madison zuñiga – Sculpting words

I’m proud to have completed my second edition of Concordia Irvine’s literary and arts journal The Aerie as a student editor. This is truly a special edition for The Aerie, completed over the course of Professor Kristen Schmidt’s final year at Concordia.

Professor Schmidt has been a beloved mentor and a steadfast supporter of the creative arts at this school. I’m so grateful for four years of working on The Aerie together, from revising my first published prose poem to completing this final draft for Spring 2025. It’s a beautiful edition that I feel reflects the thoughtful, encouraging, calm, and inspiring impact Professor Schmidt has had on this campus.

I’m also grateful to my dear friend Keelie Huebner-Chan, for keeping us on track with copyedits and emails and for always catching the tiniest details in every draft version we looked at. I love the vision we shared together, and had so much fun working on this project, especially as we both completed our senior years.

It’s beautiful and bittersweet to finish The Aerie this year, as it’s meant so much to me during my time as an undergraduate. I anticipate much emotion and commemoration during the journal launch party on April 23rd, but for now I simply celebrate sending the final draft to print.