Many pixels have been tingled over the tragedy/scandal/investigation at the Virginia Quarterly Review, and while the story continues to unspool, Steve Almond’s numbered essay (I am a sucker for the numbered essay) at The Rumpus, which you may already have seen linked to all over the place, continues to strike me as the best response to the whole sorrowful mess.
We’re going to destroy ourselves as a species if we lose the capacity to imagine the suffering of others. One way to do this – the best way – is via our imaginations, via storytelling. It’s our job to help spread that particular virus, in our work and our lives.