Current Volume: Volume 51 (2026)

Dear Reader,

There’s a big transition underway on campus, as evidenced by several new purple accent walls. As of July 2026, the University of New Orleans has officially rejoined the Louisiana State system and been restyled as “LSU New Orleans.”

Temperamentally, I’m suspicious of change and especially progress, so I was happy to learn that this wasn’t just a case of a larger institution subsuming a smaller one but also a sort of homecoming: the university was born (in the ‘50s) as Louisiana State University in New Orleans. I looked to the history page on the school’s newly purple-and-gold website for more details to share with you about its identity shifts over the years, but I was defeated: Consider the sentence, “In February 1974, the LSU Board of Supervisors approved a name change, and LSU New Orleans became LSU New Orleans.” At any rate, I’m hopeful that tapping into a larger scholastic network will breathe new life into our school and its many excellent programs.

Given the larger transitions at play, Ellipsis 51 is a little unsure of its own institutional provenance. All the pieces in this issue were selected, edited, and copyedited during the 2026 spring semester at “UNO.” (Big thanks to this year’s editorial team: Red Hastings, Jacqui Higgins-Dailey, Sheena Holt, Nola Femino, Juanita E. Mantz, Joby Mire, Tamra Norman, Jake Spatz, Micah Tasaka, and River Wilkins.) However, they were formatted, assembled, and printed this fall, after the changeover--by the time you’re reading this, the UNO Press will be The Press at LSU New Orleans! (Another big thanks to everyone at said Press who participated in the latter half of the editorial process: Nola Femino once again, Aden DeJute, GK Darby, Abram Himelstein, and especially DiAmon Hurst, who handled all of the graphic design and layout on a very short timeline.)

Before signing off I want to extend heartfelt appreciation to you, our readers. Because reading is important!! (See Rose Horowitch’s recent Atlantic article for details...) Thank you for supporting human-made art, and thanks for coming along for the ride as we say goodbye to UNO and hello to LSUNYES.

Warmly,

Laura DeFazio