David Dinkins, the late former mayor of New York, once said the grand city was a “gorgeous mosaic” of so many different kinds of people coming together and living in one place. I’d like to think that despite many challenges, both past and present, Pittsburgh and Oakland also live up to this description.

Silhouettes, which you now hold, is the annual set of profiles produced by The Pitt News of interesting folks around campus, and a yearly attempt to truly dive into a longer format to fully tell these stories. In highlighting community members, the magazine provides an opportunity for Pitt Newsers to work both on longform writing and portrait photography. It took a team of nearly 50 hardworking students to put together the truly special edition that you are now holding. Going through each story always gives me goosebumps, both for how close our team is able to get to their subjects, and how much people are willing to share with us and you, our readers.

We hope you enjoy the magazine, and keep in touch with Pitt and Oakland news throughout the year at pittnews.com. Always feel free to be in touch with story ideas or questions at [email protected].

Jon Moss

Editor-in-Chief