This week, the Nass reflects on movement and the conditions that govern it. We like to imagine written words dancing on the page: in flux, unrestricted, and active, a magazine whose words destabilize but don’t displace. 

As demonstrated in this issue, the unfettered mobility of words is a fiction – regulations inhibit the movement of both people and pages. We work with the understanding that words can be either instrumentalized for freedom or repression. For every essay there is an eviction notice; for every word written, another is censored. Borders are increasingly enforced, and our intention is to produce content which rejects and resents any fragmentation. 

Maybe our titles and articles reflect an unintended melancholy: surveillance, borders, and antediluvian anxiety are on our mind. In this issue (as in all the rest) we’re asking for you to play along with the dance our writers have choreographed. Engage with the text even after you’ve moved on. 

Until next time,

Alex and Frankie