Waking up to Spring

By Editor in Chief Claire Watson

The sun is sunning, the plants are planting, spring is springing. We’re getting into the last leg of the year, with exams and assignments shovelled onto many of us poor, unsuspecting students.

Spring is a strange time of year for me. It’s filled with a lot of personal grief, and though I want to celebrate the coming of new life and better days, it’s always overshadowed by this dark cloud.

I see this grief all across the world, with the devasting loss of life inflicted in Palestine, Sudan, and Congo, just to name a few. What should be a time of joy, is a time of mourning. All our social feeds are filled with unprecedented mourning, and yet it is useless to look away. We cannot, should not, look away.

On Friday, Baneen has an article on her feelings regarding celebrating Ramadan at this time. She reminisces the time of peace and empathy in Muslim communities, and how Palestinians have been robbed of that.

I want to leave this editorial on a positive note, but I’m finding that difficult. I can only encourage you to donate, boycott, and stand up for Palestinians who are suffering immensely during what should be a time of celebration. I want us to celebrate and empathise with the survivors and mourn the deceased.

Spring is here, as it is every year. It is light after dark. I hope, in whatever way, we can all find that.

Next issue I’ll share a reading list, as with Luca sharing a lovely list of long-Spring reads, and Chloe sharing her last, I feel like it’s finally my turn. Reading has been my main form of self-care during my own personal stuff, and I would recommend it to everyone.

For now, I want to take a moment and sit with these feelings. Though they are painful and immense, they need to be felt. If you have read this far, I would like it if you could take a moment of silence, either to remember someone, or to simply breathe.