Dear Loyola Blakefield Community,

My name is Zachary Lyons, and I am the Editor-in-Chief of this year’s edition of Workshop(s). Over the past six weeks, the students in Mr. Flanigan’s Creative Writing Honors class have dedicated their weekdays and weekends to building this website. We have created a digital magazine that I am proud to display.

In terms of the magazine-building process, a special thank you to Liam Brune, Joseph Balto, and Andrew Hill. These are the classmates whom I depended on when building this website. I am confident that these talented, hard-working friends will go on to have great successes both inside and outside the field of writing.

Readers, some advice before reading:

Like all graduating seniors, I am often asked what I would do differently if I could redo my four years at Loyola Blakefield. As a younger Don, I have held regrets for not trying out for the soccer team, for not studying enough for the SAT, for losing friendships, and for burning bridges. Eventually, however, I realized that even our regrets help to shape us into the people we become. Every intricate detail of our lives creates a butterfly effect that molds us into the young men we are. The pain, the sacrifice, the highs, the joys—they all happen for a reason. When you read this year’s edition of Workshop(s), please do so with this idea in mind and remember the power of perspective.

The art you will encounter allows you into the lives of the young men at Loyola Blakefield for several brief, beautiful and tragic moments. Their art offers their perspective; it shows their stories and projects their visions of their worlds. Please don’t judge those visions. Just experience them. Language is a tool—one that holds the power both to free and to bind. It is important to understand language’s power, for it can destroy lives, but it can also make the world better for all.

Finally, I would like to thank Mr. Flanigan. I won’t thank him for his constant kindness nor his moral support because I’d rather thank him for his passion. Mr. Flanigan pushed our class through unorthodox methods with every chance he had. He pushed us to be better writers and better people. We couldn’t have done it without you, Bossman.

Without further ado, welcome to Workshop(s),

Zachary Lyons

Editor-in-Chief