If April is the cruelest month, then May deserves a stiff drink. But before you reach for that new Australian Shiraz, consider the mood-altering moments you are already soaking in.

Our overall environment, for instance, may be the most overlooked drug. Who hasn’t been transported by a sunset on the beach, felt their brain chemicals paralyzed by a stressful day of work, or developed a different understanding of reality by hanging with a different crowd?

In this issue of InTheFray, we explore the impact of environment in its many forms. We begin on the streets of Brooklyn, home to a pool hall frequented by a diverse mix of teenage boys. While Contributing Editor Anju Mary Paul tries to put her thumb on what being American means for young immigrants in 2005, Through the Looking Glass writer Kristina Alda writes from our northern neighbor, Canada, about her transformation into a typical Canadian “nice girl” after adopting Ottawa as home.

Of course, home can be a complicated place. For some, it’s simultaneously safe and oppressive, straining and joyful. For a wife who becomes caregiver to her husband after an accident, in Susan Parker’s short story Taking care of one another, it is exhausting. For Kelly Barnhill it is a place of warring priorities. Her essay A room of my own with the door wide open, details how becoming a new mother leaves little time to write. And on the Yangtze River in the small town of Wanzhou, where photographer J. Unrau lives, home is intoxicating. As his photo essay illuminates, the daily sounds and smells he absorbs while wandering the hilly streets are his drug of choice.

So imbibe with us, and expand your mind, by sampling our stories all the way from small town China to a Brooklyn pool hall.

And get ready to imbibe a little more this June, when ITF celebrates gay pride month. As part of our celebration, InTheFray would like to showcase photographs of LGBT celebrations and events happening around the United States and the world. Readers can submit original photographs to our Media Gallery, where they will be posted daily. InTheFray asks that you provide a brief caption to be published with the photograph, telling us the who, what, when, and where of your photo(s). Please also include your first name and location.

(A note to our readers: Please complete our 2005 Reader Survey. Your answers will help us to improve the magazine.)

Nicole Leistikow
Managing Editor
Baltimore

Nicole Leistikow