From the Editors:

When we launched Cropped, we'll admit we were a little nervous. Of course, we felt this project was important, and the stories beautiful and compelling, but would other people feel the same way? The anticipation was killing us.

Now that the site has been live for about a month, we're so happy with the positive response we have felt from those who have read these stories. We got to talk about Cropped with Sam Zabell on her podcast for Real Simple, "Adulthood Made Easy," and Ashley Fetters's Cropped story was featured on one of our favorite websites, Greatist.

Each story from our first issue seemed to resonate with a different reader; Maria's brother loved Dan's story, our friend Darien loved Beau's, and (apart from her obvious bias) Marina's mom loved Brooke's the most.

And we learned from all of these responses: No two readers interact with Cropped in the exact same way. We're listening, and we want to keep the conversation going. Is there a particular type of story you'd like to read? A writer you feel would be a good fit? Please let us know, either by commenting on the site or on our social media feeds, or by sending us an email at WeAreCropped@gmail.com.

We're excited about what's to come for Cropped, mostly because we already feel the warmth of a sensitive and supportive community, reading these stories, sharing them and creating a beautiful space for being real. There are some exciting plans on the horizon. (Speaking of… have you signed up for our future newsletter yet?)

We hope you enjoy reading the stories in Issue 2 as much as we did.

Love,
Marina and Maria