Lehigh Valley Vanguard Collections Volume 13: The End is Where We Start

There are 30 chapters in this compilation. I’ve given almost three years of my life to Lehigh Valley Vanguard, and I will turn 30 next year. As its editor, I’ve watched the Vanguard grow over those years because…people. People coming together over shared experiences, many growing to respect each other for the fight they have inside of them, for their common respect for egalitarian goals. As I let go of this publication, I feel like a piece of myself is floating off into the atmosphere to transmute again. It’s just as much a piece of me as it was of everyone who ever supported or contributed to Lehigh Valley Vanguard. I will miss it greatly, but remain excited for what is to come. Just as I’ve learned “the personal is political,” I’ve learned we are not entirely political creatures. Despite the injustices which have made their way through our lives due to subject position, ancestry, and professional roles, we can still be concerned with a beauty that transcends any sense of oppression. This seems impossible, especially in our world. But also, I’m happy to say, possible. I’ve found this possibility through a love that transcends the political spectacle. It is a love of uplifting each other out of whatever is giving us pain. Many artists who have passed through this space share that love with me. I would not describe this love as a political love. It’s a spiritual love that transcends and restores. We need to respect that each of us is an assemblage, not an essentialist group with one ideology. Start small by loving each individual. Thank you for the years you’ve spent here. Let’s work on ways to support, understand, and love each other more. Let’s bring each other joy. Just because many of us know pain does not mean that’s all we will ever know. Onto the future. Marlana Eck, September 2016