Exponent II is excited to welcome our new Editor in Chief, Rachel Rueckert and Managing Editors Sam Layco and Carol Ann Litster Young. The Summer 2021 issue will begin their tenure.

In Doctrine and Covenants 88:15, we read that “the spirit and the body are the soul.” At a time when physical touch has been necessarily restricted and limited due to social distancing, what have we learned about the significance of touch as embodied souls?

What has physical distance looked like and meant for you? What have you most missed, or not? What will you never take for granted again? How does distance make you see scenes from your past—an unexpected hug, holding a friend’s baby, a significant hand squeeze, or the sensation of standing shoulder to shoulder with others in a crowd or sitting alongside them in a pew? We want to celebrate and interrogate the experience of the body. How do we understand these moments through the lens of our current time? Beyond literal touch, we also want to hear about when you have felt figuratively touched by something or by the actions of someone least expected—a powerful book, a silly pop song, a memorable sunrise, a neighbor you tend to disagree with, or a stranger at the grocery store. We are eager to hear your stories and bear witnesses to the ways touch, in all its forms, has written itself into the story of our souls.

Submissions should conform to the mission of Exponent II. They should be 700-2400 words and sent to exponentiihttps://exponentii.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/IMG_5173-scaled-2.jpg AT gmail DOT com by April 15, 2021.