<< Back to Lion August 2020
Editorial
This ‘Year of Corona’ has seen us change and adapt so much of what was ‘normal’ in our lives, and Lion is no exception: in a first for our magazine, we’re publishing purely digitally. It’s different, yes, and somewhat of a challenge for those of us who relish the tactile pleasure of turning pages, but this edition, with its links to related articles and audio and video clips, offers us the opportunity to explore our Wesley stories in a whole new way.
It’s also an opportunity to reflect that this isn’t the first time our school has had to change the way we do things in the face of significant disruption. Kenneth Park’s absorbing Archives feature on the health crises of Wesley’s past reveals some striking parallels between our response to the COVID-19 pandemic today and the so-called ‘Spanish Flu’ pandemic a hundred years ago. We did what we had to do then, just as we’re doing what we have to do now.
Likewise, the variety of Wesley stories across our Features, Snapshots, OWCA and Foundation pages in this edition all point to the resilience of our community; as always, Wesley life endures. In his poignant feature piece, ‘On being an audience of one,’ former Lion editor Dawson Hann writes of the spiritedness of Wesley students, of their inspiring daring to do. I know what he means. I feel it every time I walk into the classroom to greet a group of (socially distanced) ready young faces. It’s a comforting reminder that even in times of ‘dark alone-ness,’ one can, in Dawson’s words, be ‘suddenly relieved by the light of hope, and belief, and a comprehensive refusal to be intimidated.’
We hope you enjoy dipping into the pages of this special Lion-with-links-and-sounds-and-moving-pictures.
Paul Munn, Lion Editor and features writer