Conclave (Spring 2017)

In this issue, Conclave celebrates "Voices from the Edge," the writers and photographers whose work is not easily categorized or pigeonholed. This issue disregards genre and marketplace and instead focuses on originality and insight, artists fearlessly creating work of the highest caliber.As Editor-in-Chief Lara Bernhardt writes, "Fear holds us back. Fear prevents us from taking chances and reaching for our goals. Fear causes us to hide. Fear of failure. Fear of ridicule. Fear of someone seeing us as we truly are." This, then, is the No Fear issue of Conclave, the no-holds-barred highway whose only toll is vision and talent.We live in troubling times, and many feel isolated, despondent, and worried about the future. In this issue, writers confront our common challenges with courage and optimism, because the greater good lies in unity, not division, including "...[t]hose who feel sidelined, ostracized, and silenced. Those who aren't afraid to speak their truth, share their experiences, and offer a glimpse of something we may fear."