Letter from the Editor

When you’re a year into a pandemic—now with three strains of the virus in the U.S.—what is there to look forward to? Not much!

In 2019, I had the honor of writing the forward for “African Americans of Canton, Ohio,” edited by Geraldine Radcliffe Nadine McIlwain-Massey and Lois Jacobson. It is a treasure chest of a book that capsulizes some of the stories that have helped to shape Black Stark County.

Imagine a fresh blanket of snow on a quiet local walking trail. It’s 9 a.m. on a Saturday, and all is quiet except for the crunch of the snow beneath your feet. You look up and see a cardinal on a tree. Pretty peaceful, isn’t it?

While out shopping in late October—October 25, to be exact—I saw Christmas-related items. The store shelves were covered in “Ho Ho Ho” hoodies, balsam-scented candles, “Be Merry & Bright” doormats and more jolly items.

As I write this in late September, I’m not sure what Thanksgiving will look like for my family. Will we gather at my parents’ house for lunch, followed by dinner at my grandmother-in-law’s house, as usual? Or will we “gather” on Google Hangouts?

There comes a time every summer when there’s a slight chill in the air, and it makes me excited for fall. When the sun starts setting noticeably earlier and the temps get cooler overnight, I start looking ahead to cozy evenings.

I’ll be honest, when we were told the week of March 9 that we would be working from home because of the coronavirus pandemic, I truly thought we’d be working from home for about two weeks.

When my husband, Austin, and I started dating, I told him I didn’t know how to cook. For the first year and a half, he would cook for us. One night when he was running late from work, he asked if I could make our dinner. I think I made a simple meal of chicken with some veggies.

When I was a kid, summer days were spent outside from sun up to sun down unless it was raining or way too hot to be playing under the sun. If we sat in the house trying to play Nintendo, my mom would tell us to go play a game or ride bikes or do something outdoors.

I’m not a big fan of summer weather in Ohio. It’s muggy, sweaty and many times, it feels like you’re wading through a swimming pool when leaving the air-conditioned office on a humid day. As someone who has naturally frizzy hair—think Monica from “Friends” when she visits Barbados—I’m not big on dealing with humidity. I prefer to spend my time indoors when the weather gets that torturous.