Hello ACPA,
We begin 2021 with hopes of healing and communal dedication to building something better. We acknowledge that we are still working our way out of the pandemic as well as social, political, and racial crises, and yet we continue to be bombarded with challenges. Moving from the fall term through winter and into spring has been neither peaceful nor easy. We continue to face new challenges and ongoing and evolving concerns and issues.
The articles in this issue of Developments reflect those challenges and the innovative and dynamic work and thinking our colleagues are doing. Much of this issue focuses on COVID-19, reflections on 2020 or both. However, as is nearly always the case in our profession, the reflections are not simply mourning the losses we have experienced or acknowledging the challenges faced. Instead, what underscores the work shared here are the lessons learned, the opportunities identified for the future, and an active engagement in the work ahead of us.
At a time when we are called to action in new ways every day, these articles exemplify not only what has been, but allude to what could be. Hope is essential for each of us, the students and communities we serve. Hope is not passive, but an active verb. As you each move forward and engage in the work of actualizing that hope, we encourage you to show kindness, patience and understanding to yourselves. Take care of yourselves as you attend to others.
Thank you to each of our authors. At a time when sharing thoughts and experiences is one more thing on our ever-growing to-do lists, your contributions here are truly a gift to the profession. We appreciate you.
Sincerely,
Michelle Boettcher & Reyes Luna