Actually, a few notes...quite a few of us have something to share with you about this issue!
First, I would like to say a bittersweet farewell to two outgoing members of our editorial team, Rebecca Colby and Isabella Greubel. I first met both Isabella and Becca at the 2021 North Country Young Writers' Festival, held online (you can guess the reason, starts with the letter "p" and ends with a "c"). The closing session of this festival featured an exploratory meeting, "Anyone want to start a teen literary magazine based in New Hampshire?" These two editors have been with the magazine since its very beginning and stayed through seven--SEVEN!--issues and three years of high school. They have served with impeccable reliability, creativity, and dedication. I will miss both of them very, very much. On behalf of everyone at the magazine, a big round of applause and happy wishes to Isabella and Becca as they commence their college careers.
I want to tell you about two special features to this issue. In the blog section of this magazine, check out our interview with Sofiia Yakymenko, Nonfiction Editor, about her podcast with teens from conflict zones around the globe. There's also our blog post with additional info about the Japanese authors published in Issue 7, based on an interview conducted this summer via Zoom by two members of our editorial team.
And now a heartfelt request for help.
If you enjoy reading the magazine and want to support teen writers around the globe, please consider donating to Under the Madness Magazine. Any amount you can give will help us offer future prizes for our teen writing contests. You can donate here: https://monadnockartsalive.org/nh-poet-laureate-under-the-madness-magazine#anchor-link-give-today
If you are interested in sponsoring an entire teen writing contest, contact me at apeary@salemstate.edu. And thanks!
--Alexandria Peary, Editor-in-Chief, New Hampshire Poet Laureate (2019-March 2024)
A Message from Rebecca Colby!
For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Rebecca Colby, and I have served as managing editor of Under the Madness Magazine since its first issue in 2021. It has been an honor and a pleasure to be a part of something much greater than myself, and allow teen writers across the globe to express themselves in one of most vulnerable and passionate forms—writing. I would first and foremost like to thank Editor-In-Chief Alexandria Peary, without whom none of this would be possible. She is a driving force behind this magazine, and a mentor and friend that I am so grateful to have met. Thank you Alex for your kindness, tenacity, and support throughout these past several years.
This magazine would not be possible without the bravery and contribution of those who send in their work. It has been truly awe-inspiring reading the work of young writers during my tenure at this magazine. The hard work and dedication of our magazine staff is also a large portion of the magazine’s success. I can say with confidence that my successor, Helen Carle, is going to make an excellent addition to the managing editor role. It has been rewarding to work alongside passionate writers and readers my age, they are all wonderful in their own very unique way.
I am excited to be attending the University of New Hampshire in the fall to study Communications, but I will greatly miss being a part of Under the Madness.
To the readers, thank you for your unwavering support, it means so much to me and all of the staff, as well as the authors published in each issue. As I introduce Issue 7 of this magazine, I bid farewell, and wish the best to all young writers out there—I promise you that if you keep trying, you will get published (Under the Madness is a great place to try). I am excited to now join the group of avid readers and supporters of Under the Madness, and look forward to seeing YOUR work published!
--Rebecca Colby, June 2024
Introduction to our Japanese Special Section from Melissa Uchiyama, writing teacher and mentor of the authors in our Japanese special section!
Can a handful of writers make you feel like you have just taken a sip of matcha or strolled in crowded Harajuku? Can a gathering of thirteen writers give you a sense of Japan, more so than scrolling through Instagram?
These teen authors sought to share a deeper Japan, past stereotypes, past enamel exterior, bringing you to different points in time. In this issue, you’ll manuever through bustling streets and what is the most congested intersection. You’ll learn how to walk through torii gates and feel the energy and mood of specific Japanese words as the authors so skillfully weave them into their pieces. You’ll even ride a bullet train.
These writers are all diverse, students within The British School in Tokyo, with one writer representing The American School in Japan. Some have lived here their whole lives while others remember the moment of landing with the rising sun and taking in each sensory-laden detail. They bring their take on the essence of Japan. What a deep thing—to distill feeling and fact, the fragrance of a place into something as compact as a word.
Two writers introduce you to the hair-raising side of Japanese folklore with spirits and ghosts called yokai. Two writers bring you to mist and mountains. You’ll even bathe in the ancient springs of an onsen. As you read and find yourself in their Japan, you may echo Iroha’s words, “Have you ever imagined life without such beauty?”
We are grateful to Alexandria Peary and the team of editors at Under the Madness for inviting us to climb into this special community of published teen writers.
Through the writing and editing experience, we could cultivate and see the beauty in which we live, even more clearly.
Melissa Uchiyama is a long-term resident of Japan, transplanted nearly 16-years ago from south Florida. She is an essayist, poet, journalist, podcast host, teacher, and champion of young people and their writing voice. She leads creative writing workshops and camps in-person and online. Melissa also judges and mentors writers in international writing contests like The Young Inklings Book Contest. Melissa has been published in such places as The Washington Post, LA Review of Books, Brevity Magazine, TheJapan Times, Kyoto Journal, Epoch Times, Taste, etc, with food columns in magazines, poems in journals, and essays published in anthologies. She loves seeing young writers alight with the process of publishing their own work, so she is thrilled to take part in this special issue. When not writing or teaching, Melissa relishes time with her husband, three children, and their very fluffy British shorthair cat. You can also find her hosting weekly dinner parties and baking kilos upon kilos of bread.
And now a message from our new Managing Editor, Helen Carle!
I am thrilled to join the managing team at Under the Madness! I have had the pleasure of working with this evolving team of dedicated teen editors and readers since the founding of this magazine four years ago, and I am honored to have the opportunity to serve as managing editor for my final year in high school. I hope to do my very best to fill the massive space that will be missing from our team as Rebecca goes on to her next stage in life, working alongside Sophie Rose and every member of our editing and reading team. My first issue in this role has brought me the wonderful opportunity to interview authors from the British School in Tokyo about their writing process, what they love about where they live, and how they utilize their multilingual knowledge to evolve their writing to a level that at times can transcend the limitations of a single language. I hope you enjoy reading the carefully-selected work from our contributors for this issue and are able to gain a new outlook on the world as you tour Japan through the words of our contributors residing in that country.
This issue will take you across this world and others through poems, essays, and stories carefully crafted for you, our dedicated readers.
These Japan-based writers helped us on staff experience what it might be like to see Japan for the first time as well as what it could be like to live in the country for decades. Whether or not you have traveled to Japan, we think that reading these pieces will build an appreciation for the world around us, wherever we may find ourselves, and help us recognize the full beauty of the moment. Mia Kagimoto powerfully depicts this perspective on place, saying “I love where I live. I want to stay. All that trash I said before, the ‘Tokyo Shoebox’, the claustrophobia, that doesn’t matter. I don’t care.” To love where we live! As you browse the poems and prose of this issue, we hope you get a chance to recognize what you love about your life at the moment, and to appreciate what you, like all of us, might take for granted. Let us love where we live!
