Shift happens

ON OUR FEBRUARY COVER: A Pacific Spiny Lumpsucker is looking for love in the waters off skelp (Saltery Bay). Just a few centimetres across and often dusted in sand, the PSL has become a “trendy” fish among divers . (Photo by Sean Percy)

PUBLISHER'S MESSAGE

ISABELLE SOUTHCOTT

If January is the month to make (and break) New Year’s resolutions, then February is the month to shift gears.

January was a good month to hibernate. While my body was resting my mind was busy thinking about what I want to accomplish in the coming year.

I stopped making New Year’s resolutions years ago because they didn’t work for me. I started off with a bang, but somewhere along the line (usually around mid-January), I began to fizzle out and by the end of the month I was done.

I like the idea of shifting what I do when what I did no longer serves me.

This 17th anniversary issue of qL is all about those shifts. For the Pritchards, their lives had to change after Kathie experienced a traumatic brain injury – but the shift made their love story richer and deeper.

For John Hewson, accepting his sexuality – even accepting the word “gay,” was a profoundly life-giving shift.

Policymakers across Canada are struggling to address the concurrent crises of mental health, addictions, poverty and crime. There’s little agreement on what should shift – just that something must.

For those of us who have been hibernating since the holidays, a host of actors and musicians are calling you off your couch to be part of an audience once again. The Festival of Performing Arts, qathet International Film Festival, Mary Poppins Junior, The Greatest Show, Weed Lube: A Slippery Slope and so much more are coming this month and next, urging you to shift gears and be part of the community again.

I’m even planning to shift how I celebrate Valentine’s Day this year, to a celebration of friendship over romance.