Page 12 - Sharp Summer 2021

Editor's Letter
12 SHARPMAGAZINE.COM
SUMMER 2021
I think I speak for everyone reading this when I say: thank God it’s summer. Never again will I take for granted the sun and its generous benefits — a tan and vitamin D.
But while I welcome the warm weather with open, pasty arms, relieving my bed and couch from their duties for the first time in six months, I can’t help but feel like I’m forget- ting something. Namely, how to interact with people and move about the world.
This year has felt like a twisted social experiment dreamt
up by crooked scientists. What if we unleashed a deadly virus and forced everyone in the entire world into solitary confinement for a year? Luckily, early results have been affirmative: people crave connection — with each other and themselves — and they promise to be better once released. Even the performatively introverted miss a good hang.
Like anyone else emerging from prolonged hibernation, I’m eager to reconnect with friends and family. I’ll never complain about waiting in line at a restaurant again. Seat me elbow-to-el- bow with two strangers on a first date, I don’t care! I love my alone time, but I’m tired of being, like, alone alone.
On the other hand — and I don’t think I’m alone here — there’s a latent anxiety blooming at the thought of an abrupt return to normalcy. Right now, a grocery run saps my stores of energy and feels like a week’s worth of activity. As much as we want this year to be in the rear-view, we also need to recognize that we’ve been in limbo for a long time — suspended from reality. I, for one, need to practise having a conversation that’s not mediated by a screen. Perhaps a jaunt, not a jolt, back to social life will help us move forward in a healthier way.
JOSH GREENBLATT
Editor-in-Chief
Photo by Renata Kaveh. Grooming by Nate Matthew (P1M)