APOCALYPSE
We equate “apocalypse” with disaster, but it’s also a means of uncovering, of revelation, of great visions, of a turning point. Through interviews, original art, poetry, book excerpts, and fiction we connect with Philadelphia artists and small business owners, explore themes of optimism and existential risk - and of course, there are zombies - in the Winter 2020 issue, APOCALYPSE.

ARTWORK AND PHOTOGRAPHY, Eva Wo, Ash Richards, Nile Livingston, Christopher Spencer, Tiff Urquhart

OPENING SALVO
“Eusocial Distancing” // Be like bees, just not too much, and we might save our species // Editor’s Notes by Heather Shayne Blakeslee

STREETVIEW
Recommendation // “Hope Springs Eternal (Until it Doesn’t)” // Philadelphian Nathaniel Popkin’s new book To Reach the Spring
Constellations // “The End and the Beginning” // Even during a devastating time for the hospitality and entertainment sectors, openings continue.

ART & IDEAS
Poetry // “Irresponsible and Damned” // Exploring decidedly dark works by Lord Byron and Edgar Bowers by Poetry Editor Joshua Mehigan
Profile // “Illustrating a Path Forward” // Philadelphia mural artist Nile Livingston seeks to show us who we are as a city by Jared Michael Lowe
Fiction // “A Harvest” // A father and son try their hardest to connect under the shadow of their troubled relationship by Adele McKenna; original art by Christopher Spencer
Culture FIles // “Notes from the Zombie Apocalypse” // Managing Editor Walter Foley explores the “Meaning Crisis” through excerpts from Zombies in Western Culture and an accompanying interview with two of its authors, John Vervaeke and Christopher Mastropietro. Art by Zoe Nebraska
Essay // “The Race to Save the Human Race” // Considering the case for optimism in the face of existential threats by Logan Chipkin
Book Excerpt // Our unknowable potential from the book The Precipice by Toby Ord
Poetry // “Accepting the Disaster” // A most fitting poem about the cycles of apocalypse and renewal that grip our societies by Joshua Mehigan

SWITCHBACKS
Essay // ”The Long Black Robe” // A remembrance of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and street art spotlight of RBG by Naomi Mendelsohn. Art by Tiff Urquhart
Artist Spotlight // “Granny Graffiti” // A different kind of empowering lace, with artist Carole Loeffler