“We thought—I thought—we were making progress. Perhaps we are. Perhaps this event is simply part of the journey.” After The Election: Lunch Ticket’s Team Creates A polyphony Of hope

November 8th 2016 will forever be known as the sad end of an arduous campaign and the beginning of a contested reign. This election has created a large response in opposition to what the red party’s champion stands for, in terms of his known hateful, discriminatory, and misogynistic approach when speaking to and about people of difference. For this reason, those against hate have bounded in solidarity to push back forces that aim to disperse the common goodness that is attributed to the fight for human rights.

The ACLU, The New Yorker, Pen America, Literary Hub, N+1, Winter Tangerine, and numerous authors, writers, and even individuals have all reached out in response to the election. (Please comment below if you’ve found more.)

Lunch Ticket is one of them.

Known for work that bridges the divide between the literary and social justice, Lunch Ticket has a strong influence in the literary and creative world and has used its platform to speak on issues that matter. Wednesday’s Children is the polyphonic collection of voices that strive to bring what we all need at this time: hope.

 

“We the People are broken. We’ll need to lie here for a few moments, to take in its stink, its spectacular reminders of our own humanity. Then we’ll get up, clean up, pick up the very best parts of ourselves: our kindness, compassion, courage to create radical acts of hope and change. Put the rest right where we can see them every day: reminders of the people we truly want to be.” Sherrye Henry Jr. (Proof Edit Manager)

 

“Fog overwhelms my brain and paralyzes my thoughts. This cannot be, this cannot be. I am catastrophizing—there’s no way my country’s President-elect is as filled with hate as he has led on. There’s no way that he will allow and encourage the hate and fear that powered his campaign.” Zoe Siegel (Amuse-Bouche Editor)

 

“Tuesday, I voted in a swing state. My vote mattered. Wearing my pantsuit with my Woman Card tucked in my blazer pocket, I stood over my ballot and didn’t cry. I smiled. I wanted to write words of hope today because I’d been affirmed by democracy’s embrace as a nasty woman. Now I shudder in my white skin.

I’m not his white.” Katelyn Keating (Blogger, Creative Nonfiction Co-Editor)

 

“I fell asleep to the heartbeat buzzing of my phone, filled with groups of texts from people organizing, expressing love, emphasizing self-care, and committing themselves to doing the hard work that faces us.” Jane-Rebecca Cannarella (Flash Co-Editor)

 

“I am so sorry that this country did not understand your fear. I am so sorry that so many white people do not take your well-being as a priority. I am so ashamed that this country did not understand the fear my wife feels when she hears that over half the population is aligned with the KKK. Four more years of this pain. I am truly sorry I did not do more to speak out.”
Josh Roark (Web Manager)

 
Our journey now is made together; we must hold steady to our convictions and hold true to our values; we must stand together and create spaces where hope can bloom and words can become valued anchors that hold us aground during this moment and onwards. As Heather Hewson, Art Editor for Lunch Ticket, has illustrated, “Welcome to sanctuary house and our virtual neighborhood of loving kindness.” Welcome to our neighborhood. Welcome indeed.

 

• • •

Heather Hewson, Art Editor for Lunch Ticket

Read the words from all who spoke
Mary Birnbaum, Lunch Ticket Blog Editor / Diana Odasso, Managing Editor / Sherrye Henry Jr., Proof Edit Manager / Angela Bullock, Blogger / Heather Hewson, Art Editor / Josh Roark, Web Manager / Juliann Emmons Allison, Blogger, MARCOMM Manager / Meredith Arena, Creative Nonfiction and Art Assistant Editor / Levi Rogers, Blogger, Creative Nonfiction Co-Editor / Zoe Siegel, Amuse-Bouche Editor / Doni Shepard, Poetry Editor / Jane-Rebecca Cannarella, Flash Co-Editor / Katelyn Keating, Blogger, Creative Nonfiction Co-Editor

 

¡PSST! ©2016 The Black Lion Journal. Words are from Lunch Ticket’s team. Header image by Heather Hewson, Art Editor for Lunch Ticket.

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