an editor’s note
on founding accumulate/quiet and s w i f t s: a literary magazine
I wanted to take a quick moment to talk about something that’s been on my mind as I’ve been getting these projects off the ground.
I’ve been thinking through several of these projects for the last few years, through moving to yet another state, starting a job, the COVID era, becoming a parent, and they’ve come to fruition in this moment for a few practical reasons: I was able to be on sabbatical this past fall, my daughter’s old enough to be in preschool during the days now, and more.
But I also want to acknowledge that it has happened at a hell of a time to be alive in the United States right now, where I am based and where most of our writers and artists are based. There have been times over the last few months where I’ve questioned starting a project like this now, putting time and energy into an online magazine or other projects that can, in the face of everything happening, feel ephemeral and, at times, inconsequential.
But I keep coming back to the thought that this is one of the things I can do. Reading, writing, and creating art are central to the life I want us all to have, both in the difficult now and in whatever future we can create together. The wisdom, creativity, emotion, thought, and connection that come from art are not only brightening and sustaining but necessary.
Every few months I seem to find my way back to this article by Toni Morrison written in the wake of the 2004 U.S. presidential election. In addition to so many other parts of the essay, I come back to this reminder Morrison wrote for us and for herself:
“I know the world is bruised and bleeding, and though it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevolence.”
It reminds me that there are things we can do to maintain, foster, and grow our own and others’ abilities to imagine, think deeply, question, hold multiple perspectives in our minds at the same time, and listen to each other well. There are a million small ways everyday that we can refuse to let imagination and thought be buried, discounted, or ignored. That they are small does not undo them.
-Jeremy
originally published in the accumulate/quiet newsletter in January 2026
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