Dear friends & readers,
When it comes to decision-making, is Fear still winning? Is sense being trumped by splash? Guernica‘s March issue examines these questions; Mark Dowie takes apart the McCainian myth that a nuclear renaissance would be a boon: “The frequently repeated notion that nuclear power is a carbon-free energy source is simply untrue.” And Guernica‘s Swetha Regunathan, in India when Chennai floods coincided with terrorist attacks in Mumbai, asks if terrorism is really a bigger threat than weather. Should we be allotting our resources based on perception? “I noticed the prevalence of the word ‘senseless’ as an adjective to describe terrorist attacks,” she writes. “To be without sense was to be as a force of nature, like heavy rain.”
Our poetry and fiction selections, funnily enough (we didn’t plan it), focus on stupidity and violence. Plus, in the art section: perhaps the world’s largest photograph, alongside painted images from Islamic art over digitally manipulated depictions of war-torn countries. Details below…
FEATURES: Harm Subsidies: Investigative historian Mark Dowie returns to Guernica with an eye-popping assessment of the nuclear renaissance and its impact on indigenous communities.
FEATURES: Who’ll Stop the Rain: What if the September 11th attacks had coincided with the ravage of Hurricane Katrina? In India during November’s monsoon and the Mumbai attacks, Guernica‘s Swetha Regunathan weighs the connection between weather and terrorism.
BLOG: Tom Engelhardt on what it means to “put a face” on war, especially in “Empire-speak, American-style.”
POETRY: From Suzanne Wise’s “Dumb Show“: “The spine does its turtle charade / and the fingers can be counted on / to dance the spider dance or perform”
FICTION: From “Loyalty,” a short story by Eugene Cross: “We were not inventive people and so we called my friend Crazy Fucker. He took to the name like he took to us, with fierce loyalty.”
ART: Simon Hoegsberg’s “We’re All Gonna Die–100 Meters of Existence” is, perhaps, the world’s longest photograph. It features 178 portraits taken on a railway bridge in Berlin.
In “R&R&R,” Susanne Slavick paints images from Islamic art over digitally manipulated depictions of ruin in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Lebanon.
Thanks for reading…and please stay tuned…
Sincerely,
Joel Whitney & Michael Archer
P.S. If you’d like to help Guernica continue its growth, tell a friend about us, send us suggestions for the magazine, and consider making a donation.
Guernica is celebrating its five-year anniversary this year and we’ll be hosting a blowout fundraiser later in 2009. We’re currently looking for a benefit coordinator. You a party person? Got skills to help us pay the bills? Check out the job listing here.