Dear Lantern readers,
For the first print edition of this school year, I wrote a letter about change and how there was no way to anticipate what the year would bring — if only I had known.
It’s been two weeks since University President Michael V. Drake announced that classes would be suspended through the end of March, about a week and a half since he announced in-person classes would be suspended for the rest of the spring semester, and three weeks since the latest edition of The Lantern was printed. Lately, everything is changing at a breakneck pace, and many aspects of our lives have screeched to a halt. In that first letter, I wrote that The Lantern would be ready and waiting to keep its readers informed — no matter what changed — and that’s still true today.
As I’m sure is the case with so many others, I’ve experienced waves of what feel like a million different emotions. I’ve felt sadness for the lives lost and longing for loved ones I won’t see for the foreseeable future. My heart aches for those who have lost their jobs and don’t know what will happen next. I’ve felt nostalgic for all the “last times” of my college career I didn’t know were the last. But I’ve also felt intense gratitude for family and friends and the ability to see their faces, even if it is on a screen. I’ve been overwhelmed with respect for the nurses and doctors on the front lines. I’ve been thankful for music and movies and developed a renewed appreciation for the way the arts can provide solace in trying times.
This range of feelings can be overwhelming, and uncertainty can induce anxiety, but I hope that during this time, The Lantern can shine a light and provide a sense of comfort. As always, we will break stories in real-time to keep you up to date, but we also understand that you might need to tune out the news sometimes. During Ohio State’s extended spring break, we created a short podcast called Lantern Lites: COVID-19 Edition to fill you in on the biggest news of each day in about 15 minutes. It can be found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and under the COVID-19 tab on our website. We also want to see what you’ve been doing and provide a place to showcase art of any kind, so we’ve created an artboard open to submissions that you can read more about here.
A lot is changing right now. Today’s print edition, which has been delivered to apartment buildings near campus, was produced remotely for the first time. We still expect to print a few more times through the rest of the school year, though not quite as regularly. Even though we’re not all in the same place, I hope that we can deepen our sense of community during this time. So, connect with us on social media. Tell us your stories. Ask us questions you still need answers to. That’s what we’re here for.
All the best,
Kaylee Harter
Editor-in-Chief
