Dear Friend,

I became the staff writer for culture at The New Republic at the start of 2017. Trump’s election for the presidency was a fresh blow then, one that threw many critics into a specific, existential tailspin; what could be the use of our reviews, an inherently secondary, interpretive type of writing, when direct action was so obviously going to be needed–and soon? After indulging in a brief panic, I realized two things. First, answering this question was no mere background concern; it was my new job. Second, if I was going to prove that arts criticism truly matters—that it has as much capacity to provoke dialogue, foster empathy, and refashion imaginations as direct political commentary—then I was going to have to make it fun, or nobody would be reading. In the years and hundreds of articles since that first (terrifying) day on the job, these two principles have kept me afloat in the media churn, like water wings on an ocean-tossed toddler. It’s never stopped being fun, and sharing the pleasure of the arts with The New Republic’s readers feels like a secret we’re keeping from the authorities. As I put it in one of my very first pieces, every piece of cultural criticism is manufactured by human community and then offered back to that community as a gesture of thanks. How lucky I am, then, to have this space to say thank you–for sticking with me, supporting TNR, and always being ready to read that little bit harder. It makes all the difference.

—Jo Livingstone, Staff Writer

Josephine Livingstone is a staff writer at The New Republic. Livingstone is a nonfiction writer and academic from London with an BA from the University of Oxford and a doctorate in medieval literature and postcolonial studies from NYU. Their work has appeared in The New York Times, The Times Literary Supplement, Bookforum, and more.

Commentary like Jo’s is what makes TNR more necessary than ever, and we depend on you to ensure progressive voices like theirs—and other independent journalists at TNR—have an outlet.