Issue 71: Sophia Di Martino
True patriotism springs from a belief in the dignity of the individual, freedom and equality not only for Americans but for all people on earth.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
THE EDITOR’S NOTE
Growing up, I was a Cartoon Network kid. This isn’t all that interesting because so many of us were too — well, maybe Nickelodeon or Disney if I’m going to be pedantic. But Cartoon Network was were it was at! Dexter’s Lab, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Cow and Chicken, Courage, Ed Edd and Eddy. Saturday cartoons were these weird, nihilistic, surreal pieces that definitely served to set up the millennial and older gen z for some odd relationship with philosophy. For me, Cartoon Network was the first real insight into that great big land across the Pacific. It was a constant stream of this other culture, kind of like ours but altogether different. When I got older, and looked to The Simpsons, Friends, Scrubs, and The Sopranos, there was a fascination there with America. The people, the way of life, the fact they were these little countries that weren’t actually countries but might as well have been sharing the same President, the same currency, the same brands of cars. As you grow up, a cloud descends of the childlike wonderment, you become aware of the murky grey, the history and the present embroiled in awful attitudes and laws. What was once this mythical other world is corrupted by the truth, and the fascination wanes. But there’s a listlessness in it, a longing for magic, for a better place. So this issue is all about the American Dream, a celebration of the uniqueness and triumph of those who endure despite that waning wonder, for those who try to make the world a better place for all of us whether it’s through defiance, through criticism, through making their own magic.
What is it the Statue of Liberty says?
‘I lift my lamp beside the golden door!’
BETH BENNETT
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF