First Saturday of Summer in Virginia

First Saturday of Summer in Virginia

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Day lilies dotting the ditches orange,
between tilting mailboxes, amid blue chicory
and swales of yellow buttercups.

Northwest on Jefferson Highway, alert for bright
yellow signs printed YARD SALE,
freight train clanging on my right. To follow

arrows onto gravel driveways through the woods
to arrive at run-down trailers or two-story
homes with wraparound porches, wide front lawns

and tables of children’s clothing, glassware,
games, dolls, obsolete electronics. All around,
blue tarps on wet grass with bags of worn quilts

and sheets, paired shoes and boots, jeans laid out
like Civil War soldiers piled in an open grave.
To drive from sale to sale as the sun climbs

the sky, blue as Hollywood eyes, coffee
in a GO cup. To end at the Art & Craft Show
at St. Jude’s, where men with orange flags direct parking

across the street from mounds of mulch, gravel, sand,
compost. To watch a teen tap dance to the beat
of a jangly country song, swirling her flared skirt.

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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