Semaphore is a form of visual communication used to send messages across great distances. The lifting of batons, the sending up of flares, or the waving of flags can all be forms of semaphore.

We invoke semaphore as this edition’s theme because it helps us to acknowledge the power of art and language to connect us across the distances of time and space. The words and images featured across the ten years and ten editions of Soul by Southwest have done this sort of work. They have represented and connected Southwest alums from different graduating classes; students, faculty, and staff from different quadrants of campus; and artists and writers from different dioceses, cities, and walks of life.

Making and sharing art is also one way to practice Beloved Community. We hope the works in this edition help connect you — members of this beloved community — across time and space with the makers of the works and with other readers and viewers.