A Note to Our Readers

Dear Friends,

Today, we were scheduled to launch “Dispatches from New Orleans,” a weeklong series of essays and art from one of the most unique cities in the United States.  

But after carefully considering the current state of affairs in which we find ourselves as a country, we’ve made the decision to postpone the series for one week out of respect for the lives lost to racism and police brutality, and as a show of solidarity with those risking their health and their lives to protest.

In place of the series, we have decided to reserve this week for anyone who wishes to use our site as an avenue of expression or a way to process their understanding of the tragedy with which we are all wrestling.

We considered whether we should postpone the New Orleans series for a longer period, until we had a better understanding of what is to come, but to do so would be to pretend that this crisis is one with a determinate beginning and end, rather than a heightened moment of awareness of a systemic tragedy transpiring over generations. 

As such, we will almost certainly – barring any significant developments – run “Dispatches from New Orleans” beginning on June 8. Just as we feel it is imperative to dedicate our site this week to those who want to speak out against police brutality and for a more just and equitable system, we believe it is important for us to continue acting as a venue for people living in an amplified moment of loneliness, loss to disease and political turmoil. Still, we will be creating a new special section of the site in which we will archive and continue to add any submissions we publish that speak out on the issues for which so many are now protesting.

Alongside the struggles, we are living amid a flourishing of creative expression, and we have been very proud that this site has been an avenue for people to express their pain and their joy. And there is perhaps no American city that better represents the co-mingling of sorrow and revelry than New Orleans. So, we look forward to sharing the beautiful works we received from so many wonderful authors from that city, and even when it does run, our site will continue to hold space for anyone who wishes to use it to express their desire for a more just and equitable society.  

We encourage you to invite anyone who you think might have something to say about recent events to send it our way—including yourselves. 

Sincerely, and in solidarity,
Stewart Sinclair
Editor-in-Chief, 433