Letter from the Editor 02.13.19

In my Shakespeare class today, we tracked all the uses of the word “love” in a few pages from "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" and plotted out what all of them mean—possession, marriage, sex, money, family, romance, patriarchy, devotion, obsession, death. The blackboard filled up in under an hour; drawings of triangles spilled over into hierarchies nestled under diagrams of umbrellas.

I looked at the board while throwing my laptop into my purse to leave class and I just felt overwhelmed. We’d talked for so long and I couldn't help feeling like we hadn't come to any real conclusions.  

Street’s Love Issue culls content from every section of the magazine and solicits user–generated stories, essays about what love means, its absence, its presence. Loving yourself after trauma, loving a father who’s deployed, learning to love food despite not always wanting to—the definitions of love that you’ll read about can get overwhelming in the sheer scope and emotion. 

But what I’m trying to remember, and what I hope you remember too, is that love can be pretty damn triumphant. It’s a big word without a set definition because it’s all–encompassing. And this year, I’m choosing to appreciate that instead of being overwhelmed by it. 

This year our Love Issue features content from all angles. I love that we’re relaunching 69th Street, our sex column, with a new writer. I love that we’re considering queer love in all its forms and expressions. I love that this week, I’ve edited articles ranging in topics from clit piercings to mixtape making to the Vagina Monologues to breakup songs. And I love that I’ve been listening to the Velvet Underground while doing all of it.

Every day when I wake up (even if I oversleep), I’m choosing to love myself, to love being alive, or at least to try, even when it gets tough. On days when I feel like retreating into myself and hiding in my room, I’m trying to get up and feel things and be okay with it. 

It’s a new thing for me to let myself feel love all the time. It’s tiring, overwhelming, emotional, and kind of amazing. And it’s going pretty well so far. 

I hope Street’s Love Issue can bring you some of that too.