Introducing… Imaginative Inquiries!

Dear Aleph Readers,

I’m absolutely elated to be introducing a new blog section, Imaginative Inquiries. I have been the Chief Blog Editor for two years, at the start of which I was told that the blog was yet unrefined and, as such, was an open canvas. The vision for this expansion did not dawn upon me until Fall 2022, when I unveiled a hidden cabinet of possibility that had eluded me the previous year. 

As an English (Creative Writing: Poetry) and Psychology double major, I noticed a vast difference in the stigmas surrounding field work of both my majors. Laboratory classes were met with consuling looks of “that sucks, sounds like a lot of work”, while poetry workshops prompting written collections as a final were met with patronizing expressions of “aw, how cute, must be fun!”. In my experience, both have been greatly difficult. Much of the time, I’ve found creative writing to be the harder of the two, as it prompts me to examine the world for what it is, turn seeds of ideas into hypotheses, venture, and draw conclusions from thin air. 

Consequently, I realized that Aleph, too, had an unintentionally strict definition of “research”, and sought out to bridge an ever-present gap through the pioneering of this platform. This section seeks to recognize creative works as legitimate works of research, as the arts have been long overlooked and devalued in academia. The arts function as more than entertainment for consumers, they are examinations of the world that make profound commentary on the raw materials of life we encounter. They are wondrous because they are of inherently curious nature. They provide insight into culture and science. Moreover, a viewer who can recognize the significance of artistic pieces in terms of the world we live in, is not only a viewer, but a learner, and an investigator. Immense knowledge is concealed within the stories told through pirouettes, brushstrokes, and musical notes. These ingredients transform what is concrete into the abstract, where extraordinary can be observed. 

At Imaginative Inquiries, we view the unsculpted marble, open stage, or empty page as the muse’s laboratory, a place where we can make artistic explorations, a place of research. 

Here’s to the art of discovery.

Sincerely,

Selena Perez
Chief Blog Editor
Aleph Journal 2021-2023