From the Editors of Quarterly West: 

In the wake of national events, the past month has left many confused, fearful, and uncertain. And yet, the ability to hold uncertainty simultaneously in close proximity and at a studied distance is, perhaps, the greatest strength of good art; it is no simple accident that uncertain times often prompt one to reach for the arts.

The phrase “[art] makes nothing happen,” now-ubiquitous and attributed to Auden, suggests a breed of hermetic isolationism—the ivory tower’s diminished perspective—which lived-experience easily disproves. Any objet d’art, whatever it may be, cannot exist divorced from a subject; it is neither atemporal nor impersonal.

Far from being cavalier or immaterial, an aesthetic ought to be considered an off-shoot of political ideology, if not the root-stock itself. Art acts on our bodies in real and measurable ways.

In this vein, the editors of Quarterly West reaffirm our commitment to realizing a fierce and unapologetic inclusivity—of authors’ identities, aesthetics, and ideologies. We reaffirm our commitment to actively work against ableism, racism, xenophobia, anti-immigrant sentiment, transphobia, homophobia, and misogyny.
 
Sincerely,

Eds.