MockingHeart Friends, I hope you’re well.

As the reading period for our Fall 2020 issue comes to a close (you can submit until 11:59 PM CT tomorrow!), a grim event has occurred in Southwest Louisiana. As you’ve by now heard, Lousiana, Texas, and Arkansas (perhaps especially cities in and around Calcasieu Parish, La.) have been devastated by Hurricane Laura, which made landfall near Cameron, La. in the early morning of August 27th. As news sources near and far report, Lake Charles (home of this editor’s alma mater, McNeese State University) and the surrounding cities will take weeks, and more likely months or even years, to recover from the catastrophic damage.

As you go about your days (so curtailed already by the COVID-19 pandemic) please keep Louisiana and its affected neighboring states in your thoughts. Some of you, our readers and contributors, are Louisiana residents, or else know someone who is–our thoughts are with you, and please give a word of encouragement to the Pelican State folks you know. If you can, consider donating to help in the recovery effort. It’ll be a hard road to recovery, but Louisiana is strong, and will yet persevere.

Tyler Robert Sheldon, Editor-in-Chief