LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
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A question I've been considering quite often during this unprecedented time is how do we sustain the communities we have built and how do we create new ones to meet the crises we currently face? We are witnessing how acutely and deeply our interdependence shapes our lives, from the mammoth challenges in our global supply chain to the door-to-door efforts of mutual aid and community solidarity happening in the neighborhoods around us. On a personal level, millions of people are dealing with the extended isolation of staying inside and social distancing, unable to gather with and hold their friends, family, and loved ones. Through the work at CJIR, I've been able to glean new perspectives on these questions and in this issue, we hope to provide on these related issues. For example, the Hanfu movement, explored in depth in Carolyn Tung's article, has been built primarily through an online community of Chinese netizens, providing a space for a younger generation to explore and assert their cultural histories and identities. In Gostelow and Lim's article, we zoom in on one agricultural community in Brazil to explain the effects of the United State's trade policy, specifically the trade war under the Trump administration, and domestic agricultural policy on the increased deforestation of the Amazon and the inequities big agribusinesses and smallholder farmers. The making of this issue was a collective effort of the incredible women on our editorial board and the help of our managing editor. The feedback for and discussion on the submissions received, the mentorship and support for staff writers, and countless rounds of editing were invaluable. As Arundhati Roy has told us: "The pandemic is a portal. . . We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it." We can imagine the embraces of our loved ones with a newfound desire to more deeply cultivate and express care for one another and we can continue to broaden our existing communities, boldly envisioning a world that gurantees the dignity of all people, through meaningful reflection, discussion, and action.
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