Dear Friends,
It is with great pleasure that I bring you issue 28 of whimperbang. You have probably noticed we were on hiatus since 2024. I was dealing with substantial health issues, but I’m back on track, ready to push this big thing forward.
My last “editor’s desk” addressed a world in turmoil. And here we are, facing graver circumstances than before. I recall a period after 9/11 when I was unable to make art. It didn’t make sense to me to engage in a perceived luxury whilst so much of the world was on and/or under fire. But is art a luxury? Or is it a necessity?
I now see our creative work as an important part of the conversation and the record. Like Jacques-Louis David’s The Death of Marat, or Carl Sandburg’s Grass, what we create gives voice to our time. It bears witness. And, in a world of destroyers, to create is a form of resistance. Leon Golub, through his life’s work, resisted the art du jour and instead spent his life painting mercenaries. Francisco Goya did not spare politics from his creations. From Lascaux to Brueghel, Chaucer to Anna Akhmatova, we have left our marks. That’s not to say we must intentionally be commentarians. But we cannot help but be. By engaging in creating, we are engaging in and with our times, our spaces, our communities, our social and political discourses, and our humanity. Making, creating, is both a testament, and a necessary investment in our humanity.
We have our voices and our tools. And we appreciate all of you using yours, in one form or another, to stand above the fray and amplify your experience and truth. Thank you for riding this ride. Rain or shine, we’re in this together.
With Peace,
Raymond Prucher, Editor
whimperbang
Issue 28, May 2026