Falter

The past year has been one of tumult, filled with determination and false starts; redoubled efforts and hesitation; tear- and joy- filled phone and Zoom calls filling the physical and emotional gaps of this pandemic — often many hours longer than would otherwise be necessary, but never long enough; shattering loss, and grief, and outrage at the violence so many are subjected to every day, the virus stripping bare inequities from police brutality to economic precarity to plain neglect; and, in the face of that subjugation, magical moments of outrage and movement and love.

So for our final issue, we have selected the theme “falter” — and everything the term carries with it:

To dream, and plan, and set out.

To stop, be blocked, or get lost along the way.

To lose or abandon hope; and recognizing that which is false.

Leaning and providing support.

Reflection: A change in directions, perhaps a circling back.

And, when and if possible, to recover.

Or, if preferable, to reimagine.

By Madison A. Shirazi