“Am I a typical A Public Space reader? I have no idea. I have a television; I watch it. I use the Internet as if it were a second television, boinging my way down the rabbit hole of “related” YouTube videos until I feel gutted through and through. I visit Disneyland; I shop at Target. That is to say, I haven’t sequestered myself in a hermitage or an ivory tower. I live a version of contemporary life in America. As a result, I often despair about our culture and where it’s headed. I recognize that this is typical, that people have always despaired over the decline of culture, that the youth have always been crass, as it were, but I feel it nevertheless, the Decline, and I despair.
“A Public Space has frequently lifted me from the depths of that despair. Each new issue feels like a public report from many individual private spheres, and the depth, quality, language and emotion contained therein literally restore my faith. I am reminded, over and over, that what I think I see is not necessarily what is, that my recurrent cynicism is not the sharp analysis it seems to be, but a sort of falling asleep of vision, a failure to see generously enough.”
– From A Note from Antoine Wilson on behalf of A Public Space