LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Hello.

We are approaching the end of the year 2020, but our questions remain unanswered. When will the Covid-19 vaccine be released? How will the election affect us? Will online school come to an end? As we wait and contemplate, we seem to have come to a conclusion. Those questions simply cannot be answered now. 

  In these turbulent times, it might be best to reassess the present. We have come a long way, but we still have an uncertain future ahead of us. However, a notable achievement we have made so far is our ability to communicate with others regardless of the adversities the pandemic or our isolation brings. We find ourselves shifting to a society that has become more reliant on technology and have found other means of communication. We cherish the in-person moments we have with our families and friends. We have been steadily adapting and making the most out of this situation. 

It is my goal as the Clarion’s Editor-in-Chief to communicate with you the stories of the past, present, and future. With more time alone, comes more time to reflect. Instead of pondering the future, we will reevaluate the present and pride ourself in our growth and our ability to adapt. In our 2nd Online Issue, you’ll find stories about LSE community members making these changes and adapting to the ever-changing circumstances. Our stories range from holiday gathering alternatives to the modified college application process and the election’s effect on LPS, this issue aims to widen your perspective of the changing world around you. 

With all the questions that have arisen, we insist that you ask again later. Maybe in the future we will have our answers. For now, let’s look back to the spring when the pandemic started and look forward to what’s to come. 

– Jen Quach, Editor-in-Chief

ABOUT THE COVER ILLUSTRATION

In the year of 2020, we have experienced disjointed events outside of our normal life conditions. Many of us had never been through unforeseeable circumstances, so we did not know what was yet to come moving forward. It seems like we are lost within an uncomfortable uncertainty as our questions remain unanswered. The Design Team wanted to create something that represented the theme the 2020 year has given the population: an unpredictable future. 

As our future remains uncertain and a mystery, we seek to find answers on how it will continue to be. For our cover, we used a Magic 8-ball as a tool to predict the future. A Magic 8-ball can give many answers when shaken, but when we shake it to give us an answer for the future of our lives, nothing appears but a question mark. This shows how everything is outside of our control and that we cannot determine the future to come. 

The outer space background helps to define the mystery of the future in a more in depth way. Outer space is full of mystery and has much more exploring to be done. In the year of 2020, many were simply given a mystery we couldn’t solve, as we couldn’t predict what was yet to come due to different circumstances that were presented.

The purple tones assist the outer space and mystery theme since darker tones correlate more towards a puzzling subject. The color purple represents mystery, a major key to the Winter Issue; Magic, a detail relating to the Magic 8-ball; And spirituality, the hope we need to get us through these troubling times. 

We hope that this cover summarizes the year of 2020 for most people, and the overall message the Winter Issue is trying to convey. As we are entering the chapter of yet another year, we are facing more questions and predictions, and they must be asked again at a time where they can confidently be answered. 

The Design Team – Fatima A, Erin G, and Zainib A