Editor’s Introduction

The effects of Covid-19, years of political strife and polarization, potential threats to U.S. democracy, the shadow of war and its potential to go nuclear, the upending of legal precedent, and what seems like an uncertain future have all informed the era in which this issue was created. People are attempting to redefine their relationships to their vocations, the government, and ideologies that once seemed like a bedrock of their identities. The cumulative effect of all of these matters could easily lead to malaise, if not outright nihilism, as uncertain times can cause tighter clinging to the things we prize or their outright rejection. Even the very nature of what we identify as reality no longer feels as substantial. With “alternative facts,” “deepfake” videos, and an ever-widening credibility gap between what is said and what is done, the idea of the “real” seems ever more tenuous. Indifference and cynicism, if...