Issue
Forty-Seven

The question of what constitutes a life well-lived has been Kinfolk’s fundamental inquiry for over a decade of publication. For spring, we are embracing the season of rejuvenation with a spe­cial issue dedicated to well-being.

Before we go further, allow us to clarify: Well-being is not to be confused with notions of well­ness. Whereas well-being suggests a general har­mony between body, soul and mind, the word wellness has come to encompass an industry ded­icated to the constant quest for self-optimization, often through costly interventions. As a primer on the subject, you may wish to begin with the es­say “Too Much of a Good Thing”, in which writer Annabel Bai Jackson warns of how the scales can easily tip toward obsession. “The purgative, controlling language of toxic wellness —shred, tone, purify, cleanse—is anathema to the occasional excess, risk and pleasure that often lead to a more holistically positive life experience,” she writes.

Rather than advocating for any particular mir­acle cure, Issue Forty-Seven promotes the idea of well-being as an innate balance that should be safeguarded. In our themed section, which is subdivided into chapters on the body and the mind, you’ll meet inspiring people for whom the well-being of others is paramount: We hear from Walt Odets, a clinical psychologist in Berkeley who has been offering men a road map through gay life for over 35 years. We also meet two women, Chani Nicholas and Sonya Passi, whose radical approach to employment—an $80,000 salary floor, unlimited vacation and a wealth-building stipend—proposes a new bench­mark for workplace well-being.

Other stories in­clude a fashion editorial themed around the ben­efits of friendship, a conversation with a leading light of the new sobriety movement, Julia Bain­bridge, and an interview with dancer Alice Shep­pard, who speaks about the potential of movement to transform a person’s relationship with their body. Elsewhere, this issue is full of essays, photog­raphy and collaborations that seek to surprise and delight. It includes interviews with several people whose impactful work is conducted away from the public gaze: a sought-after sensitivity reader, the US’s most influential weddings editor and a tattoo artist whose LA studio address is a closely guard­ed secret.

We hope you find these stories as interesting to read as we did to produce and that Kinfolk can play a small part in helping you find moments of calm and—dare we say it—well-being amid the busyness of the everyday.

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Pinterest