Amid the onslaught of constantly changing news, a bimonthly newspaper is a strange creature. We cannot provide up-to-the-minute, or even up-to-the-week, information. We are a timestamp stretched across 28 pages. Our front page “VOTE” headline will sit on newspaper racks at grocery stores and restaurants for a full month after the election passes. 

On one hand, the stories we publish reflect the adaptations that slowly become routine parts of our daily lives. From photographs including face masks to virtual event advertisements, this issue is filled with the adjustments that businesses, community centers, food pantries, schools and even neighbors have made to respond to COVID-19.

But the occasionally urgent headlines hint at other realities, and raise doubts about the sense of normalcy that we build within these pages. The distance between the two feels unsettling — like trying to focus your eyes on a fixed point as the ground heaves beneath your feet. 

That discomfort might be the most of-the-moment content that we can provide.

The Northside News has also made adaptations over the last six months to respond to both the pace of change and to the urgent calls for change. Some adaptations are specific, like our email edition and Coming Up in the Community section. Others are broader. Although part of the work of publishing a newspaper is to coax the articles into some semblance of organization, our best bet to record these moments might be to capture snapshots of what we can, and remain uncomfortably present to the rest.