2026 Issue — Power: A Letter to Readers

Dear Readers, 

Power generates an effect: Turn on the light. Lift the heavy object. Shed old versions of ourselves. 

This year’s edition of Working Draft focuses on power. Our contributors interpreted this theme in many different ways, looking at forces found within and those inflicted upon us.

Some explored the power of family. Two wrote about their fathers, one who lived for a time with a borrowed name and one who had three potential father figures of his own. Others wrote about coming and going, including parents leaving to work elsewhere and what it is like to return to a home country after immigrating.

Many of our writers dug into sub-cultures like cheerleading, esports, worship music, the manosphere, construction, skydiving, and blind boxes.

Others looked at the power dynamics embedded in physical and mental health. This year we published stories about scoliosis, hyperhidrosis, ADHD, emetophobia, Borderline Personality Disorder, treatment-resistant depression, autism, and anxiety.

Through these stories we see how inner power can push us forward, driving us to proudly claim our identities and fight through our struggles. We also see how people, constructs, and institutions impose their forces on us, telling us what we can or cannot do, be, or say — as if goading us to stand up, push through, fight back, or join the movement.  

Join us as we explore power as a force to fight against, a catalyst that moves us, and an idea that both unites and divides us in the 2026 issue of Working Draft. 

Thank you for reading.

— 2026 Working Draft editorial board and contributors

Not sure where to start? Try these reads: