Community, Connection, Continuity and Change
Welcome to the new-look JUNO! Do you like the cover? As a team we are constantly refreshing, revising and updating, and Rosalind, our designer, has inspired this change.
In this issue there is lots to engage and inspire. I am especially happy to introduce Evelyn Brealey’s Plastic-free Lent feature because it’s due to Evelyn that I have the privilege of being editor of JUNO. It was at Evelyn’s house that I first saw JUNO and then started to write for the magazine, eventually taking it on it its entirety! At that time our children were babies; now Evelyn’s daughter is writing for JUNO about the challenge of going plastic-free. It’s this sense of community, connection and continuity that I so love about JUNO.
Community and connection is what is missing for so many new families, and this can put huge pressure on them. Without the support of the ‘village’, parenting can be overwhelming. Riga Forbes writes about this on pages 44 and 45, and about how we need to be nurturing ourselves as powerful mothers. Noel McDermott reflects on how dads need support, and Melia Keeton-Digby looks at the stereotyping of boys and men and tells how she has set up a programme for mothers’ groups to help nurture our boys in a non-compartmentalised way.
And lastly, change. Change can be exciting – like our new look – but it can also be sad. It is with sadness that we say goodbye to Jess Stephens, who is leaving the JUNO team as this issue goes to print. Jess has been instrumental in JUNO’s move to plastic-free distribution, and her drive, passion and commitment have been a huge part of the JUNO journey of the past four and a half years. But there is excitement too, because Jess is following her dream and moving to new adventures in Cornwall. We would all like to thank her for the part she has played in developing JUNO – and wish her happy surfing!
– Editor Saffia
JUNO is available in independent shops, selected branches of WH Smith and online:
Editor Saffia shares Five Things she Learned While Working on the Spring Issue