Letter from the editor
By Dan Mahoney
What does it mean, paraphrasing Emily Dickinson here, to dwell in possibility? If I’ve learned anything over the last several years, it’s that life can turn chaotic overnight. Those living with disease know this, those living under siege know this, those who must keep their truest selves a secret know this too. If you are old enough to read this magazine, then you too have been dipped into cool pools of chaos and have come out the other side. Congratulations… I mean that. Amid the daily struggle and the large and small disasters that sometimes accompany it, whatever keeps you here a day longer needs to be celebrated. Dwell in that possibility.
When executive editor Rob Levin sent me pictures of Blakeney Sanford’s Portals I knew we had to use one for the cover of this COA Magazine. It was, that day, what kept me here… That blue square in the desert or the blue square on a slated hillside of yellow grasses with a valley oak in the distance, the work spoke about presence, the possibility of transcendence, and the absolute glory of blue. I am reminded here of Maggie Nelson’s book, Bluets, an investigation of all things love and light and blue:
Why is the sky blue? A fair enough question, and one I have learned the answer to several times. Yet every time I try to explain it to someone or remember it to myself, it eludes me. Now I like to remember the question alone, as it reminds me that my mind is essentially a sieve, that I am mortal.
The part I do remember: that the blue of the sky depends on the darkness of empty space behind it. As one optics journal puts it, “The color of any planetary atmosphere viewed against the black of space and illuminated by a sunlike star will also be blue.” In which case blue is something of an ecstatic accident produced by void and fire.
I love that “ecstatic accident” and think about it on my walk through town to COA. What a double dip of gloriousness to glimpse between houses the blue of the sky and the blue of the ocean converging.
There are plenty of articles in this year’s magazine to keep you wrapped in the world of possibilities. I hope you enjoy all of them and send us your thoughts.
One of the most informative pieces I’ve had the pleasure of working on for COA Mag is the round table discussion about the history of the Supreme Court. What an immense pleasure it was to sit down with such a smart, generous, committed, and funny group of people. We cannot ignore that possibility also brings with it uncertainty, if not outright fear, for what the future holds. The Supreme Court is badly stacked—what can we do? There are plenty of answers, opinions, and insights in that piece to keep us all motivated for the ongoing fight.
The SCOTUS piece also gave me an opportunity to use Dall·E 2, an OpenAI system that can generate original art. OpenAI made headlines last year for its ability to create content, both visually and verbally. I entered some keywords from the SCOTUS roundtable paired with the words “expressionistic painting” and received the art in the article. It was a fun exercise but one that I will not be repeating for future COA Magazines. I really enjoy commissioning students to make spot art for us. Students make some money, get real-world experience, produce fantastic visuals, and they work. Students do the human work of translating the thing in their heads onto the pages of a magazine. That’s exciting. OpenAI programs are not going anywhere and will continue to upset our placid existences and, hopefully, force us to address what it is we value as a culture. In a New York Times article, illustrator Michael DeForge had this to say about art-generating AI programs: “It’s often billed as replacing a job or replacing a person. But usually what happens is it devalues human labor.” At COA we value the human. We value the limitless expanse of human imaginations. We value work. Not to say that using AI programs cannot be fun and entertaining; my son and I create crazy graphics we send back and forth to each other via text. I’m all about fun—and using Dall·E 2 is fun—but supporting art and artists is fun too and, more than just being fun, it is absolutely essential.
Enjoy this issue of the magazine.
Abrazos from Bar Harbor. Dan
