As a reader of the debut issue of Forbes & Fifth, we hope you find yourself not only poring over the type of writing that best suits your interests, but also lingering on some aspects of scholarship that feel foreign to you. The idea of "arts and sciences" itself unites two concepts that so often appear at odds with each other, and this magazine strives to unite the arts and the sciences under a new banner:  interdisciplinary collaboration. We are a student-led and student-run magazine with the goal of connecting the most abstract ideas - like carbon chains and Mongolian folk music - just as Forbes and Fifth Avenues bring all of the unique ethnicities, backgrounds, and interests of our university together. Our vision is that you, our reader, can take away from the magazine a kind of appreciation for all the disciplines at the University of Pittsburgh and learn from them, thereby growing in your own interests through the knowledge of others.

We have strived to publish a magazine that honors creativity both verbally and visually: from research to design, from verse to illustration. We hope our approach encourages you to read and possibly submit to us in the future. In order to showcase the intellectual diversity here at the University of Pittsburgh, we welcome your ideas. They ultimately lead us to new possibilities and help us to succeed not only in representing the University itself, but in representing you - as artists, as scientists, and as individuals.

So whether you're a chemistry guru or a poetic charmer, as you turn the pages in our first edition, be prepared to open your mind to new expeceriences. As humans, we rely on each other to teach us something new about ourselves. The similarities that we find in each other may bring us together, but the differences between us fuel change and mold us into who we are. After all, like Forbes & Fifth, we may be heading in opposite directions, but we will forever stand side by side.

Hail to Pitt.

- The Editors