Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1544361
12 maconmagazine.com | April/May 2026 I t feels unspoken, maybe unimaginable, but not unreal. We host the interview, capture the photos, take the notes, distill the information, and write the story that you read, while we archive it all. And even then, the best parts are what's often not in these pages: what our subjects share when the camera isn't on, when the recorder is turned off. Sometimes it's "off the record," as journalists say, but other times, the moment just eludes capture. Writer Edna Adams interviewed Franchesca and Maliyha, talented young students who played softball with Macon RBI (pg. 78). Their shyness and youth was a reminder for Edna… and maybe for me, too. "At the end of the day, we are all just girls. Even now, as women, I think our dreams and mindset as young girls never really go away," she told me. What other off-the-page moments connected our contributors to their womanhood (and girlhood)? Our cover feature, Brenda, felt like researching genealogy and history helped contextualize her world (and our city). Upon seeing her image in the magazine, she shared a photo of herself in her 20s. Realizing she was writing a new chapter of her own story, she was moved to tears (pg. 44). Another featured voice, Amelia, shared with writer Erin Hall that she has not birthed a child. She is a stepmom and parents that way, but had personal, physical factors that kept her from giving birth. "She is a death doula, and feels like she births, guides, brings someone through in a way that is similar to mothering work (pg. 104)." "Abigail is encouraging and uplifting. She's just a very genuine soul," writer Sarah Leonardo shared about the subject of our new feature, Macon Inner Spaces (pg. 100). As Julia and I hosted the women in tech roundtable discussion (pg. 36), I observed high- powered women of four major Macon institutions who had never met. I sensed a palpable ease as the conversation continued, comraderie seen in the photos shot afterwards. "While interviewing Najiva, I could see the joy and happiness in her eyes while talking about her family and how she recognizes many other girls may not have those same roots. She values legacy, and she realizes the importance of reaching back and bringing others along," writer Brittny Johnson said of the founder of Girls Dig Deeper (pg. 86). We only know what people will tell us. The unspeakable is often also unthinkable, but not imaginary. How layered we are — through trials and triumphs. Before we become all of this, we are girls, learning our way through life in uncaptured moments. "We were country people in Brooks County, Georgia, who did not know we were poor. When my Miami cousins came to visit each summer, they took pictures. So here I am, holding my Raggedy Ann doll," MM Cofounding Editor Joni Woolf wrote to me. Here's to the girls before they experience the waves of life, before they (re)write history in their own very real ways. Editor's letter | APRIL/MAY 2026 Editor, Susannah Cox Maddux @susannahcmaddux T h a t g i r l i s l ay i ng a fo u n d a t i o n fo r a l e ga c y. O n e d ay, s h e' l l re w r i te o u r s to r y. W e ' r e a l w a y s l i s t e n i n g . S h a r e w h a t r e s o n a t e s w i t h y o u f r o m t h e i s s u e a t h e l l o @ m a c o n m a g a z i n e . c o m . ABOVE: Susannah and Managing Editor Julia Morrison join our Women in Tech leaders after a spirited roundtable. RIGHT: MM contributors to The Women's Issue shared photos of their journey as girls. In order, from top left and clockwise: social media manager Autumn VanGunten; writer Brittny Johnson; contributor Dr. Keisha R. Callins, MD, MPH; former Editor and Publisher Jodi Palmer; Susannah; writer Ellen Katz; Cofounder Editor Joni Woolf; writer Edna Adams; Julia; writer Erin Hall; photographer Jessica Whitley; writer Sarah Leonardo; designer Lisa McSorley; designer Elizabeth Schorr; and intern Ali Sulko. Join us for more conversation and coworking May 14 Mill Hill Community Art Center in partnership with Cox Communications Join our email list to keep in touch. maconmagazine.com