Spring 2021 Issue

Before I began to write this issue’s Grist, I succumbed to an urge to reread my editor’s letter from last spring. I had assiduously avoided this “review” for our first 47 issues, not wanting to subconsciously repeat myself. Or perhaps I just didn’t want to know when I had… For this letter, I felt compelled to review a snapshot of my mental state at this very time last year, right before the entire world was brought to its knees by a novel virus.

Wowza, what a difference a year makes. I opened Spring 2020’s Grist for the Mill with Merriam-Webster’s definition of communion, and in the last paragraph I invited you to whip up a batch of the vermouth recipe in that issue and … wait for it … “invite a few friends over to toast the arrival of spring, in communion.”

That issue arrived on March 1, so you had exactly 18 days before Governor Newsom’s first statewide shelter-in-place order took effect. By the first day of spring, that toast better have been shared only with members of your same household.

The past nearly 12 months have forced us all to find new ways to be “in communion.” Technology came to the rescue, but I do not believe I am the only one who is sick and tired of Zoom meetings, Zoom classes, Zoom family reunions and Zoom cocktail hours by now. This has been, and continues to be exceptionally hard, y’all!

I don’t think we will feel the full weight of it until it has been lifted, either. We just can’t let ourselves go there while we’re still in the midst of the crisis. We’ve already lost nearly 500,000 fellow Americans. The rest of us have made it this far, so I know we can hang in there for what will, hopefully, be just a little bit longer until we can all safely gather together again. And gather we will!

I am counting the days until we can come together in person—in our homes and schools, on sports fields, at places of worship and at our beloved restaurants, wineries and bars. The shuttering of these places that exist for the very purpose of communing has had profound effects, ones that will linger for the foreseeable future. Mostly on their owners and staff—and specific governmental assistance for them cannot come soon, or be large, enough. The ripple effect on their suppliers—our local ranchers, farmers, cheesemakers, fisherfolk, winemakers, brewers, distillers and other artisan food producers who provide the ingredients with which they craft and feed their guests—has been devastating to these community members, as well. They are counting on us, each of us who appreciates their collective work to not just feed us well, but to provide a welcoming space to come together to celebrate, to comfort, to be nourished, to return as soon as we can do so safely. I’ll be there, with a renewed and enhanced appreciation for them, and their essential role in our community.

Welcome Spring 2021! GT