Letter from the editor: October 2006

"If you're not willing to fail, you won't succeed," says political hopeful Eliot Spitzer (story begins on page 158) to Interview contributing editor, actor Edward Norton. Spitzer's observation could be the motto of this issue, titled "The Times They Are A-Changin'" after Bob Dylan's famous 1964 song. We chose Dylan's song as a sort of flag for several reasons, starting with the fact that it is a great piece of work. What also caught our attention is how much it seems to be coming up again lately. Listen to the radio and you'll hear it often these days. But it's also being referenced in all kinds of new ways. For instance, the choreographer Twyla Tharp (page 76) adopted it for her latest song-and-dance experiment on Broadway, titled, of course, The Times They Are A-Changin'. Set in a rough-and-tumble circus, the piece is Tharp at her most athletic, and it features other Dylan songs, including "Blowin' in the Wind."

Like "The Times They Are A-Changin'," this other iconic Dylan song captures the moment we're living in as if the words had been conceived for today. Dylan writes: "How many times can a man turn his head/Pretending he just doesn't see/The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind." This age is too complicated to offer one-dimensional, simplistic answers. But there is no doubt that one feels something in the air--or as Dylan put it, blowing in the wind--these days. Whether it's the activist initiatives of artists like Bono or the billion-dollar pledges to eradicate disease by visionaries such as Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates, it's clear that apathy is not the only rule of the day. Governments may not be stepping up to the plate, but individuals, businesses, corporations, and a record number of philanthropic groups sure are.

In fact, it could just be that we are heading into a new golden age of personal social responsibility. That is not to say that everybody's turning into Joan of Arc--only that people seem to be acting, much more than they have been in recent years, on the idea that there are other things in life beyond simply getting their own bread and butter. When people care this way, they are inspiring. In her conversation with Gladys Knight, Alicia Keys (page 137) says: "The artists who have inspired me the most in my life are the ones who have really had something to say and stand up for. That, to me, is part of being an artist--having the voice to express things that need to be verbalized and brought to light."

This issue shows that the lights are on in many people's minds and hearts. They want to do what they can to make sure that "the times" really are "a-changin'." As Greil Marcus (page 123) says of this song: "Today it's less a promise than a challenge, to whoever might hear it, a flag waving for all that could change: could, should, might, won't, must."

INGRID SISCHY

EDITOR IN CHIEF

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