You Are Politics
Politics is where we wake up — it is the hope that the structure that exists around us is not actively trying to destroy us.
It is not a time to sit back and disengage. We are not afforded this luxury anymore. It is not a time to leave politics on the fringes of our lives as though it does not dictate them. Politics is not in the White House, or in Syria, or Iraq, or Afghanistan, or just something that happens on the news.
Politics is where we wake up — it is the hope that the structure that exists around us is not actively trying to destroy us. It is the bread I decide to eat, and the person I decide to marry. It is inside the walls of my skin, it is in the way I see myself, and the way I will learn to look at you. It is not a time for us to look away from ourselves. It is not a time for us to cave in to disillusionment; to opt out as if it is a matter of convenience; or to avoid discussion with those we disagree with.
We are at a turning point, and so for our fourth issue, we ask you about your interactions at these intersections: How have you come to reason with the political climate? Where are the times that made you turn around, abandon, or embolden your views? Tell us the narratives that have crumbled, their tipping points, the elements of contradiction you uncovered, and how you rebuilt your beliefs. Because yes, we tell ourselves stories in order to live, but we also tell ourselves lies in order to survive.
The featured image is “Politics” by Murray Falconer
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- 4: You Are Politics
In the fall of 2012, I moved to Kabul, Afghanistan.
On the streets of the two cities is found / a pattern or practice of conduct that violates / the…
Politics is like an awful off-Broadway play that can’t decide whether it’s a tragedy or a comedy.
The morning after the election, I agonized about how to talk with my first-year students about the outcome.
I heard in a Black boy town / there was a pool filled / with red / and the white…
The night of the second presidential debate, I called my mother. It wasn’t supposed to be a political call;
Omar annoyed me for the normal reasons that students annoy teachers.
...there is no literary character more similar to the President-elect than Napoleon Bonaparte as depicted by Tolstoy in War and…
I was born like anyone else. Mom and Dad loved me like anyone else’s parents loved them. Like anyone else,…
It is September 23, 2016, and you’re reading this because our classmates, faculty, campus, community, state, and nation didn’t listen…
The first time I heard about the recording of President-elect Donald Trump bragging about his demeaning treatment of women like…
Day 1: I woke and opened my eyes to a quiet morning, trying to feel if it was the end…
Artist, designer, and teacher Katie Reigner tackles our fourth issue with two pieces of musical poetry accompanied by a watercolor…
This series of hybrid gag panels and short prose is modeled after mid-century children’s comics like Casper, Little Dot, Little…