A message from the editor, Gareth Higgins…
Don’t despair! The world might seem like it’s in crisis, but I think it’s the story we’re telling that needs the most healing. The good news is, we have some medicine!
I want to tell you about The Porch, a new magazine and community that I’m writing for – the first issue is available today!
The Porch is born out of the idea that the best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better; that beauty is the antidote to fear and violence; and that a conversation is better than a lecture. It’s a community embodying creativity, hope, and peace of mind amid a noisy, depressing, dysfunctional media landscape. If you like Third Way, The Wittenberg Door, or The Sun magazine, I think you’ll love The Porch.
The Porch lives in four ways:
- Our magazine, published at least six times a year, committed to one thing – great writing telling a better story, making a better world.
- Our festival, where everyone is invited to come together for a long weekend of creative conversation, music, laughter, challenge and inspiration.
- Our online community, where we learn from and encourage each other to live hopefully, even when it seems really dark out there.
- Surprises – subscribe and you never know what gifts await!
I’m delighted to be involved in The Porch, which brings together so many of the streams of work and passion that have been part of my life: storytelling, peacemaking, activism, laughter, and most of all, good conversation about making a better world. I’d love to have you with us.
So I’m inviting you to do two things:
1: Consider joining the conversation here. Membership is open to anyone, regardless of ability to support financially.
2: Like the Facebook page, and tell others about The Porch – we want to grow this community to make a genuine impact in our lives (and, at a time of challenge for writers and publishing, we also want to pay our writers well).
Thank you for your helping nurture a slow conversation about beautiful and difficult things. I hope that The Porch contributes to your own peace, wellbeing, and sense of community.
…and a message from me
Just to say that I am honoured to have a piece in the first issue, a review of and response to Rebecca Solnit “Hope in the Dark”. It was available on The Porch website, but Gareth has kindly indicated that I would be able to publish it here on my own website.
