a note from the editor

As a journal dedicated to the theme of "nature and humankind", it is easy for us at times to focus on nature so exclusively that we forget about humanity. Well, the welfare of humankind is at the forefront of my mind these days, what with these months of unrest in the United States following yet another incident of police killing a person of color.

The protests are not the result of aimless ill-will or shiftless violence. They are a reaction to centuries of injustice in a country whose defenders make much out of it having been founded on virtues of liberty and equality. They are the result of a long history of state and structural oppression of certain demographic groups, and an outcry against acts of great violence which occur without repercussion.

Against an unjust status quo, we have to stand together. Those with privilege must voice support for those who are forcibly silenced. When speech is not enough, those with more privilege must stand alongside those with less, for solidarity, or in front of them, for protection. Of course, in a time of pandemic, the prospect of "standing together" is somewhat more perilous than usual.

Quarantine is difficult. Beyond being emotionally taxing, the requirements of physical distancing have burdened many of us, myself included, with unprecedented economic hardship. Our graduations have gone digital; our weddings and birthdays have been postponed; our dental appointments have been canceled; our jobs have been furloughed. We joke that, given the withdrawal of so many humans into their homes, nature might be healing, the birds flourishing in the forests and the deer in the fields. but then, we are desperate to find some ray of light in this moment of darkness.

By the same motive, we try to interpret quarantine as a wonderful opportunity for creative types to create, as if it were a vacation rather than a shelter-in-place crisis accompanied by hundreds of thousands of deaths. There is no impetus to create now, no expectation placed upon you. Take this time to heal, to help those around you if possible, and above all, to survive. I'll check in with you again in our winter issue, when I hope to greet you from better days in a kinder world. Solidarity now, solidarity forever.

— Cory Willingham, Editor

<< return to the Table of Contents for New Series #9: Summer 2020, Volume 5 Number 1