"From the Service Desk."

A note to readers.

Pictorial United States. Miguel Covarrubias, 1943. Originally published in Esquire. (Wikimedia Commons.)

24 JUNE—We had a welcome surprise in the mail the other day. Readers will be familiar with Guy Mettan’s recent “Report from Donbas,” a two-part series recounting his travels in the Luhansk and Donetsk republics, which voted, in referenda last September we hold to be valid, to break from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation. We now receive the transcript of an interview Mettan conducted during his journey with Denis Pushilin, who has served since 2018 as head of the Donetsk People’s Republic. This is a rarity.

We are preparing this interview for publication. Mettan’s “Report from Donetsk” can be read here and here.

■

Cara Marianna is working hard on her “Palestinian Voices” project. The task at the moment is to master the mass of varied material she accumulated while in the West Bank—in her notebooks, in her thoughts, in her memory—and set for herself a plan for the orderly publication of this work. We will begin these pieces in the near future. On our home page, you will see at the top that we have created a special section where we will archive these reports—everything in one place.

■

We are also working with enthusiasm on an extended essay from Luka Filipović, our contributor in Belgrade. Luka’s topic is populism, and we cannot think of a more timely moment to treat this phenomenon. His previous essay in The Floutist was a compelling investigation into the social pathologies that have arisen in the course of four decades of neoliberalism. “Humanity in exile” can be read here.

■

In the meantime, our immediate attention tilts to the American elections, with a debate between two grotesquely unworthy candidates hard upon us. The Floutist has two pieces in the offing on the very serious question of voting in elections such as these. Watch for our essays very shortly.

■

“From the Service Desk” is a new feature in The Floutist. We intend it to keep our readers, especially those who subscribe, apprised of our work and the work of others we publish. We are acutely aware of the need to maintain a good pace in our publications. These memos will appear from time to time to let readers know of essays, reports, interviews, and commentaries to come.

—The Editors,

Lago de Chapala.

---