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Like you, I am living in uncertain times. My children are finishing their school year confined to our apartment, seeing their classmates, teachers, and grandparents only in video chats. My bedroom is now my office. Many of my neighbors have lost their jobs. Confirmed covid-19 cases in the United States passed 1 million—218 in my town—and confirmed deaths exceeded 60,000 nationwide as this issue of UU World was going to the printer at the end of April.
This issue includes many responses to the pandemic, including several that have helped steady me. It also includes stories unrelated to the coronavirus. All show how UUs continue to live out their values, from erasing medical debt to introducing a sexuality education program for older adults. I hope you find something in these pages that comforts, inspires, or emboldens you amid the medical and economic uncertainties we all face.
Change in Publication Schedule. Even before the pandemic upended our lives, the UUA budget required major cuts. Publishing a magazine is expensive. Going forward, UU World will publish two issues a year instead of four, in the Fall and Spring (see page 55). We will continue publishing online at uuworld.org and will begin work on a second “seeker issue.” Due to low demand, we have stopped publishing UU World Digital, our tablet app.
Executive Vice President Carey McDonald explains: “Like many congregations, the UUA is making tough decisions about how to prioritize our work and advance our mission in a challenging financial reality. UU World remains an essential link between the UUA and the members of our congregations; we will be continuing online and print versions of the magazine with a renewed publishing approach that makes the best use of the magazine’s capacity and sustains its relationship with its readers.”