will need these resources as we head into 2025.

Thank you to our insightful editorial assistants, our fantastic readers, and all our incredible contributors; thanks to Kelli Charland, social media coordinator and mind reader; to Gbolahan Adeola, brilliant collaborator; to Lauren Waldron, clear-headed and wise; to Robin Lasser and Marguerite Perret, generous and open-hearted; and to Tonya Cribb, tireless supporter of the arts and incomparable connector of people and ideas.

Sara Schaff