ANNOUNCEMENT : SUMMER

Look out your window or up from your smart phone. Look around you at the outdoors. It's warm outside, and the breeze is barely catching at your neck. You can bask in this warmth, let it consume you from the outside in, let it tingle your skin, let it make you feel alive. 


It's like a chemical reaction, this summer of ours, and the warmth and its "(sigh) it's so beautiful outside" is the catalyst. The moment our bodies realize it is summer, the potential of adventures you dream about (rock climbing, river rafting, hiking, beaches, swimming, late nights in the dark, warm air...) becomes kinetic. We pack our bags with swimsuits, towels, (maybe tequilla? A beer?), and a compass or map if you don't like getting lost, and off we go. Into no man's land. Into nothingness. Into lazy day afternoons. Into making ourselves deeper and better... and tanner (wear sunscreen!). Into internships that further our passion. Into classes that pull us deep into books as we lay in a field (Memorial Glade?) and brush our feet against the wet grass. Into living in the moment and truly appreciating what we have. Because... think about your summer, what it entails, the people you'll be hanging out with... how incredibly lucky are we?


So, turn whatever electronic device you're using right now off. And, don't turn it back on until you really have to. Go outside, don't stay inside. Enjoy the summer and all it's beauty. Take the time to "sniff the roses." I don't care how corny that sounds. Be the first to jump in the pool and the last to leave the BBQ. Surprise your friends with adventures to the beach. Surprise your lover with a salty kiss. 


And, for god's sake, don't spend your time reading Unleashed. As wonderful as our articles are and as much as we love that you read all these articles (thank you, thank you very much!), we want you to get the fullest experience summer has to offer. We want you to spend every minute you can "doing", not surfing the web or watching soap operas in which other people live and "do." That should be you living, not a fictional character on a flat screen. Go absorb that Vitamin D! 


And, as the editor of Unleashed, I care about my writers too. I want them to live just as fully! So, I free us all, just for these three months. Unleashed will be paused until the beginning of fall--August 23rd. Until then! We will miss you dearly! And, we will see you again in the fall.


-Sasha Martin (editor of Unleashed) and the lovely Staff of Unleashed, ever appreciative of your support.