Forbes and Fifth

Message from Katherine Mooney

Dear Readers,

When last we spoke, I asked you all to be streetlights among drunkards. I would like to elaborate on this request because, perhaps, it was an unfair one—or rather, an untrue one. We need drunkards in this life; we need them because drunkards are beacons of a truer, grittier diversity. They are often crude, but in this life the truth often bears many faces. Drunkards are a part of a diversity that we pretend does not exist.

Who can blame us? We never want to see the drunkard—someone who disagrees with our ideas, values, and opinions—as a human. But accepting the drunkard is key to understanding the entire point of wading through the muck of life: empathy. Acknowledging diversity is accepting and understanding the drunkard, no matter how difficult. Acknowledging diversity is the act of selfless empathizing; it is the act of accepting the drunkards within ourselves.

This particular edition of Forbes & Fifth is not unearthing the juxtaposition of conflicting articles and ideas; it is bringing to light the nuanced relationships and connections among them. Far from the darkness of our imagined horrors, controversial articles, which pivot around ideas that are foreign or seemingly contrary to our own, are life-giving. One can never exist without the other, just as illumination cannot exist without darkness. After all, what successful garden births only one species of flower?

And with that, we—the editors—are pleased to present to you our own varied garden: our “Medley.” Over the past year, the newness of Forbes & Fifth has warmed and matured to an aged, plum-red, full-bodied wine. “Medley” is a testament to our proposed “blended red.”

Happy reading,

Katherine Mooney
Editor-in-Chief

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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