WE’RE in a race to pick up our game to be the best literary project on the planet, to point a direction out of the doldrums for literature and restore it to its rightful place as leading force in the culture. NOT marginalized, not an afterthought, not a forum for niche thinking and satisfied-with-obscurity players, of whom today in the overground and underground there are far too many.

How do we find a path out? It begins with relatable, real, relevant writing. Like our new feature story: “And the Angels Sing” by Joe Del Castillo. A tale about a dying music fan and five young subway singers.

The question is: Does the literary art belong only in airless halls of shuffling professors in Ivy-covered universities who clutch selfishly to the treasured object and won’t let it out of their grasp for public enjoyment– OR in locked rooms inside thick-walled insane asylums where doomed individuals scream solipsistic obscenities under the guise of self-expressive “alternative” or “outsider”? (Way outside.)

The answer is: NO! We can do better as a culture and art form and we will do better if we reach readers with emotion and meaning.

As, for instance, Joe Del Castillo does in our brand-new feature. We hope you enjoy it.