The Complications

Sam Edelman

In a recent New York Times profile, the writer Lorrie Moore, whose new collection of short stories, Bark, came out last month, talked about a story called Debarking in a way that echoed my more anxious feelings about being a parent and a parenting editor. “The story is in the foreground, and the politics is in the background, and to me this is just how life occurs,” she said. “Often, as a story writer, you’re told to leave that out—to focus only on the foreground and not bring the complications of the world into it because you’re going to diminish something. But, in fact, that’s the way life happens, and I don’t think it diminishes it to be realistic.”

Why does this resonate with me?

One reason is that I feel like my wife and I are in the midst of a still-enfolding drama about whether we’ll be able to raise our kids, ages 13 and 9, with the lifestyle they’ve grown up in so far. We are part of a fortunate, but uneasy, class who have been lucky so far but are only a job loss away from real concern. And then there’s the world beyond our world: environmental disaster, political anarchy…when I think of all the ways our children’s future could be so much worse than their present, I can’t think about it for long.

A magazine like this, of course, mostly addresses the foreground of our stories, helping you with everyday parent concerns like strollers, birthday parties, and summer camps. But I feel like I serve you best by also serving up the complications. And so, we have an education story that every parent should read and a funny personal essay about a mom, a toddler, and their potty mouths. I’m also very pleased to have a cover subject like Daphne Oz, who’s a smart, vital, and lovely woman on the brink of parenthood. I love how she brings many great ideas on wellness to the world. Personally and politically, I’m all for wellness.

Have A Happy March!
Eric Messinger
Editor, emessinger@manhattanmedia.com