Editor's Box

Lord, I have tried to keep this space clear of the vitriol I have been known to hurl, offsite, at an Oxford American competitor—the fancy “lifestyle”/Southern-culture magazine out of Charleston, South Carolina, called Garden & Gun. (GAG to its foes; G&G to its partisans.) Yes, invective has been uttered, here and there, but in print I have restrained myself—and I give praise unto that restraint because holding one’s caustic jabber in mixed company is a sure trait of manners, is it not?

If magazine editors contribute in some way to the dissemination of art, it's not only in their decisions about which writing to publish, but in the routes they open up for writing. I hope we are creating a little route in this issue with the debut of a department titled "Writers on Dating."

We came by the idea easy. After all, whose dating advice should we crave more than a writer's?

Some of us will do anything to avoid criticism. At exaggerated levels, people will lie and steal and kill so as to avoid it. That’s how crazy the subject can be. Perhaps the rest of us just build moderate, safe lives in the hopes of escaping detection.

In tribute to Jimmy Pitts (1968–2010), we offer Marc Smirnoff's column from our Southern Art & Architecture Issue.