“There are no rules to adhere to except our own.” My partner reminds me of this nearly every day, usually right around the moment I've talked myself into some new, self-imposed deadline as if it were handed down as a directive from the boss. It wasn't and in this case, I am the boss. I made it up. I'm the only one holding myself to it, and I'm the only one who'd notice if I quietly let it slide.

I haven't let it slide. The "dog days" are upon us … summer racing through its homestretch … and I'm still holding to getting these first twelve issues sewn together before the year's end. Not because anyone's waiting on me for it, but because there's something won in finishing what I started and I am ready to begin charting a new course over waters not yet navigated. A new year, a new series of A State of Affairs — that idea has real pull.

I will admit that this second issue came together with a greater sense of ease than the first. The framework is now built and most of the technical things are smoothed out, but I am certain new ones will keep surfacing as they always do. I've had more room this time to mine through my own archives, to actually weigh my choices instead of scrambling to fill the blanks. The form is finally serving the function.

This whole project has turned into a kind of patchwork quilt, and in laying out the old work I've found myself quietly pulling stitches and swapping in new swatches of photos where the old ones used to live. A lot of travel and curiosity have passed between 2022 and now, and in that time new work has found its way into the pattern of the whole. You may not be able to point to exactly which square changed, or notice the seam where old met new — but I can. I see it in the places where this new work rises above the old, and there's a real, quiet pleasure in that. Up until now that has simply been my pleasure, but I hope you too find a little pleasure in curling up with this latest work.

The Editor