Our one-hundred-and-ninth issue is something of an anomaly, as it contains much loss and destruction—of the environment, of others, of the self. Yet as the nettle’s sting is soothed by the jewelweed that grows alongside it, each piece holds some key ingredient that makes its burdens easier to bear: beauty, laughter, resilience.
There are so many things to worry about right now, and trying to keep up with what we need to do, to think, and to feel threatens to overwhelm us at every moment. We hope the words of James Donlon, Robert Garnham, K. Noel Moore, Nick Olson, Namit V. Shah, and Ali A. Ünal, as well as the art of Angelica Gonzalez, will provide an antidote to despair.