11.03.10
TWO
briana
nichols
nichols
adam
fitzgerald
fitzgerald
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11.01.2010
THE GORGIAS
THE GORGIAS
We were born without anthems. Where our forebears converged in arenas, waving white flags, we listened passively.
One month before my fifth birthday, my historian mother forced me to watch CNN as Berlin's citizens destroyed a wall. Not all my peers had such a prescient tutor, but the moment molded our collective memory. As adolescents, we witnessed the collapse of Cold War systems in society and politics. But as war fermented, and a recession festered, we abandoned our duty to history. From a failing hegemony came contested campaigns, moral panic and auto-tune on the airwaves. It was a time of dangerous lullaby.
One month before my fifth birthday, my historian mother forced me to watch CNN as Berlin's citizens destroyed a wall. Not all my peers had such a prescient tutor, but the moment molded our collective memory. As adolescents, we witnessed the collapse of Cold War systems in society and politics. But as war fermented, and a recession festered, we abandoned our duty to history. From a failing hegemony came contested campaigns, moral panic and auto-tune on the airwaves. It was a time of dangerous lullaby.
Then, we connected. Online, we watched together as secret information begat public access. Fortnight Journal documents 14 nascent minds formed in the moment when free information burst open ancient constraints of lucky birth.
Like an anthem, this journal is structured on call and response. Fortnight looks to reconcile precedent and pedagogy to the outspoken tendency of the internet cohort. Each Quarter One contributor seeks humble initiation. Emerging talents—from artisans, to polymaths—they work in common pursuit of rigor and authenticity.
In a post-career world, they have instead elected vocations. Though variant in genre, origin and persuasion, each of our 14 ask to parse lasting value from passing trend. Uniquely, we are a collaborative bunch, but Fortnight is our formal overture for guidance. We are thus blessed that writer, performer and artist Patti Smith serves in this issue as our first luminary mentor.
An "anthem of a generation" too often implies burning self-concern; let us now reclaim a genre intended for tribute.
Yours,
Samantha Hinds
"THE LIFE OF GORGIAS." HERE BEGINS THE
VENTURE, RIPENING FROM EPHEMERA TO
PROSE-POEM. WITH THE FEVERISH IMPULSE
OF A DIGITAL ARCHIVIST, ADAM DOCUMENTS
EXERTION IN THE WRITER'S ROOM. view more >>
VENTURE, RIPENING FROM EPHEMERA TO
PROSE-POEM. WITH THE FEVERISH IMPULSE
OF A DIGITAL ARCHIVIST, ADAM DOCUMENTS
EXERTION IN THE WRITER'S ROOM. view more >>
