We are very pleased that you have in your hands the first issue of Dante.

W

Why did we choose Dante as our new magazine’s title? Very simple, we abide by the humanistic principles of the immortal Italian poet and though we bow before Alighieri’s greatness with all due humility, we are inspired and moved to action by the hope of a Renaissance in our craft. Our uncompromising mission, to shape an original pathway in the domain of magazine journalism that sets new bounds of excellence, unreservedly.

The world stands at a crossroads that will define this young century. It is a time of momentous change, arduous challenge, and profound complexity for the whole of our small planet. It is our great privilege to document our reality. We will not be blinkered.

Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.

Business as usual is over and we dare not ignore the fact that an epic transformation is underway. The ailing natural world, war, political & social upheaval, rabid extremism, conflict of every stripe, diminishing resources, economic crisis, an expanding global population, demands for freedom and greater equality, they are issues at the very core of our new reality.

We know in the midst of chaos there is also progress. There is a growing solidarity and empathy among us all, our human family transcends national, ethnic, religious and cultural barriers as never before through the miracle of modern communication. There is the hope and tangible evidence of our global tribe’s desire to build, to renew and reinvent, to harness the very genius of human creativity to ever-greater heights.

The human spirit continues to astonish us with its capacity for artistic expression, with its intrinsic need for joy, the gift of laughter, its continual questioning and exploration of our existence, its natural propensity to beauty. We don’t reject the pleasures of life and we wholeheartedly engage in showcasing the finer things, because civilization is also food, clothes, architecture, travel and sport. But, we shudder at easy clichés.

The Cantos

We reaffirm the humanistic commitment drawn from Dante’s masterful art that we are all sometimes at once in heaven, hell or purgatory. Not a lifestyle magazine, we are a cultural magazine. Our philosophy is inclusive and we strive to document and interpret the world we all share to the prejudice of none. We hide from nothing and we do not retreat. Current affairs, politics, debate, analysis, satire, narrative diaries, fiction and criticism will all figure in our pages. Ours is also a magazine devoted to the art of the photographic image, just as we revere the power of the written word. We pledge further that our magazine embraces all of you, men and women of every possible diversity. Our view of life is not airbrushed. We seek nothing less than to witness a Renaissance in our world, in our pages, and in you, our readership, our community and reason for being.

Dante and Beatrice
(Alias the editors)