LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

I never grew up with grandparents as a young person. However, there was a cousin. Mary. A warrior, a master of sarcasm and sass, a woman who knew probably hundreds of people around the world and who was loved by them all. She was one of the first people to support my writing. Subconsciously, she had always been my grandmother, though she would have killed me for giving her that title, being the young soul at heart she was. On the 8 th of April, she passed away in her home after battling cancer for the third time in her life. In hospital since January, I could only visit her twice due to restrictions.

I saw her a final time the weekend before she passed, standing outside looking through the window where her bed lay on the other side of the room. Due to restrictions, I could not go to her funeral.

This anecdote is not for sympathy, but rather because these are times of struggle, hardship, uncertainty, and pain. We are all suffering in our own ways, and instead of breaking apart in isolation, the young people of this county, country and world have banded together and risen up more than ever before. With a global pandemic, uncertainty about the Leaving Cert, growing attention in the Climate Change and Black Lives Matter movements, and the presence of a virtual Pride Month, uncovering this issue’s theme of Making History was not difficult for our wonderful team. Now more than ever it is of the utmost importance to pay notice to what a young person in Laois is defined as, and to realise fully our impact on the society and history around us.

In this issue, you’ll find interviews with frontline workers, students, teachers, photographers, parents, and, as always, young people. There are DIYs, intimate discussions on the impact lockdown has had on the mental health of our young people, and, above all, an inspiring story of our capabilities and strengths in a worldwide event that this generation has not yet seen for ourselves. We are all making history right now, and it’s up to us what each generation wants to be remembered for in the year of 2020. It seems as though the young people have made themselves clear; we want to make a difference, even if it’s just for one person somewhere in Laois. So, without further ado, I present to you our second issue; Making History.

Enjoy, Charlotte McNulty Editor-in-Chief