Sarah's Letter:

Most would tell you that this generation - that is, of apathy, comfort, laziness and self-interest - has proven itself to be the antithesis of conducive to the proliferation of the revolutionary. As Scott Laudati so funnily (and accurately) puts in his poem Lorriane (pg 55), us Gen-X'ers finds ourselves in "an age where being dangerous is supporting gays and 'liking' France on your Facebook page"; an age where vomiting on your Chinese factory-made desk can be construed as some acting out of freedom...and, of course, an age wherein the most talked about 'revolutionary' we've seen yet is a 27 year old billionaire who wears flip-flops to work, having shed little (if any) of the more traditionally favored blood, sweat and tears - no matter what the hyper-dramatized, Sorkin-scripted films might try to have us believe.

I'm personally of the mind that 'most' are wrong - but not completely so. It's both harder and easier than ever to be a revolutionary, perhaps because of the fact that it's become easier than ever to make swift and significant choice (and certainly not in spite of it). An innocent search for the discography of some guilty pleasure pop song can easily turn into a Wikipedia black hole that you finally tailspin out of several clicks and hours later, leaving your brain feeling bloated and messy...and, sometimes, exquisitely empowered.

As the artists in this issue of Burner demonstrate, it is and always has been important to stay on the empowered side of the fence. Just because we can take the easy way out doesn't mean that we should. Learning, growing and - most importantly - doing will always be the cornerstones of revolution. So says Tara Aghdashloo's Tehran. So says Nicholas Hess' America (Reprise). And, if you still don't believe us, just go ask Marshall Zhang, who kicks apathy's ass...and yours too, probably.

Leah's Letter:

Dear Burner Babes,

Revolution frequently means people overthrowing leaders due to oppression, dictatorship, neglect. Sometimes fuelled by ideology, often with self-interest by revolutionary leaders, as The Anatomy of Revolution taught me, revolutions usually end up with power voids, with strong men taking control and eliminating former co-revolutionaries to establish their own terrorist rules. (Or, more recently, other country's leaders stage revolutions to establish control of resources.)

Revolutions have sometimes been about intellectual and artistic re-birth. The Age of Enlightenment had Europe's thinkers and artists climbing out from the intellectual bog of the Dark Ages, challenging authorities with the truth and beauty of their work, with some, like Galileo, tortured as a result.

Now, those of us who can read, write, think critically, vote, are able to go beyond overthrowing dictators or fearing torture, death. We can interface with our democratic systems and change them. We can create and disseminate art. We can practice meditation. We can make scientific discoveries. We can help others. We have so much potential.

To me, what us humans need in order to unleash our potential power is love. Both love of self and empathic love for all. In order for our final r/evolution to be realizing world peace, we must:

Ensure all of us can read, write, criticize, vote. Freely share love.