Sketches 2020

This issue of Sketches is dedicated to the Winter 2020 graduates of
Macomb Community College. We celebrate your dedication, curiosity, and
perseverance even in this time of great uncertainty. While formal ceremonies
for commencement will have to wait until a later date, we tip our virtual
mortarboards to honor you, your families, and your accomplishments.
To the Writers, Designers, Teachers, Students,
and Dreamers of Macomb Community College,
Each year in the spring, the Sketches team hosts a publication party during which
our writers, designers, and artists showcase their work and share their processes
with each other and with attending audience members. The party celebrates the
hard work of our student contributors and publicly reinforces the value of mentoring
and peer review within our Macomb learning community. We listen to writers read
their work. We witness the drafts and evolutions of the final designs published. We
dialogue with one another about our creative and technical processes. It is art and
learning at its best.
Sadly, this year, our in-person celebration is not possible. As our managing editor,
Kate Lutes, and this year’s student editor, Xandraya Rodriguez, put the final touches
to the Sketches 2020 issue, the activities we have all come to associate with “normal”
college life and magazine editing came to an abrupt halt due to restrictions necessitated
by the global Coronavirus pandemic. Our attentions turned from celebrating art to
caring for humanity. We think of all of you in our extended Sketches family at this
time, and we hope for your good health and the safety and well-being of your family
at this time.
We publish this online version of Sketches 2020 in recognition of the hard work of the
writers, designers, and editors who made it possible. And, while publication of a print
magazine will be delayed until a time when it is safe and appropriate to open print
shops and conduct that close physical work, we look forward to sharing it with all of