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    Editor Magenta Sheridan
    Augmented Reality Artist Anneli Goeller
    Design and Direction Jacqui Hagen
    Marketing Manager Wai Mun Mah
    Online Editor Hollen Singleton
    Online Editor Georgia Coldebella
    Editorial Assistant Pip Grylls
    Editorial Assistant Liam Diviney

    Edition #41 has been one of contradictions. It’s been drinks in the park and dimly-lit faces on screens. It’s been loud and quiet, sickeningly quick and tediously slow. It’s been lonely and together, close and very far away.

    Back in April, when I lay in bed scrolling through TikTok all night and the world felt like a farce, I read about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs on Instagram. A simple pyramid, sliced horizontally to indicate what we require in order to function, each slice needing to be fulfilled before you could reasonably move onto the next. At the very top, where the fats, oils and sweets live on the Food Pyramid, was self-actualisation – achieving one’s full potential, including creative activities. ‘Going Down Swinging is a creative activity,’ I thought. I’ll give you one guess what my second thought was.

    The contradictions we’ve endured over the last year have affected everyone who contributed to this edition in so many different ways. It’s safe to say I was a regular in the bottom slices of the pyramid for much of last year, but the moments I got to hang out at the peak were brilliant. So many of those moments happened while working on Going Down Swinging.

    It’s an understatement to say that making an augmented-reality edition of Going Down Swinging during 2020 was one of the more challenging things I’ve done. At the close of this project, I’m thankful for the faces that filled my Zoom window and the kind words over email on those long, cold afternoons. I’m thankful for being held by a community of incredible artists, writers and humans. I’m thankful for being strong enough to hold others too.

    Going Down Swinging is a community unlike any other I’ve been a part of. Edition #41 speaks to so many things I know Going Down Swinging to be and what I truly want Going Down Swinging to become. These stories are here for a reason. I hope you love them as much as I do.

    — Magenta Sheridan

     

    Edition #41 has been one of contradictions. It’s been drinks in the park and dimly-lit faces on screens. It’s been loud and quiet, sickeningly quick and tediously slow. It’s been lonely and together, close and very far away.

    Back in April, when I lay in bed scrolling through TikTok all night and the world felt like a farce, I read about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs on Instagram. A simple pyramid, sliced horizontally to indicate what we require in order to function, each slice needing to be fulfilled before you could reasonably move onto the next. At the very top, where the fats, oils and sweets live on the Food Pyramid, was self-actualisation – achieving one’s full potential, including creative activities. ‘Going Down Swinging is a creative activity,’ I thought. I’ll give you one guess what my second thought was.

    The contradictions we’ve endured over the last year have affected everyone who contributed to this edition in so many different ways. It’s safe to say I was a regular in the bottom slices of the pyramid for much of last year, but the moments I got to hang out at the peak were brilliant. So many of those moments happened while working on Going Down Swinging.

    It’s an understatement to say that making an augmented-reality edition of Going Down Swinging during 2020 was one of the more challenging things I’ve done. At the close of this project, I’m thankful for the faces that filled my Zoom window and the kind words over email on those long, cold afternoons. I’m thankful for being held by a community of incredible artists, writers and humans. I’m thankful for being strong enough to hold others too.

    Going Down Swinging is a community unlike any other I’ve been a part of. Edition #41 speaks to so many things I know Going Down Swinging to be and what I truly want Going Down Swinging to become. These stories are here for a reason. I hope you love them as much as I do.

    — Magenta Sheridan

     

    Going Down Swinging Edition #41 was dreamed up, created, edited and produced by writers and artists from all over the stolen lands of so-called Australia. The Going Down Swinging team works and plays on the stolen lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation, whose sovereignty has never been ceded. We acknowledge and pay our deepest respects to all Elders past, present and emerging. This always was and always will be, Aboriginal land.

    First and foremost, thanks to Jacqui Hagen and Anneli Goeller for bringing Edition #41 to life.

    Jacqui, you always manage to make GDS look cooler than we actually are, while still holding a torch for our ‘hey how ya goin’’ roots. Thank you for the afternoons at your dining table, the many, many phone calls, your brilliant ideas and your endless dedication to Going Down Swinging. We’re truly lucky to have you.

    Anneli, though we’ve never met in person, you so fully embraced this strange project from the other side of the world. Your patience in response to our silly questions is equally as appreciated as your incredible skills. You’re a powerhouse. Thank you for gracefully bringing GDS into the future.

    Thanks (always, always, always) to the GDS team: Hollen Singleton, Georgia Coldebella and Wai Mun Mah. It’s a joy to share this beautiful thing with you and I feel lucky to work alongside you. Your friendship kept me sane throughout 2020. I’m so proud of us.

    Thank you to Sandra Boyd, chair of the Going Down Swinging board, for your commitment to getting things done and for your kind leadership and support. Thanks also to the rest of the board, Sonia Nair, Anna Kelsey-Sugg, Didem Caia and Matthew Muscat. Your support is integral to what we do and you’re an awesome bunch of humans. Very special thanks to Elizaveta Maltseva for your guidance, friendship and for always lending a hand. Thank you to our departing board members, Elizabeth Macfarlane and Vartika Patel, for your dedication and advice over so many years. We’ll miss you!

    A million thanks to our interns, Pip Grylls and Liam Diviney. Thank you for coming along on this wild ride with us, for your enthusiasm and big ideas, and for filling our Zoom windows with brightness when we really needed it.

    I don’t believe a year can go by at GDS without thanking Joanna Gould, light of our lives. Thank you for your generosity and for always knowing the answers. We can’t wait to see you again one day!

    To the incredible artists and writers of Edition #41, Stacy Gougoulis, Xanthe Dobbie, Mandy Ord, Cecile Richard, Lujayn Hourani, Claudia Chinyere Akole, Nicky Minus, Jon Tjhia, Marc Pearson and Aaron Billings, thank you for saying yes. Thank you for creating amazing work during some really tricky times and for choosing GDS as a home. Going Down Swinging would be nothing without you.

    Kim Lam, thank you for making our sticker and tote dreams come true. We won’t stop until the whole world is prone to going down swinging.

    Lastly, thanks to our loved ones, friends and family for your support, care, patience, love and jokes. Thanks for not immediately responding with ‘not again!’ when we tell you we are, in fact, doing it again. We appreciate it.

    First and foremost, thanks to Jacqui Hagen and Anneli Goeller for bringing Edition #41 to life.

    Jacqui, you always manage to make GDS look cooler than we actually are, while still holding a torch for our ‘hey how ya goin’’ roots. Thank you for the afternoons at your dining table, the many, many phone calls, your brilliant ideas and your endless dedication to Going Down Swinging. We’re truly lucky to have you.

    Anneli, though we’ve never met in person, you so fully embraced this strange project from the other side of the world. Your patience in response to our silly questions is equally as appreciated as your incredible skills. You’re a powerhouse. Thank you for gracefully bringing GDS into the future.

    Thanks (always, always, always) to the GDS team: Hollen Singleton, Georgia Coldebella and Wai Mun Mah. It’s a joy to share this beautiful thing with you and I feel lucky to work alongside you. Your friendship kept me sane throughout 2020. I’m so proud of us.

    Thank you to Sandra Boyd, chair of the Going Down Swinging board, for your commitment to getting things done and for your kind leadership and support. Thanks also to the rest of the board, Sonia Nair, Anna Kelsey-Sugg, Didem Caia and Matthew Muscat. Your support is integral to what we do and you’re an awesome bunch of humans. Very special thanks to Elizaveta Maltseva for your guidance, friendship and for always lending a hand. Thank you to our departing board members, Elizabeth Macfarlane and Vartika Patel, for your dedication and advice over so many years. We’ll miss you!

    A million thanks to our interns, Pip Grylls and Liam Diviney. Thank you for coming along on this wild ride with us, for your enthusiasm and big ideas, and for filling our Zoom windows with brightness when we really needed it.

    I don’t believe a year can go by at GDS without thanking Joanna Gould, light of our lives. Thank you for your generosity and for always knowing the answers. We can’t wait to see you again one day!

    To the incredible artists and writers of Edition #41, Stacy Gougoulis, Xanthe Dobbie, Mandy Ord, Cecile Richard, Hasib Hourani, Claudia Chinyere Akole, Nicky Minus, Jon Tjhia, Marc Pearson and Aaron Billings, thank you for saying yes. Thank you for creating amazing work during some really tricky times and for choosing GDS as a home. Going Down Swinging would be nothing without you.

    Kim Lam, thank you for making our sticker and tote dreams come true. We won’t stop until the whole world is prone to going down swinging.

    Lastly, thanks to our loved ones, friends and family for your support, care, patience, love and jokes. Thanks for not immediately responding with ‘not again!’ when we tell you we are, in fact, doing it again. We appreciate it.