Gisela Perez
Editorial Assistant
With warmth, we usher in our eighth issue, Dial-up Dreams—a mesh of memories and speculations on the early internet era of the ’90s and ’00s. The works published here venture beyond nostalgia into curiosity and critique. They examine the present through a lens of the past, reflect on the intensity of our virtual worlds, and contemplate connection—its forms, its fragility, and its fragmentation.
This issue also features AOL-inspired emails from our community. We invited you to share a message—whether it was personal or fictional, somber or silly—as part of our effort to further involve our community with each issue. You are, after all, the heart of Cicada.
Additionally, Issue 08 saw the implementation of our Revise and Resubmit process, designed to support the refinement of promising works. With curiosity and delight, we reviewed your resubmissions, and we’re pleased to share that some of those pieces found their way into these pages.
To all our submitters, thank you for trusting us with your voice. And to our readers, we’re grateful for your care and enthusiasm. We hope you enjoy this collection of written, visual, and musical works as much as we do.
Here’s to more memories. Stay creative!