You’ll have to excuse me this week, there remain a couple of articles to get up on the web, and the PDF is nowhere near complete yet.

The problem is that on Thursday, I received my second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.  (Moderna, in my case.)  I didn’t think this would be any problem because the first dose gave me little more than a case of the sniffles and a mild headache a few days after the shot.

This time it’s different.  There have been many reports of how the second shot often presented stronger side-effects than the first, but how bad could it be, I wondered.

Turns out, it’s bad.  The biggest issues are the headache and the fatigue.  It’s not that I’m sleepy, but rather that I have zero energy, even typing is a noticeable drain on me now.  And don’t talk to me about the headache.  Or anything really.  Keep it quiet.  And dark.  Dark is my friend at the moment.

Yet despite all this, I don’t regret for an instant getting the vaccine itself.  The goal is some suffering now to prevent massive suffering later, right?  Plus to help us all get back to normal by making sure that the diseases have a far more difficult time spreading meaning a much smaller chance of new variants popping up.  So don’t look at me and decide you don’t want the shot.  If anything, I should be a reason you should want it, because it’s known to have different effects on different individuals, so what are the odds that you’d get the same symptoms as me?  I’m taking that bullet for you, hopefully.

However, the important part about all this is that The Voice Magazine is not yet complete.  More articles will continue to trickle in over the next while, with the PDF up hopefully (but no promises) later tonight.

And that’s actually okay, because we’ve got a fairly big issue this week, meaning you’ve got reading material to keep you busy until I get the rest of is up.  In the meantime, be sure to take a look at our latest Minds We Meet column, where we have a great interview with student Jessie Goodwin.  Also, Jeff Shermack returns with his warning about the pains of hiking, and why you should do it anyway.

Also, this is the last full issue out before Canada Day, and, reflecting perhaps how low-key the celebrations are likely to be, we actually didn’t get a single article about it (unless you include the red & white meal delivered by Chef Corey this week in “Homemade is Better”.)  However, the “Vintage Voice” will direct you to Canada Day articles of the past, if you’re really looking to find out what students have been thinking about the holiday.

And of course we’ve got course reviews, advice, scholarships, and upcoming events.  Plus a student look at how we could better handle domestic abuse, the pitfalls of being an overthinker and how to make it work for you, and a solid selection of other articles by students like you.  I figured even if I’m not doing so great, you folks deserve at least that much.

So enjoy the read!