We
Can Do Better
It
is hard these days to feel like the work I’m
doing matters. Instead of sitting behind a desk,
shouldn’t I be out there, putting my body on the
line as young students get locked up for simply
speaking up, as children get torn from parents
who are disappeared to prisons overseas, as even
sitting judges get arrested on trumped-up
charges?
I
grapple with this question all the time as the
Trump administration wages an increasingly cruel
war against the people of this nation.
But
then I get to editing stories like our Summer
print issue cover feature by Hannah Palmer,
about how her search for swimmable waters in the
US South led to her discovery of the region’s
environmental history, its water policy, and the
racial politics of public spaces. And Eric
Freedman’s profile of researchers who dedicate
their lives to seeking out and helping save
previously unknown species. And Viola Kerekes’
account of her work with a herd of the last wild
horse species left on Earth, which includes this
incredible factoid — she knows the nearly 300
horses in the herd by name.
Stories
like these remind me that there are people out
there still working away in their own spaces to
better this world. They remind me of what
legendary writer-activist James Baldwin said in
reference to the power of individuals to create
positive change and inspire others: “The world
is held together, really it is held together, by
the love and the passion of very few people.”
And they remind me, also, of the value of
bringing these narratives to you.
Storytelling,
after all, is such an integral part of being
human. Stories allow us to share information in
ways that help us make sense of the world around
us and of our place in it.
None
of the features in our new issue (which we will
start rolling out online next week) deal
directly with the massive negative impact the
new political regime is having on just about
every aspect of our lives, climate and
environment included. But in some ways, that
omission in itself is an act of resistance. Why
give oxygen to narratives of fear that are
already circulating out there, that breed
division and isolation at a time when we should
be building community and fostering hope for the
future?
While
the Journal doesn’t hesitate to ring the
alarm bell when needed, perhaps our role during
these dark days is to ensure we tell more
stories that show us that good persists, love
persists — and that simply doing what you love
can also be a form of resistance.
*
After
two-and-a-half years as the Journal’s associate
editor, Brian Calvert has moved on to a staff
reporter and contributing editor position at
Civil Eats, a publication we admire and
have had several collaborations with. He is
missed, but we wish him the very best at his new
venture.
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