New Session was born in an upheaval, during the peak of the COVID pandemic,
before the first vaccines had been made available. Born in the wake of a burning
police precinct in Minneapolis. At the time, it felt important to imagine what
we could pull from the wreckage of the past as we went headlong into the future.
While there are people who sift through that rubble to see what might be worth saving,
there are others who force us all to live in the wreckage.
We are living in the wreckage now and it is killing us.
All preexisting violence is amplified, trickling blood from mortal wounds turns
into a torrent. An upheaval, then, is a process. There is no one moment
in which it's realized, but rather, each of us makes a decision to finally
listen to the voices that have been telling us for years that we can't go on
this way.
I don't know what comes next, for New Session or for the world. Looking to the
past for inspiration feels quaint when compared to the urgent work of not being
crushed by the future.
To everyone reading this: look to the future, and look to each other. The past
is a monster we are stuck inside and it's eating us alive.
Climb out, somehow, even if what's outside is terrifying.
I'll see you on the other side.
before the first vaccines had been made available. Born in the wake of a burning
police precinct in Minneapolis. At the time, it felt important to imagine what
we could pull from the wreckage of the past as we went headlong into the future.
While there are people who sift through that rubble to see what might be worth saving,
there are others who force us all to live in the wreckage.
We are living in the wreckage now and it is killing us.
All preexisting violence is amplified, trickling blood from mortal wounds turns
into a torrent. An upheaval, then, is a process. There is no one moment
in which it's realized, but rather, each of us makes a decision to finally
listen to the voices that have been telling us for years that we can't go on
this way.
I don't know what comes next, for New Session or for the world. Looking to the
past for inspiration feels quaint when compared to the urgent work of not being
crushed by the future.
To everyone reading this: look to the future, and look to each other. The past
is a monster we are stuck inside and it's eating us alive.
Climb out, somehow, even if what's outside is terrifying.
I'll see you on the other side.
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Editor's Note by Cara Esten Hurtle, page 1