Autumn Journal

Autumn Journal

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Gingerly the moon moves near the hilltop church
and slides around the transept, slow, to peer
inside the cloister. No: those are not friars there,
but children… outside their nests. She rests
against a brim of wind. Their wings are hurt…
But lying in ordered rows of narrow beds
they’re all asleep, as if they’re tired. Tired
from flying, at least in dreams, and so in dreams
their mothers hold them close against warm skin.
The moon, she listens in. She doesn’t want
to wake them, she only wants to see. And then
she leaves, but rises high. She needs to make
the hilltops gleam, and drape a sheen across the sea,
but too she sends a beam back down to where
the children sleep. And up she climbs, up
through the sky, the high good sky, and searches
far and wide to find the stars. Where are the stars?
She scans the sky. Where can they be? She wants
to tell the faultless virgin stars what she has seen.

(translated from the Italian by Taije Silverman and Marina Della Putta Johnston)

We cannot back down

We now confront a second Trump presidency.

There’s not a moment to lose. We must harness our fears, our grief, and yes, our anger, to resist the dangerous policies Donald Trump will unleash on our country. We rededicate ourselves to our role as journalists and writers of principle and conscience.

Today, we also steel ourselves for the fight ahead. It will demand a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis, and humane resistance. We face the enactment of Project 2025, a far-right supreme court, political authoritarianism, increasing inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis, and conflicts abroad. The Nation will expose and propose, nurture investigative reporting, and stand together as a community to keep hope and possibility alive. The Nation’s work will continue—as it has in good and not-so-good times—to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and deep reporting, and to further solidarity in a nation divided.

Armed with a remarkable 160 years of bold, independent journalism, our mandate today remains the same as when abolitionists first founded The Nation—to uphold the principles of democracy and freedom, serve as a beacon through the darkest days of resistance, and to envision and struggle for a brighter future.

The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

I urge you to stand with The Nation and donate today.

Onwards,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

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