Editor's Note:

It is with great pleasure that I present the inaugural volume of Vernacular: New Connections in Language, Literature, & Culture. After nearly a year and a half of research, planning, designing, and networking, I am proud to release our first batch of wonderful submissions from graduate students taking part in innovative research at a diverse range of universities. The editorial staff received several strong essays and we thank all of our contributors for their compelling, original work.

My heartfelt gratitude goes out to Dr. Rudyard Alcocer for introducing us to this opportunity and seeing that we had all of the right tools to begin building the journal. Also infinitely supportive in getting started were Drs. Adrian Del Caro, Holly Mercer, and John Romeiser, as well as all of the valued members of the Advisory Board. In addition, all who are familiar with the inner workings of academic journals know that evaluating and editing submissions, when performed with care as our reviewers have done, can be tedious tasks. As such, I thank the reviewers who graciously offered time away from their graduate student duties to help us edit the many submissions that we could not have handled alone. Finally, a special thanks to Melanie Lafoy, Assistant Editor, for all of the time and hard work she put into making the journal a success.

I look forward to seeing the publication of many more volumes in the years to come, and to receiving your submissions for the next edition to be released April 15, 2017.

Haley L. Osborn, Editor-in-Chief