Letter from the Editor: Summer 2022 Edition
Hello,
Welcome to the last issue of volume two! Can you believe we’re here already? It seems like I joined the Youth Mind team just a few months ago when we were getting started on the summer 2020 issue, but here we are a full year later.
In the winter, the team created The Reflection Issue where we looked back at the past and how it brought us all to where we are today. To wrap up this volume, we thought it fitting to explore the opposite—the future. So, without further ado, welcome to The Vision Issue. A huge thank you goes out to Haeley DiRisio, Youth Mind’s contributing editor, who not only pitched this wonderful theme but also came up with many of the story ideas you’ll see in this magazine.
This edition is all about exploring what’s to come and how our choices, or the decisions of others, influence all our paths forward. While there will always be a level of unpredictability as you can never fully see the outcome of any situation until it has come to pass, the talented reporters at Youth Mind examined the possibilities the future may hold based on trends and events we are witnessing today.
But of course, nothing is set in stone. There’s no sure-fire way to know how something will end, no crystal ball telling us what will happen based on the paths we take. While this can certainly cause stress and fear of the undetermined, it is the unpredictability of life that keeps us wanting to move forward. The uncertainty, the chance for change, the prospect of not always knowing what will happen next; all of this gives motivation to continue onwards and see what tomorrow has in store.
Whether you jump right into the unknown or take your time navigating the waters ahead, you can never catch up with the future, just like you can never go back to the past. It will always be just out of reach, tantalizing us with answers to the ever-present question: “what comes next?”
This question is what made The Vision Issue so exciting to work on—and it felt ironically relevant to my own life. While this issue is one that I couldn’t wait to get started, it’s a bittersweet moment as this will also be my last.
I have learned so much here at Youth Mind and was lucky enough to work with a team of truly amazing people. With every article I edited, every newsletter I wrote, every team member I worked with, I have grown as an editor but, more importantly, as a person. It’s been a privilege being managing editor and working with a team that believes in the power of words as much as I do. I’ll cherish every moment of my time here and take all the lessons I’ve learned with me as I move forward in my journalism career.
While I’ll miss working at this publication, I know I’m leaving the magazine in safe hands with Haeley DiRisio, Youth Mind’s next managing editor. Haeley has been here since the very beginning and sees the vision for Youth Mind. I know that with her, the magazine will continue to publish articles we believe are important to the young people of today with the hopes to inform and empower our generation.
I can’t wait to see what Haeley and the team does with the fall 2022 issue. The future may not be something we can see, or something definitively set in stone, but I know that there’s great things ahead for Youth Mind.
So, what comes next? That’s not a question I can answer, but I look forward to finding out.
All the best,
Emma Siegel
A huge thank you to Haeley DiRisio, Kayla Empey, Olivia Matheson-Mowers, Alyssa Bravo, Amy Fournier, Rebecca Benitez-Berona, Grace Nelson-Gunness, Khaleda Khan, Kalvin Kao, Nabeeha Baig, Lea Clarin, Hamid Siddiqi, Karishma Visani, Brittany Stuckless, Aisharja Chowdhury, Meaghan Flokstra, William Voung, Joyce Lee, Clayton Tomlinson, Evbakhoe Elaiho, Barbara Guerrero, Miranda Alexeichenko, Emily English, Carine Dagossy, Sheri Adekola and the readers—this couldn’t have been done without you all.
About the author
Emma Siegel is the former managing editor of Youth Mind. She loves em dashes a little too much—no, really, it’s true—and when she isn’t editing a story or doing research for her next article, you can always find her with a book in one hand and a coffee in the other.
-
Emma Siegelhttps://www.theyouthmind.ca/author/emmasiegel/
-
Emma Siegelhttps://www.theyouthmind.ca/author/emmasiegel/
-
Emma Siegelhttps://www.theyouthmind.ca/author/emmasiegel/
-
Emma Siegelhttps://www.theyouthmind.ca/author/emmasiegel/
Emma Siegel
Emma Siegel is the former managing editor of Youth Mind. She loves em dashes a little too much—no, really, it’s true—and when she isn’t editing a story or doing research for her next article, you can always find her with a book in one hand and a coffee in the other.
