Editor’s Le er
A federal and provincial governments began urging people to work from home if possible, I ran into my letter carrier. After introducing himself (Adrian) and clearing away some pleasantries, he mentioned that he was “really looking forward” to delivering mail to all of the people, many of them presumably shut in, along his route.
“It’s nice to make a positive difference,” he said. In these days of physical distancing, mail — from the household essentials we order online to dispatches from the outside world — has become more precious than many of us would have imagined.
For as long as our printing presses in Ottawa keep running and letter carriers like Adrian can distribute mail from door to door, we’ll keep delivering The Walrus in this format. We’ve also created a dedicated page for our ongoing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic at thewalrus.ca/covid-19. Furthermore, the pandemic has provided us with incentives and opportunities to develop new means of connecting with our audience. For example, we’ve launched The Conversation Piece, a podcast based on our live national event series, The Walrus Talks. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be introducing additional ways to connect with our journalists and will be launching new forms of multimedia storytelling on our website.
If you’re reading this, you’ve received the rst print copy of The Walrus produced not in our o ce, in downtown Toronto, but in the homes of our editors and designers. Like so many Canadians, over the past few weeks, we’ve adapted to working remotely. For all of us, the -19 pandemic has highlighted the difference between the things in our lives that felt essential and those we really needed to live. It hasn’t been surprising to nd that few sta ers miss the late nights in the o ce or the bracing downtown Toronto commutes, but we’ve gained some new forms of camaraderie via technology. I’ve also been unsurprised to discover, through the Brady Bunch–like squares containing my colleagues during our regular Zoom videochat meetings, that many of them have enviably stocked bookshelves.
For all the work we’ve done to deliver an uninterrupted experience, this isn’t a typical issue of The Walrus. The rapidity and totality with which the coronavirus has transformed our lives led to last-minute changes. As the pandemic developed in the public mind from a twoweek disruption to an unprecedented societal shift, we commissioned veteran science reporter Carolyn Abraham’s essay, “Your Brain on -19,” on the way our minds process and respond to looming and unfamiliar threats. “Distant Threat,” by Judy Ziyi Gu, describes the writer’s experience fearing for relatives in China even as Gu and others in North America blithely carried on with their typical routines.
Like you, my colleagues and I are concerned for the world, and for our loved ones. What spurs us on now is that we’re in the fortunate position of having a profession that lets us do something. A good part of our ability to persevere as journalists is the backing of an organization that supports us in our work, especially at a time when our industry is nancially threatened. For the past fourteen years, The Walrus has been led by executive director Shelley Ambrose. Having evolved, over fourteen years, from the publisher of a magazine to the executive director of a multifaceted nonpro t that produces, among other things, print and digital journalism, national events, podcasts, and consulting work, Shelley has decided to bring this chapter of her life to a close. It’s through her e orts that The Walrus is now in the best shape it’s ever been, thanks in no small part to an educational mandate that promotes factbased journalism.
As we take another step — not just into a virtual o ce but also into a new world we’re only just beginning to envision, economically and culturally — i am glad to introduce our incoming executive director, Jennifer Hollett. Her expertise spans digital media, politics, and public administration. We are all lucky to begin a new chapter with her. Change has been a constant at The Walrus since the beginning and will remain key to our growth. Thank you for your support and commitment — regardless of how we come together.
— Jessica Johnson