On Monday morning, I was babysitting my three year old niece, Cora, who decided to give me a Church lesson.

“Today,” she announced, “We’re going to have a story about Jesus, and the closing song will be ‘Teenage Dream.’”

Aimee and I have been through a rather soul-wrenching couple of months putting together the Spring LGBTQ issue. The stories people have shared are amazing–heartbreaking, hopeful, redemptive. Grab a box of tissues when you sit down with your hard copy in the beginning of April. (What? You don’t have a subscription? Get one here–at least order this issue. It’s an important one. Trust me.)

So, when we realized that the Summer 2012 submissions were due April 15th, we knew what we wanted to ask for. We want stories like Cora’s special Sunday School. We want to keep things light. It’ll be summer when this comes out after all. Let’s save the didactic on Jacob 5’s wild and tame olive tree allegory for Fall.* We’ll be filling our usual features like Global Zion, Sabbath Pastorals and poetry. But, do you have a funny story to tell? A refreshing fruity drink to share? Send those in, too!

Stories like the one about Cora will be incorporated into a one time feature (help us think of a title? “Funny Feminists” is the best we’ve come up with so far). Sometimes, it’s hard to write a big 1000 word personal essay, so ease in and send us something between 100-250 words (or shorter) by April 15th.

*Wait, maybe I’m a nerd, but I still think that sounds cool. Nevermind, send it in!