No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.
– John Donne, 1624
Every April we look at the topic of Words, and the stories we tell. In 2020, as we adopt the necessity of social distancing, our stories take on particular exigency (and, of course, brilliant humour) as we seek ways to bypass proximity and remain connected to one another.
Increasingly, social connection is understood as a core human need, and the desire to connect as a fundamental drive. In this, storytelling is a powerful means of fostering social cooperation, processing a confounding world, and presenting a point of view.
This month, our stories cannot avoid the reality of COVID-19, but we hope there is wisdom in the words we share and the stories we tell.
In THOUGHT, Georgina Safe takes a thought-provoking look at how stories have served us well in crises past, and how stories are being used to bridge new community connection.
In CASE, Siena White deep dives into book stats for an intriguing and at times confronting look at the literacy here and abroad.
Our PROFILE article introduces a new tool for connecting our working community so we might cooperate together during this challenging time for businesses.
In GUIDE, Lisa Green takes a look at the best book stores in the neighbourhood and we encourage you to keep the stories coming with your online orders.
In SPOTLIGHT, Claudia Osbourne canvases the hard-hit Cultural sector with a round up of ways to still participate in live entertainment online. And her PULSE article shows how we are still getting our fix of food, fitness and parties without leaving the house.
INSIGHT is in hibernation until we are safe to gather again however you can catch up on any programming you missed with our 2019 recap.
Fundamentally, what COVID-19 has shown us, is that it doesn’t matter how sophisticated we become; social connectivity remains a core part of being human. We need each other – perhaps now more than ever.
