It’s more important than ever for writers to remain clear-eyed and to grapple with the big questions.

THIS ISSUE IS ABOUT how to keep up—personally, politically, scientifically— with our rapidly changing world. In these essays, writers find new normals, ways to adjust or adapt and move forward in the face of adversity.

But the flip side of adaptation—resisting changes that could be problematic and hurtful—is just as important. In particular, what I want to talk about today is how crucial it is for us, as creative nonfiction writers (and readers), to resist adapting to what seems to be a rapidly eroding belief in the existence of truth, and facts, not to mention a widespread failure to distinguish between what is real and what is not.

Of course,