What do you wish you could escape?

Think about it for a minute. Maybe it’s the news — and that appalled, exhausted feeling a lot of us have when we look at our phones in the morning. Or your surroundings. Maybe it’s a prison cell or a climate crisis. Maybe it’s a job. Or a relationship.

Escape has been on our minds this year. We started seeing stories of escape all around us. So we dedicated a whole issue to the theme — ​escapes big and small, literal and figurative, terrifying and exhilarating and mundane. We also teamed up with our colleagues at Pop-Up Magazine, our “live magazine,” to create a traveling, theatrical escape issue. We’re bringing the show to grand, historic venues in the U.S. and Canada. You can get tickets at popupmagazine.com.

This issue unfolds in three chapters. First, escaping the past. Then, escaping the present. And finally, escaping the future. So, what do you wish you could escape?