This theme was conceived in the height of summer, but the issue arrives in the world in December, the season of excess, when our nation celebrates gluttony and generosity and frivolity that go even beyond our usual lavish standards.
Imagine the season from the point of view of a future anthropologist: At the end of the tenth month, celebrants dressed themselves as corpses and demons and consumed unsafe amounts of sugar. Four weeks later, the people sacrificed 46 million birds for a ritual meal followed by the viewing of ceremonial parades and games. And in the final month, even many of those who did not belong to the Christian faith borrowed money to participate in the exchange of trinkets on holy days.
The holiday season is wasteful and irrational, and it is beautiful and jolly. For all my curmudgeonly distaste for the tired songs and plastic geegaws, I love the lights and the company and eggnog and toffee. In the season of darkness, we must find joy where we can.
Sometimes the joy is hard to unearth. As I write this, in early November, hundreds of thousands of Oregonians are facing hunger because federal food assistance has been cut off. And in Portland, where I live, the number of people living unsheltered on our streets continues to grow.
The stories in this issue are about destruction and loss, and also about growth and renewal. Finding the balance between the two is tricky, perhaps this year more than most. I hope, amid the midwinter gloom, this magazine brings you a little light.
Ben Waterhouse is Communications Director at Oregon Humanities. He supervises the organization's communications and publications efforts, including Oregon Humanities magazine, the Beyond the Margins essay series, The Detour podcast and radio show, and marketing strategy. He created the Dear Stranger letter-exchange project.
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