In the days after the 2024 election, I got my fill of mea culpas from disheartened Democrats and fatalistic “what else can we expect from politics?” dismissals from people around me. Shortly thereafter, I visited the Mexican Prints at the Vanguard exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and was deeply moved by the ingenuity and vitality of the cartoons and posters. I recall my sense of awe at the brilliant satirical depictions of authoritarianism that José Guadalupe Posada created about the Porfirio Díaz dictatorship and my laughter at the rhymes lampooning the rich and powerful. Before I left, I started thinking to myself that I should try to do the same. So I contacted my colleagues Pablo Helguera and Noah Fischer and pitched the idea of a publication to them. Lucky for me, they immediately agreed. I’ve been amazed at the willingness of so many of our colleagues to share their work with us for the first issue of The Siren. Here is the sanest response we could come up with to our utterly insane times. May it sharpen our wits! —Coco Fusco
