“Our Finest Hour, If We Choose”, in Kosmos Quarterly

I feel honored that Kosmos Journal’s Summer Quarterly 2020 published my first piece for them, Our Finest Hour, If We Choose.

Kosmos Quarterly | a peer-reviewed e-journal of transformational writing, spoken word, video, music and art. Each Kosmos Quarterly is a deep dive into a special theme through the lens of transformation. Kosmos convenes a new Editorial Circle, each season to cross-pollinate ideas and share the fruits of their practice around the emerging theme of the Quarterly.

The magazine is beautifully laid out and written, containing equal parts aesthetic beauty and thought-provoking content. Here’s the cover:

Here are the contents, including my piece:

My piece:

Our Finest Hour, If We Choose

By Joshua Spodek

Expert management is saving lives in this crisis. But we lack leadership. Understanding the difference reveals how leaders create meaning and a better future, even—especially—in our deepest crises.

New York City’s lights went out just after 4pm, August 14, 2003. At first we only knew our office went dark. We looked to each other, then out the window to find the whole city dark. The summer heat crept in. Realizing the futility of staying indoors, we walked 18 flights down and started home.

Blackout, 2003

Power returned piecemeal over the next couple days. During the current multi-year global pandemic, a brief regional problem may seem minor, but so close to September 11th’s second anniversary and so close to ground zero—who knew if terrorists were behind it? What might come next?


Click to read the rest.

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