CO-EDITORS-IN-CHIEF KRISTIN HOULIHAN & MELISSA ROTERT
This issue is special to my heart because it was inspired by a conversation about my husband. I was relating to Melissa something he’d done that a lot of people might find weird, but I found admirable. And she said, simply, “He has integrity.” Followed a minute later by, “hey, that would be a great theme for an issue.” And here is that issue!
How privileged I am to be married to a man who strives to live the values he professes to hold! It’s a rough world out there, and we’re faced every day with a barrage of information and experiences that tell us moral integrity doesn’t exist, or doesn’t matter. How much more that makes us cling to the rare examples for hope in humanity!
As you’re used to by now from our issues, these pages are full of writing and photographs that explore the theme from lots of angles: lack of integrity, brave examples of moral courage, self-reckoning that asks—am I the person I want to be? And beyond where we started, physical integrity. What does it look like when the body falls apart? What if you have to sacrifice your physical integrity to be true to yourself?
I thank you all for being here, for connecting with us and our writers and one another. I hope this issue makes you think, makes you feel, makes you reflect—and perhaps walk away with a little bit of hope.
Join us @EpistemicLit and @Nimblewitlit on Instagram and Bluesky
– Kristin Houlihan, Co-founder and EIC, Poetry
