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Welcome to a new year, a new issue of LATTICE – and something of a perspective shift across the board.
We’re hearing quite a bit about change these days, from personal resolutions to primary races; and frankly, things here at The Lattice Group are no different. Our executive managerial team has uprooted from NYC and made its way to Europe; even more imminently, I myself will utterly abandon my former 9-5 office existence for the beachside bliss of yoga teacher training in Mexico; and our contributing authors in this issue seem to be similarly, fittingly, removed from the conventional workplace.
Youthful exuberance, social idealism, physical vigor, artistic immersion – all of these constitute a common ground upon which our LATTICE writers converse this month. (Here some of you sigh wistfully, others snort with derision -- how brightly shine the lights of bohemian paradise in an otherwise dreary winter season!) But wait now, a warning: be none too quick to envy or vilify the wisdom of the unconventionally -- or simply un – employed, oh ye of the regular paycheck, of the routine commute. Consider the profound value, as well as the rough underbelly, of their frolicsome existence.
To actively live our youth is a creative process, one necessarily fueled, invigorated, even sanctified at times by “irresponsible” behavior. Unemployment, perennial student-hood, partying; or simply the leisure to sit over a coffee, to read a book, to milk a cow; to play with the buttons on the other side of the cash register without answering to the MAN, to mom and dad, to corporate pressures or bank statements…all of these things are critical to our development, our self-knowledge, our survival. And yet the chance to indulge in them is rare and, more often than not, vigorously frowned upon. Not to mention the fact that, when seized in spite of it all, such a life is never as easy as it seems.
In this issue, take a look at work-life balance on the flipside. Take the time to consider our authors’ subjects, familiar and peculiar alike, through an alternative lens. See if their proposals influence or complement the change you hope to see in the year to come. And if not, by all means write in and tell us why.
Lauren Westerfield,
Editor-in-Chief Note: All illustrations by Gustaf von Arbin |
