I’ve been asked recently, if I feel like it’s going to “turn for the better” - there just was Christmas, and the New Year with its new hopes; Israel and Hamas have agreed on a cease fire, and several hostages returned home. Trump is promising miracles and even to end the war that Russia wages against Ukraine… I was honest when I said that narratives are mercilessly flexible: Christmas and New Year are wonderful, but we have two wars on our shoulders. Lots of people remain in hell of Hamas captivity, the cease fire seems to me as fragile as an icicle. And as for Trump's ornate promises, the people in Ukraine keep getting killed by Russian bombs and this is the only thing that matters, in my opinion. I felt uneasy saying that, but there was nothing I could do: this is how I am, frightened to live in the world of hopes rather than facts. Facts can also be built into narratives, just into different ones. And every one of us, it seems, is living in a world of narratives, and of the most important choices we make every day is which narrative to live in, how to perceive what is happening through them and what to do about it, if we have any strength to do anything at all.
The fact that we are making ROAR is also a result of perceiving the world through definitive narratives (I have no doubt every team member has their own ones, but we probably agree on some points). Within the frame of those narratives, culture seems to be an instrument of resisting the darkness, be that resistance small but still conscientious. Those narratives are not the most cheerful by definition, but they allow us to simultaneously do our job and to derive the strength to do it from the support of our readers and colleagues. I don’t think that’s a small thing. This is how we learned that “not the most cheerful” doesn’t always equal “bringing to despair” or “paralyzing”. Living is possible. It’s just very hard sometimes.
I am incredibly grateful to my colleagues who, despite everything, keep doing the main part of our shared work. This is the team responsible for the main version of this issue: managing editor Maria Voul and our editors and proofreaders Mark Kanturov, Olga Chaika, Artem Khlebnikov, Elena Mikerina, and others. For the English version my gratitude goes to its managing editor Ada Kordon, Tatiana Rudyak, prose editors Jackie Dobbine, K.B., and Sarah Bloxham, our heroic poetry editor N.G,and to the amazing team of our translators. And of we owe this issue to the work done by our team of designers: Masha Torovich, Elena Urman, Anna G., Yulia Shcherbino, I., Liliya Safronova, Anna Orlova, and Marta V. A huge thank you to Veta Sbitnikova and her team who are supporting the design and functioning of our website.
The seventeenth issue of the English version of ROAR is planned for the end of April. We are starting to put it together now and will be glad to consider prose, poetry, art and sound works related to our main theme, in any format. Please submit them to [email protected]. We thank you in advance.
Sincerely, Linor Goralik, Editor-in-Chief
February 25, 2025