Transcending the past.
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By Aaron Richner / St. Paul, MN
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Sunday, 04 May 2008 |
Our pain, and how we bear it, defines us. It is only through suffering that we can appreciate joy, and it is only during times of duress that we can know how strong we are. Trauma alone can tell us if we will break under the stress, or if we will persevere to thrive during better times. As spring spreads across the land, I see physical evidence of nature's power of perseverance in the flowers that bloom and the leaves that burst forth after the long, cold winter. In this issue, we look at the power of human resilience.
We begin with Stephanie Yao’s stunning visual essay Afghanistan, which reveals a strong people struggling to move beyond their war-torn past. Accompanying these images is Angie Chuang’s essay Life after the theocracy, which highlights two university professors’ memories of life in Kabul, Afghanistan before the Taliban.
Next, we look at the trauma that individuals inflict upon themselves. In 1999, journalist Ted Conover wrote the book Newjack about his experiences as a guard at New York's infamous Sing Sing prison. This project required Conover, a normally reserved and peaceful person, to adopt the persona of a hardened corrections officer. In his story Crossing the line, Rafael Enrique Valero explores how much of his true self Conover was forced to repress and the effects this experience continues to have on his psyche.
Another repressed trauma is the collective wounds of the legacy of slavery. Barack Obama's historic presidential run has brought the simmering issue of racial tension to the forefront of popular culture and has prompted the art world to ask whether art created by African Americans is “black art.” Michael Miller explores the debate in his article Is it black art, or just plain art?
The best way to overcome the past may be to look to the future. This is the thinking in the 20 states that allow 17-year-olds to participate in the primary process, as long as they will be eligible to vote in the fall. In Should 17-year-olds vote in the primaries?, Jane Wolkowicz considers both sides of the issue, including the first-hand experiences of a 17-year-old who participated in Minnesota's Republican Caucus in February.
Courtney J. Campbell takes us away from the democratic process and shares five poems that explore the love, loss, and life in Brazil. Accompanying her poems are photos that evoke a strong sense of place, lending her verse a visceral power.
And last but never least, our books editor Amy Brozio-Andrews has reviewed Alison Larkin's novel The English American, which considers a British woman’s struggle to reconcile her American roots when she reconnects with her biological parents.
Aaron Richner
Editor
St. Paul, Minnesota
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