07
EDITORS' LET TER: SL ACK
PERRIN [12:02 PM]
LIZ [12:07 PM]
MEG [12:02 PM]
MADDY_MORLEY [12:08 PM]
So how’d we come up with this one? Who pitched this theme? Who gets the pat on the back this time around? Wait where’s Liz? LIZ [12:02 PM]
Here!
LIZ [12:03 PM]
Sorry, just finding the right mood music to drown out office chatter. MADDY_MORLEY [12:04 PM]
I think I pitched “Gossip” a year ago, and this seemed like the right time for it, now that we’re seeing how big of an impact things like tabloids and fake news can have on politics and culture. LIZ [12:05 PM]
Right, but we quickly came to realize that gossip wasn’t just about those knee-jerk negative connotations, which made the theme waaaaay more interesting. PERRIN [12:06 PM]
Were we ever afraid that we wouldn’t find a design thread? That maybe “Gossip” was actually too esoteric for a graphic design magazine? EMILY [12:06 PM]
I reckon we were down with the idea of gossip as a form of communication pretty quickly. And of course, design is communication, too. LIZ [12:07 PM]
+1
EMILY [12:07 PM]
Like Liz said, that means gossip isn’t just trash-talking and housewife chat.
Unless you’re talking about Maddy’s piece on Tupperware—and then it really is. But even with the Tupperware piece, it became more about how, historically, gossip has been important for creating safe spaces. Decentralized gossip networks have long provided a place for marginalized groups to communicate, trade secrets, swap advice. MEG [12:09 PM]
We were always thinking about gossip as more than idle chatter—it can be a really effective way to communicate, and even to resist. Its power lies in the fact that it’s often overlooked and undermined. EMILY [12:10 PM]
That was the fun thing about writing about the New York School, who have come to be seen as such an important movement in art and poetry, but which even the most academic lit crit describes as being built from gossip, parties, and the like. PERRIN [12:11 PM]
I think because that kind of communication isn’t taken critically, that’s where people feel safe to share the truth, ironically. MEG [12:12]
Right, but the way information spreads these days isn’t always in service of the truth. There’s no way we could talk about gossip today without talking about fake news.
