INTRODUCING THE OUT OF BODY ISSUE

The Out of Body issue is LIVE.

We took our time with this one. In January, after we wrapped the Cloud 9 issue, we knew our next theme would need to create space for the kind of thoughtful writing that can make you change your mind about things. We had accomplished some of that with Cloud 9—our essays Heavy Lies The Digital Cloud by Emily Manges and I Went To Earth, But All I Got Was Joni Mitchell-Induced Feelings by Aarushi Agni went viral. We wanted to give our writers more room to push the boundaries.

The issue launches online today, and we’ll be releasing a few pieces each week both here on Substack and on our website. Print hits stands June 22.

Out of Body seemed obvious. There are so many places to take this theme. It’s metaphysical and spiritual and contradictory all at once. Inside our bodies, at the core of ourselves, is the source. It’s where we tap into our gut, our intuition, our highest wisdom. Ironically, the most efficient way to tap into that source is by getting out of the body.

There are a plethora of ways to get out of the body. There’s transcendental meditation, hard drugs, exposure therapy, and cardio. There’s a perfectly-playlisted hot vinyasa session, a traumatic and life-altering event, cold plunging into the Pacific Ocean, and of course, hitting rock bottom. Whether you intend to momentarily part from your body through pilates or psychedelics, you won’t come back quite the same as before.

This issue of Byline explores EMDR, dissociation, body alteration, AI, Ozempic, abortion, the high of sexting, and the low that comes after. On one cover, painter Tallulah Dirnfeld embodies girlhood through a depiction of delicate, light-blue boyshorts. On another, the photographer Etienne Francey captures metamorphosis with a blue moth. Both works represent bodily phases, physical forms, and the spiritual implications they carry.

We also feature an essay from the actor Karan Brar, recipes from downtown’s favorite chef Flynn McGarry, a story from the comedian Stephanie D’Agostini, words from the actress Mary Neely, and a piece from the internet’s comeback girl Caroline Calloway, just to name a few. We’ll be dropping several stories a week to keep you satiated.

Finally, we partnered with Athleta—which, if you haven’t heard by now, is the sportswear brand of choice for the girls. In a story about moving through it, we interviewed three New Yorkers—Rileigh Cunningham, Reese Star, and Alvina Bokhari—about the intersection of movement, energy, and intuition.

We hope you love it all. Reading is another way to briefly leave your bodily form, so have at it.

Last, but most certainly not least: Don’t forget to subscribe to Byline. Here’s why we launched subscriptions. TLDR: It’s a really great way to spend $5.

- Megan O'Sullivan and Gutes Guterman

AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR CREATIVE DIRECTOR, MADELINE MONTOYA

To truly have an out of body experience, you have to look within. The more we look inward, the more we allow ourselves to open up and live outward. Sometimes this requires turning yourself inside out, inverting expectations, or reflecting. In this issue of Byline, the layout takes on this same exercise. Every color combo lives with its inverse on the color wheel. While designing this issue, I sometimes found the inverse of the colors surprising. Sometimes the inverse of the colors I picked was better than anything I could have thought of on my own. The same way our writers have turned themselves inside out through reflection and expression, the visual direction shows you what’s inside and out.