This month, we tore up the template for the Shuttle by design. Then life (specifically, COVID-19) intervened, and we tore up that template.

The “plan” for the April Shuttle, made months ago, was for it to be our “all-green” edition, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Every article was supposed to have an environmental theme — even the Wellness Team columns. Among other things, we were going to tout the Co-op’s initiative to allow shoppers to bring reusable containers to the store to package their Prepared Foods items.

But once The Virus got to our shores, and to our state, plans had to change a whole lot. All of a sudden, it made no sense to introduce a new reusable container program. Beyond that, our society was forced to overhaul almost every part of how we live, and we needed to reflect that in the paper. So we made one big ol’ left turn, like everybody else. Our art director, Annette Aloe, even packaged it so that it was meant to look this way all along. (Did we fool you?)

I hope that we can get to producing that “green” issue in a few months. And despite the left turn, you’ll find a fair bit of environmentally-related content in this issue, because that’s how we roll in general. For folks who like to grow stuff, check out our new native plant column, “Liberate Your Lawn and Garden!” by member Sarah Endriss.

One of these days, hopefully soon, we’ll start to return to something approaching normal. I can get back to writing about the latest “It” drink that’s earned a spot in our cold drink cases. We’ll scoop our favorites from the bulk bins ourselves. And we’ll walk into our stores without checking to see if there’s a line outside the door.

To quote the Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter song “Ripple”, “There is a road, no simple highway/Between the dawn and the dark of night.”

Stay on the road, y’all: six feet apart, for now.