Dearest Reader,

When I was in my senior year of high school, my English teacher, Mrs. Kim, posed a somewhat speculative question to the class. Her linen dress shuffled as she moved, the tone of her voice calm yet commanding as she said, “What is the most dangerous profession?” Eager hands raised, our fingers brushing the late spring light that streamed through the windows. The students answered with the predictable few — to be a soldier, a pilot, or a politician — yet her head shook with every reply. She paused, the silence suspended in the air.

“To be an artist is the most terrifying of all.”

With that, the last bell rang, dismissing us from our secondary school education. But I never quite forgot what she had said. The creation of BrainScramble, almost four years ago now, took a lot of courage. At 16, I was terrified to thrust the rawness of my emotion into the public, to build a team of creatives, to pretend I knew who I was or what I was doing. Truth be told, I still feel that way now.

As artists, we must recognize that our work is irregular. It is nearly impossible to separate who we are – meaning our flesh, our hearts and souls — from what we do. Art is romantic, it’s dangerous, it’s powerful — but this is exactly what makes it precarious. To speak, to feel, to dream publicly — these are radical acts. Truth be told, I do wish, at times, that I could choose a different path. Something quieter, safer. But the wish is as vain as a pig sprouting wings. Perhaps the only thing we truly possess, then, is Faith.

This semester, the devotion of our printed words, the worship in our brush strokes, and heaven in the cracks of our camera flashes have done nothing short of instill an unshakable faith within my heart. Even as a writer, there is not a word in the English alphabet to describe the pride I feel for BrainScramble. Finally, I must thank you, my dear reader, for your support, your time, your eyes on the page — these are not small things. They are everything. Thank you for having faith in us all along.

Yours,
Alyssa Zhang