A deeper dive into what makes for good writing. Is it craft, which some writing instructors swear by, attributing everything which 'doesn't work' to failings of 'craft,' whether point of view, pacing, dialogue, or structure? Is it simple experience, or lack of experience... We propose that something else plays a role, far from limited: narrative potency. What is this potency, and why would it be so important, our study of it so valuable?...

Much is made, especially these days, of 'the writer's life,' that prototypical state which has plagued many an artist, penniless but hopeful, unrelenting, until her final days... Scheme no more. Be still, feel your pulse, the world around you, which awaits and is there, for you. It is on your side, and will assist, at whichever level you desire—if only you work for it..

What could be more simple than a garden? More obvious, of the collaboration between human and non-human, planet and (seemingly) celestial? Gardens are, and have always been, a balm and a healing, a sanctuary... If one is sensitive, argument and conflict, in a garden of the right variety, fall away. Other senses, and sensitivities, come to the fore...

This is, necessarily, a hot topic. Who, going through one's day, does not come upon a migrant—either immigrant or emigrant (or, in some cases, émigré)... The International Organization for Migration's (IOM's) World Migration Report 2024 estimates that, in 2024, just one in thirty people (3.6% of the world's population) has migrated and lives in a country other than the one of their birth...

The translator's task has long been surrounded by controversy: to translate literally, or not to, and if so, to what degree?... In one sense, translation is the most characteristic literary exercise of our times: a movement from one linguistic ecology to another, a change of state, whether that be political, linguistic, or (im)personal, is the touchstone of our times...

Innocent until proven guilty. That was (until recently, it seems), the law of the land, in the United States at least... Much has changed in our beliefs and attitudes, and core values, about innocence and the nature of it within society, and between individuals, groups, and nations. What is guilt, anyway? Who, or what, made the laws or prescriptions for conduct and behaviour?..

All have, at some point in their lives, experienced the pain and lasting damage of what is called trauma. Trauma, as an understanding, is one of the most difficult things to come to terms with in a life... We propose the following: all damage, in whatever form, is healable, with the right approach. The angle of incidence, as we like to talk to it, is paramount...