Thanks for clicking on the Heritage University webzine of literature and the arts, Pahto’s Shadow. For those of you whom serendipity have brought this way, Heritage University is a small, private liberal arts college located on the Yakama Indian Nation in Toppenish, Washington. “Pahto” refers to Mount Adams in Sahaptin (AKA Ichishkiin), the tongue of the Yakama Indian Nation. Pahto looms large on the horizon here in the Yakima Valley, and all who dwell here live in its shadow.

We return in 2024 after three years away. Many intervening incidents lie behind this hiatus: the continuing pandemic, the passing of Dr. Sol Neely, and budget issues. Pahto’s Shadow began life many volumes and almost three decades ago as a hard-copy literary magazine produced by my English 452/555 Editing and Publishing class at Heritage and later gave birth to this, its first-born webzine. It features the same blend of artwork, photography, poetry, and fiction as the hard-copy volumes, but we now have the opportunity to share music and other audio or video genres. We hope that it receives the same friendly and tolerant reception as its parent, or it may follow the locust’s lead and return to hibernation (preferably not for seventeen years).

Thanks also to this year's editorial staff: Assistant Editors Andrea Castaneda, Torre Chavez, Cynthia Ledesma, Maira Medellin Valencia, and Astrid Zarco-Macias. We welcome poetry, fiction, personal essays, music, artwork, and photography which reflect the rich life and diverse heritages of the Valley. Correspondence and submissions should be sent to me either through e-mail or via snail express: