“I value work that reflects the aims to which literature has always aspired—creating situations and making observations that heighten our awareness of the world around us, exploring the complexities and ambiguities of the human soul, and reveling in the musicality and power of language—without believing that those essential elements are necessarily absent from contemporary work that bucks tradition, surprises readers, frustrates conventional wisdom, blends genres, or otherwise pushes readers to the edge of their comfort zones (and even beyond). I simply think a journal's long-term reputation is built on quality more than shock-value, elegance more than trendiness, and a humanistic wisdom more than a superficial desire to entertain.”