THEME: MARRIAGE
The editors have been thinking a lot about marriage lately. The reason? Simple. We got married two months ago. The prompt followed:
Our dog doesn’t like it when we kiss. She rejects “We are not two, we are one.” She whines “We are not two, we are three.” We think it might be possible that marriage will prohibit us from becoming proper rolling stones. “We’ll all go together” we tell her. You love all the different combinations. I reject the idea of total merger. I want to listen to the 1961 My Favorite Things in a spotless apartment. You don’t even like jazz. You’re in a punk rock band. (You tell me “really, you don’t have to come to every single show.”) You strive on refrains, I prefer slight dissonance. Now we had to go and get the government involved. I want a future grandchild to ask the story behind why our marriage license is from Montgomery County. You don’t find this as fascinating as me. And here you’re the one who majored in history.
Take marriage with a grain of divorce. Give us unions and give us jazz (or punk rock, or country). We’re in this for life now, so give us everything you got.
The editors have been thinking a lot about what’s behind that age ole’ “sickness and in health” bit as well. Two days after our wedding, Holiday’s grandfather was diagnosed with bladder cancer. What’s resulted is that in these first two months of our own marriage we have watched a couple with 67 years of marriage behind them leaning into each other with all they’ve got. (Their clasped hands also grace the cover of this issue.)
These personal experiences that have pushed us to deeply ponder the theme of marriage are reflected in how this issue has come together: many of our choices of authors/artists are those who have been married decades. And they gave it to us. Everything. The beginning and endings, and the great mystery of it all in between. The leanings in. The leavings. Sometimes the desires for both at once.
On this last day of Pride month, and with our country in such a devastating place with the recent dismantling of Roe vs. Wade, we urge you to remember that marriage is something that has not always been about love, but about the fight for justice. Who we have been allowed to marry (and why) has been something highly politicalized. Interracial marriage was only legalized in the US in 1967. Same-sex marriage: 2015. Religious sacrament or secular courtship, (or perhaps you don’t need that paper at all) our right to pick who we live our lives with, and how, is something to be revered. I hope in viewing these pieces, that reverence needs no more explanation.
June 30th 2022
A Little Bit Past The Summer Solstice
Nashville, TN