Dear readers,
This issue traces what it means to be free. What do we do under confines? How do we escape them? You’ll find that, in the face of restrictions, people are not stagnant beings. We fight, sing, write, organize, and disband, but we are never still.
The search for liberation is located in this movement. Some find freedom through education, as Aanika Eragam explores in her cover story on the Yale Prison Education Initiative. Others find it in bodily autonomy, in giving birth how and where they want, as Maggie Grether reports. And Viola Clune shows us that within these movements there is continual growth, especially in places like Black hair salons that tie ever-changing generations together.
And oftentimes, liberation flourishes in unlikely transgressions—rock music, motorcycling, vandalism. Freedom through games like Go that trace the diaspora, through social media videos that broadcast across oceans. Freedom to be beautiful and hot, to push against expectations for excellence.
This desire for liberation does not exist in a vacuum. In New Haven and beyond, we hope for a world where people are free to exist without persecution or threat of violence. We hold in the light those whose freedom has been challenged, denied, or altogether silenced.
In the meantime, we hope to elevate these stories of rebellion, liberation, and joy. We, as Aanika writes, think about wholeness.
TNJ Love,
The Managing Board