ISSUE III - INTRODUCTION
This is The Grind’s third issue; a milestone I never believed we would make when I acted upon an inchoate idea of what an arts journal should be in October 2013. Much of what we publish in The Grind is unapologetically grim. Sometimes it even ventures into the foggy territories of ‘bleak’. It’s difficult to avoid that charge when you publish the kind of content we publish. Whether this tendency towards the darker side of life is a reflection of its editor or of its contributors is up for debate; I’ll leave the fiction and art you’re about to see to speak for itself.
It’s really very easy to get caught up in the more dour arts. It’s comforting; misery loves company. Sometimes I love nothing more than to sit in a dimly lit room with cheap red wine and listen to Radiohead while bemoaning the utterly exhausting postmodern anomie I’m convinced we all suffer from. Such pretentious, nonsensical melancholy is like a giving yourself a great big hug. It’s so much easier than being chipper and sociable and hopeful.
With that said, recently I feel myself changing. For all my wants and needs, my problems and responsibilities, I cannot help but feel a cautious and giddying optimism for the future. We, a ramshackle community of disparate individuals, have the potential to defy the futurologist reports and computer models created to predict our destiny and take matters into our own hands. Our wit, ingenuity and honour afford us the possibility of creating a nation that inspires this warm optimism all the time; a nation that is not afraid to embrace its problems and to be proactive and forward thinking in finding solutions. One that is inexorably and joyously striving to provide hope and compassion to a world that so often lacks both. If we embrace who we are and become the people we know we ought to be we will have everything we need to exceed our already limitless potential. We can create a country that we are proud to call our home.
I do not speak for our contributors. The people published in The Grind come from all walks of life and from all over the world with every possible political and social demographic represented. The only common trait they all share is a connection with Scotland, however tenuous it may be sometimes. So I cannot speak for them. Nor would I wish to. I can only speak for myself. When all is said and done, many years in the future when you look back at your life in a haze of nostalgia, you must be able to think back to the 18th of September 2014 and think “I made the right decision” and be happy with that. You should be able to proudly declare that you voted Yes or No with no hesitation or doubt. If you cannot see yourself being able to do that then I urge you to read more, become better informed, and make a decision that you can truly be proud of. Remember that this is the most politically empowered Scotland has ever been.
Do not vote out of fear for the future; vote for the hope that things will get better, whatever side you’re on.
Thank you for reading The Grind. I sincerely hope you enjoy it.
Gordon Johnstone (Editor)
It’s really very easy to get caught up in the more dour arts. It’s comforting; misery loves company. Sometimes I love nothing more than to sit in a dimly lit room with cheap red wine and listen to Radiohead while bemoaning the utterly exhausting postmodern anomie I’m convinced we all suffer from. Such pretentious, nonsensical melancholy is like a giving yourself a great big hug. It’s so much easier than being chipper and sociable and hopeful.
With that said, recently I feel myself changing. For all my wants and needs, my problems and responsibilities, I cannot help but feel a cautious and giddying optimism for the future. We, a ramshackle community of disparate individuals, have the potential to defy the futurologist reports and computer models created to predict our destiny and take matters into our own hands. Our wit, ingenuity and honour afford us the possibility of creating a nation that inspires this warm optimism all the time; a nation that is not afraid to embrace its problems and to be proactive and forward thinking in finding solutions. One that is inexorably and joyously striving to provide hope and compassion to a world that so often lacks both. If we embrace who we are and become the people we know we ought to be we will have everything we need to exceed our already limitless potential. We can create a country that we are proud to call our home.
I do not speak for our contributors. The people published in The Grind come from all walks of life and from all over the world with every possible political and social demographic represented. The only common trait they all share is a connection with Scotland, however tenuous it may be sometimes. So I cannot speak for them. Nor would I wish to. I can only speak for myself. When all is said and done, many years in the future when you look back at your life in a haze of nostalgia, you must be able to think back to the 18th of September 2014 and think “I made the right decision” and be happy with that. You should be able to proudly declare that you voted Yes or No with no hesitation or doubt. If you cannot see yourself being able to do that then I urge you to read more, become better informed, and make a decision that you can truly be proud of. Remember that this is the most politically empowered Scotland has ever been.
Do not vote out of fear for the future; vote for the hope that things will get better, whatever side you’re on.
Thank you for reading The Grind. I sincerely hope you enjoy it.
Gordon Johnstone (Editor)
