If this were any other year, and if this were any other production week, I would probably be burned out: the dishes growing disgustingly tall in the kitchen, running on my 20th cup of tea, and pure adrenaline. My role as Deputy Editor of one of the best student publications in Northern England (thank you SPA) was sold to me as a full-time job, three weeks per term. I was so ready for the endless banter and office tunes, and more seriously, to get stuck in with pulling together some cracking editions.
As it happens, I’m currently chilling at my bedroom desk with a slice of cake, having taken my 100th walk to my local park. I do get to spend a few hours with the rest of the Senior Team on a Zoom call every Wednesday morning. And while it’s no substitute for in-person human interaction, it’s been a welcome distraction and a ray of sunshine during what I’m personally branding the Worst Lockdown Yet.
But it’s difficult to feel like you’re growing or progressing when all of your activities take place on the same laptop screen, while you’re sat at the same desk, day after day. It saddens me to think that our newer members of the team don’t yet know what it’s like to see their words in print, to hold in their hands a copy of the pages they so carefully put together.
Then, I sit back and remember that being able to keep going through the usual Uni grind is a miracle enough at the moment, that the fact our team is putting together such exceptional content week after week is really bloody brilliant. Though it might feel like the only thing growing at the minute is the work piling up on our desks, pushing through the current climate in whatever capacity is forcing us to grow in unexpected ways.
Sport, the section probably most negatively impacted by Covid restrictions, has innovated a new series covering the latest sporting documentaries and TV coverage. This week, James Moultrie discusses how TV rights are getting in the way of affordable access to spectator sport in lockdown. In Comment, Jenna Luxon exposes the lie behind ‘feminist’ self-care advertisements while Lucy Cooper argues that York’s nightlife is in dire need of revival. Meanwhile in Politics, James Abbott talks about the current buzz surrounding Scottish independence in Parliament.
Growth in lockdown isn’t about completing Joe Wicks’ 7 Days of Sweat, glowing up your diet, or reading a ridiculous number of novels. At this point, it's about learning how to get through the day, how to look after ourselves best.
That’s why I’m so grateful for the time and energy that the team has put into this week’s edition. For helping Nouse to keep growing.
I’d also like to say that if, like me, your latest innovation is less like a beautifully written online article and more like putting chocolate orange in your granola, that you’re doing a great job. Keep going.