When I
pick up a new issue of The New Yorker magazine, it’s with a sense of
anticipation and pleasure. I look forward to broadening my horizons and
venturing beyond the confines of the familiar. Contrast this with the
commonplace experience of opening many professional journals only to breathe a
sigh of relief that most of their contents fall outside one’s research
interests and needn’t be read. Of course an academic journal is not The New
Yorker, but must we absolutely forgo style, artistry, and engagement? Our
response is a resounding “No.” We seek to banish blandness. We don’t
expect our readers to live by bread alone. We nourish seasoned words and cater
to subtle flavors. We see no gain in scientific weight by resorting to heavy
words and a lumbering gait. We want to decriminalize language that sings,
evokes, awakens. We want words to dance, not put us to sleep. We applaud
style.
Writing
is a Path. Yes, words can stand in the way of experience, but skill in words
can also point to the Mystery…and where does the Way of Words lead? In the
words of the Wen Fu: The pleasure a writer knows is the pleasure of Sages.
