Welcome to our contemplative, critical, and absurd 22nd issue of Spirit Lake Review, brought to you by an ambitious bunch of student editors at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. Our 2025 issue is the product of an intense collaborative process, facilitated by the members of Dr. Kara Candito’s Literary Magazines class. This spring, for the first time, Spirit Lake Review offered three funded internships to Professional Writing majors. Special thanks to Editor-in-Chief Matty Olson; Submissions and Copy Editing Manager Jack Braun; and Web Design and Event Planning Manager Thomas Wertel for their leadership and dedication to each stage of the issue.  

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     Our cover image, ILuvUnicorns, by undergraduate student Jada Brylski, is an evocative culmination of many themes that pervade the issue. These themes are presented boldly and without trepidation by the authors and artists featured in the issue. Ava Garrard’s “Something in the Metaphor" and Madison Burns’ “Metamorphosis” tackle topics of sexuality and gender by exploring what it means to belong to an increasingly marginalized group during a period of cultural and political upheaval. Ken Poyner’s “Balancing Profit” and Robert Beveridge’s “Kitty Zuckerberg vs. The Russian Space Nipple” provide a brilliantly comedic lens through which to critique the absurdities of Late Capitalism. And Jonathan Fletcher’s “How to Build a Skyscraper in Gaza” is a brutal reflection on current global events.  

 

     While the complexities of our conflicted cultural moment are exposed and dissected in the 2025 issue, explorations of human relationships and desire are also championed. Undergraduate Kaz Bresnan’s “i took my meds” is a powerful exhibition of yearning and vulnerability, and William Doresky’s “We Share Each Other” showcases the boundlessness of love and connection. On a similar note, undergraduate Max McNett’s “The Shot” captures the nostalgia for small-town America and its communal spirit.  

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     The 2025 issue of Spirit Lake Review is made possible by the tireless support of the UW-Platteville faculty, staff, administrators, and community members. We would like to especially thank Academic Department Assistant, Sara Koeller; Chair of the Humanities department, Dr. David Gillota; Assistant Professor of English, Dr. Laura Roberts; and Assistant Dean for Academic Administration and Operations, Carrie Van Hallgren. We thank this year’s diverse and thoughtful group of writers and visual artists for trusting us with their creative work. And most importantly, we would like to thank you, reader, for contemplating this issue – for supporting our small but mighty literary journal– and for being an active participant in one thing that has the power to unite us: art. 

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Until next year, 

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The 2025 Spirit Lake Review Team