This month, we’ll be tackling taboos, honne and tatemae, secrets, and ~the dark~.
When you’ve been doing something constantly for some time, it becomes routine. Staying within the system for so long might make you miss some of the more important elements that go into the process, and you don’t notice that you might be going a tad bit off-track.
The Thing’s theme for the next two months is ‘BLACKOUT,’ and we aim for it to be a step forward in a slightly new direction. In coming-of-age/chick flick film terms, think of it as our attempt to change from Ms. goody two-shoes who wears cardigans and preppy clothes to the cool edgy girl with multiple piercings and garbed in black from head to toe – minus the whole clichéd transformation montage.
When we first talked about our approaches to the theme, one of the concepts that popped up was that of reexamination – or basically feeling for things out in the dark, feeling them for what they are instead of just assuming things from what you know. This was something that we experienced a couple of months ago, when the other editors and I agreed that The Thing was lacking in the sense that we haven’t been staying true to our vision of individuality and diversity.
We figured that the best way to re-examine our performance was by talking to our readers! We put out a ‘lil survey for you all to answer in order to see how you thing-k we could improve. Your comments mean the world to us, and we take them very seriously. We want you all to know that we’ve taken note of every single one of them, and have decided that the main thing that we want to improve on this month is the diversity of our subject matter.
One of your suggestions was to start talking about important issues. This month, we’ll be tackling taboos, honne and tatemae (which are essentially the things we say and don’t say about how we really feel in order to be accepted), censorship, secrets, and ~the dark~.
We’re also making sure to put the focus on YOU. Remember that we’re always open to receive your work, whether they be pitches, art, essays, poems, playlists, and souls! In case you aren’t sure what to write about, you can always suggest ideas for our recurring segments like The Fan Life and Muse of the Month – just drop us a line at thethingonline@gmail.com!
As always,
Gaby
Poster by Shandra Fuerte
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