Dear Herald reader,
Fall technically began September 22, but for many of us October heralds (no pun intended) the season. October brings its cliches: the month of crinkled leaves, Halloween costumes, early dusk. Autumn signals beginnings, plentitude, and the harvest. And yet autumn also goes hand-in-hand with conclusions.
In Shakespeare’s celebrated Sonnet 73, he writes:
That time of year thou mayst in me behold,
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang;
In this luscious quatrain Shakespeare engenders an image of decay. The sustained metaphor pertains to aging (of the speaker). The final couplet reveals the poem’s hinge: that knowledge of an end makes thy love more strong. I wonder if this might relate to “loss aversion,” a term I learned in my psychology class: the concept that fearing loss of something or someone increases amorous feelings towards it.
Perhaps this links to our love for fall. Leaves fall, then they are gone. It might be this ephemeral nature of autumn that makes it so singular and beloved. Virginia Woolf wrote in a letter: “Autumn is my season, dear. It is, after all, the season of the soul.”
There is a lot of soul in this second print issue. Beatrice Beale Tate writes about a contemporary writer who appropriated a real-life scandal in a contemporary novel. Will Sussbauer mourns the writer who has inspired him most. Samara Gorton pens a vulnerable profile of Herald alum Nathaniel Rich. Anna Siciliano reflects poignantly on her relationship with her mothers, and Ami Gillon chronicles how he watched a friend change before his eyes. Our writers have contemporary issues on their minds: Rachel Kreth and Sam Bolitzer opine on the g-cal and AI, respectively. Kira Tang reviews a techy exhibition. Trust us, everything you could need is within these pages, fabulously formatted and designed by Creative Director Michelle Vong.
Most Daringly,
Hudson + Angel