Special Edition: One Year Anniversary Issue

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

What’s in a year? The easy answer is time, but that begs another question — what is time and how can we define it? If we were to explore it theoretically, then it’s really a dilemma of both relativity and quantum mechanics, so in the words of Einstein, the rate of time all depends on your frame reference. Such relativity, no matter how you slice it, suggests that we ought to really consider what our reference point is (and should be). 

Time is, after all, a luxury that we often overlook. An expensive indulgence that we spend much of our youth trying to circumvent, shortcut, and manipulate. But whether we look at time as relative, or a unit of quantum measurement, or even as something else entirely, the truth remains ... .there are 60 seconds in a minute, 86,400 seconds in a day, and 31,536,000 seconds in a year. 

And it is now time for us to celebrate those 31 million seconds, because 11 Seconds Magazine is officially a year old! If you told me a year ago that we would be here now, with 3 issues under our belt, an amazing, brilliant, and talented editorial board, and all of you, I would not have believed it. There’s always a fear that our creations will be nothing but monsters, entities that do not serve us or others well (an adage that none other than Mary Shelly herself gifted us). But, the truth is, I am so beyond proud of this magazine and every single piece of work that we have published so far, and I know that this is just the beginning. 

All our writers and artists have not only showcased their talents, but also their vulnerability and their willingness to engage in a topic of healthcare that is so often shied away from. It is not easy to write about your life. Believe me, I would rather take writing thousands of fictional words first over exposing myself through the written word, and it is just as much a privilege as it is a meaningful challenge to do so. But the fact of the matter remains, the truth deserves to be shared, and these stories deserve to be told. So, I hope you enjoy our special edition Anniversary Issue, where we take a walk down memory lane, where we introduce ourselves to some new ideas, and where we challenge our notions and preconceptions. In doing so, I hope that we are all able to come out of this with the truth, the real story, and the reminder that time is a luxury that is worth spending on the right things. 

— Sahana Narayan, Editor in Chief