Letter from the Editor

Happy July, all! This issue of FOCUS has been an interesting one to produce. I happen to be in the role of collecting all the pieces and parts that make this magazine a whole. This places me in a very fortunate position: I get to read everything first!

Not only do I read it, but I lay the articles and photos out so I pay a bit closer attention, and I get what I will describe as an “intimate view” of each raw article. I fix the misspellings and sometimes edit to make the words a bit clearer, or to shorten in order to fit on a page, but I’m tempted to leave the articles as I receive them. While I try to extract the humanness of their words in a genuine way, sometimes nothing can communicate another’s feelings but their own words, typos included.

This issue features very passionate and emotionally aware artists. They are interesting, sensitive people who we as a group can be proud of ourselves to call friends.

The first feature is Trisha Rose, a photographer who wears her heart on her sleeve. Even in the titles of her photos, like “Making Angels with a Friend” or What Bothers Me Most is… I Don’t Miss You,” the intent and message conveyed is crystal clear with heartfelt honesty.

Our Membership feature is Ladmilla. I’ve known her for some time, so I was surprised to learn I knew so little about her passion in her art. Then our live music feature is Kaleb Wolf Avedon, a deeply feeling artist in many ways. He explains his personal connection with music and what it means to him to share his talent.

Enjoy the issue!