Editorial: Voices of the Voiceless

Marilyn Kennel asks, “Who are the voiceless now?” This issue of DreamSeeker Magazine provides no tidy answers—but does seek to give prominence to voices perhaps inadequately heard.

Deborah Good gives voice to depression, and in so doing likely enables others who share her experience to gain a voice. Rachael King releases the voice of her “private dancer.” Daniel Hertzler reviews biographies of persons from communities that have experienced voicelessness, whether Palestinians, South African blacks under apartheid, or those committed to nonviolence. 

Mary Alice Hostetter celebrates and gives voice to a mother from a very different lifestyle than her own. David Brattston highlights the voices of those who refuse to swear oaths. Mark Wenger gives voice to a congregation whose patterns seem too unique to fit any one current “buzz” model of congregational life. David Greiser’s review of “Up in the Air” celebrates ways that film allows the voices of actual unemployed people to be movingly heard. 

Renee Gehman in a sense gives voice to “stuff” and its appropriate and inappropriate claims versus Jesus’ “oath and covenant.” I ponder the impact of our electronic voices. And Noel King seems to me deliciously to close out this issue with a report on cars who actually speak (as I know my own car does). The poets speak of matters, whether sorrows or struggles with faith, often left unvoiced.

Then there may be a sense in which it’s time for me to seek to empower other editorial voices to speak. Plans for DSM remain tentative, but I’ve been invited to be dean of Eastern Mennonite Seminary starting July 1. My best guess is that as some of my time shifts to EMS I’ll retain some editorial voice as editor in chief of DSM while needing to find at least another editorial voice to join the voice of Renee Gehman as assistant editor. 

Whatever the mix of voices, I do envision DSM continuing to be dedicated to “voices from the soul.” Special thanks to you readers who allow such voices to speak by listening so carefully and affirmingly. —Michael A. King