Letter from the Editor 04.12.2022

Every year when the weather starts to get warm, it seems like everyone feels an intense need for change. We make vows, sincere or otherwise, about entering and exiting hoe phases, binge productivity YouTube videos, and begin our spring cleaning—all in service of our obsession with wanting something new. 

Perhaps my personal need for change is amplified this year because I’m also just coming out of COVID isolation. After being sick at home for weeks, it’s easy to feel like you’ve been reborn. A temporary pause on everything followed by an abrupt re–entry into the real world induces what I call “glow up energy”—that inescapable feeling of wanting to kickstart a fundamental alteration in your internal and external self. 

But if I’ve realized anything since returning to in–person life, it’s that big changes rarely happen all at once. If anything, I feel like I’m in a constant state of glowing up—never quite reaching the elusive endpoint because every new experience causes another small change. 

We often don’t realize that the “new” we’re waiting for is already happening, and we’re just not stepping back to see it.

It’s infinitely easier to focus on all the memorable lows and ignore the gradual upward climb. I make this mistake a lot—most of my letters focus on the bad parts of each week or the feelings of burnout I experience, and I rarely pause to think about what I’m gaining from the time I spend here. 

In short, it’s hard to crank out 400 words about being happy, but that’s what this week is. I’m finally taking the time to step out of my weekly tiredness and recognize the gradual change that occurred in the interim.

Street will be experiencing a glow up of its own pretty soon, although I unfortunately can’t announce more than that yet. You’ll just have to stick around—and pick up our last regular issue of the semester on April 26—to find out what it is. 

In the meantime, this week’s issue tackles the concept of growth and change in other ways. Our feature explores Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District race—and how candidate Michael Cogbill wants to shake up politics, despite facing obstacles on a variety of fronts. Our articles about Bridgerton season 2 and diversity in Hollywood unpack the importance of representation, both on the screen and in writers’ rooms, and how to push the industry forward.