Illustration by Rose Howell // Editorial by Isaac Ladas and Lily Mancaniello

Often dismissed as weeds, few understand the resilience of the dandelion. Picked, prodded and often ripped apart, these flowers will always be visible.

No matter how many are pulled, stepped on, or overlooked, their air-bound seeds will land on new soil, promising more. The dandelion will never stop growing. Like the flower, this paper reminds us that we are here and we do not fear those who try to step on us.

We have been told to wait our turn, be quiet, or grow up. Yet our paper is a mosaic of voices who do not intend to be silenced. In a vast valley of cement, we dandelions dare to push through the cracks, to shine sunlight on the individuals whose seeds sprout tall and colorfully.

We intend to inform the public of the daring individuals who defend their flowers against the predacious feet that threaten to squash their communities in one quick motion. 

Our nation’s immigrant population lives underneath the feet of some politicians who want to brazenly stomp on their strength. Though even when flattened on the ground, there is the Massachusetts Immigration and Refugee Advocacy Coalition that  carries their seeds to safety, their legacy growing tall out of the weeds.

The tall brick buildings of the North End in Boston cast shadows on the neighborhood’s Black population, stunting their growth and visibility. Roberto Mighty recognizes the generations of seeds left unsprouted in Little Italy, generating a gust of wind for the Black Bostonians to soar through the air, landing on safe ground to blossom visibly.

It requires strength to acknowledge the forces towering over you and make the choice to grow higher, careening towards hope like a dandelion to sunlight. There is a hidden power in the seed which promises that there will be more growth, even in dead grass.

We  unabashedly discuss our experiences, ideas, opinions and fears in communion with each other. We know there are solutions to the global conflicts that we deeply fear. Therefore together, we wish to take a collective breath and blow our seeds to greener grass where a new generation can blossom with no limitations.