George Orwell didn’t like the concept of Utopia.  He believed Utopia is no fun.  In his essay “Can Socialists Be Happy,” he reminds us that in most of the literature written over the past four hundred years, any “positive” portrayals of Utopia – which he points out does not mean a “good place” but a “non-existent place” – have been “unappetizing” places that, while having solved the social ills of poverty, war, ignorance and disease, are antiseptic places “lacking in vitality” – not to mention booze and cigarets.

Fear not!

Because if we have learned anything over the past three years in general and the past four months in particular it is that we are living in an incredibly imperfect, chaotic world full of injustice, oppression, ignorance, and rage.  And, still, disease.

But it is out of this turmoil, this hot mess, this mayhem that great art is always born.

The protests and culture clashes brought on by the war in Vietnam influenced music and art in the sixties.  Stevie Wonder was so influenced by the scandals of Richard Nixon that he wrote his hit song “You Haven’t Done Nothin” as a personal mash note to Tricky Dick.  And there is little doubt that the harsh policies of the Reagan administration – and their negative impact on black communities across the country – laid the foundation for the explosion of Rap music and Hip Hop culture in the eighties.

Artists thrive on chaos and commotion.  Bedlam and pandemonium fuel the imagination, and action follows.  It is the oppression that cause the rage that inspires the song that spurs the action that makes the change that we all wish to be.  Art will always rise to meet the moment.

In the digital pages of this Issue 10 representing the Summer of  2020, you will hopefully experience and be inspired by some of that rage, some of that angst and some of that song.  We still don’t know if it’s safe to go outside, yet we feel compelled to be part of the action, part of the motion, part of the movement towards a better, a more perfect world – a good place – whether it exists or not.  It’s the effort that counts; the attempt.

Keep reading.  Keep creating.  Keep it moving forward.  But wear a mask, wash your hands, keep your distance and visit the Thieving Magpie regularly.