Complaint

Complaint

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Walk out the front door, the dog tugs
Boyishly at the leash.
I sit at my desk. A breeze
Floats up from Oakdale on the hottest day of the year.
This is the climate of reason.

But in the climate of no reason
I look out the window at midnight.
My mother appears in a red coat, raking the leaves.

Always she wore that coat in autumn,
The tattered wool, the large
Black buttons,
But only to rake leaves.

Why my house was built on the dividing line
I cannot say. Walk out the front door,
Somebody dies.
Walk out the back,
The rabbit jumps out of his hole.

Bedroom in one world, kitchen in another—
You could say it’s always
September here,
Every day the first day of school.

The bus is waiting.
I’ve got books, my lunch,
My gym clothes in a plastic bag.

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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