editors’ note
Creation is a slow, laborious process. The process of assembling, editing and laying out this issue of Dichotomy is emblematic of many creative endeavors: it is marked by long periods of latency followed by sudden bursts of activity. It is a process measured by incremental movement and long periods of inactivity. Destruction can be just as protracted. Destruction is sometimes a swift wrecking ball to a structure, but, more frequently, destruction occurs in almost immeasurable motions: it is the ground sinking, it is the brick crumbling, it is the slow recoil of a thing retreating back into itself. Dichotomy 22: Creep explores both the plodding pace of putting pieces together and the slow destruction of things coming apart. This creation/destruction binary is not just a rich dichotomy in its own right. It is the center of any creative endeavor: we create, tortuously at times, knowing full well that any creation is temporary at best. Creep invites the reader to embrace the duality of creation and destruction. It asks the reader to appreciate the sluggish crawl of progress, while also celebrating its steady disintegration. It encourages the reader to see beauty in everything, a building or a landscape or an object, through each phase of its journey. Creep invites the reader to reveal in the finitude of all things.
Your Editors,
Molly Redigan and Steven Fournier