Everything seems to be falling apart at a fantastic rate.
As I sit here typing this letter, Trump (I will not call him the President) has fired the Attorney General, Sally Yates, for saying what we’re all thinking— that he is a lunatic unfit to run a washing machine, let alone a country. People have not stopped resisting, protesting, for ten days. Longer than that, I guess. It seems there is no end in sight. Have you been making calls to your representatives day in and day out? Are you exhausted?
I am.
I met Matthew last year, at AWP in Los Angeles, and shortly after that he asked me to help with the social media coordinating. When I moved to California in October, we became good friends, and when he expressed an uncertainty about the future of the journal, I was eager to help take the load off his shoulders for a while so he could focus on his own writing.
When I took over as interim EIC for Drunk Monkeys, I was excited. I still am.
I’m excited because out of fear and anger and hopelessness comes the power of writing. We write every day. Even if it’s not political writing, all writing, the mere act of writing, is political. And when you send us your work—whatever it is, you are exercising your right to be heard. And I want to hear you. We want to hear you.
Hello, my name is Kolleen. And I will be your Editor in Chief for a while. It may take me a bit to get the hang of it, but it’s nice to meet you, all the same.
Keep your heads up.
1/30/17