I recently had the opportunity to go to York and attend a sub-committee meeting of our sister publication, Share. I really enjoyed the fellowship of fellow alcoholics I hadn’t met before, and basked in the warmth that seems to be just there when a group of ex-drunks get together.
The question came up: in this age when “everything” is online, when everything we want to read or see is on our phones or laptops, what is the point of a printed magazine? For me, the answer is that we have never before needed a printed magazine like Roundabout more. Because it’s real. It isn’t an AI confection, it’s not digitally enhanced, it doesn’t need to be plugged in or upgraded. It’s a tool for recovery, a meeting you can hold in your hands and walk around with. You can read it during a power cut (hopefully not!) You can pick up a copy and hand it to a newcomer and tell them to keep it.
They might not read it then, but they might also find it a little while later, and look at an article or two, and think maybe it’s worth giving that AA meeting another go. For some of us, sobriety comes eventually from these tiny seeds planted in the bleakest of winter.
Dilys, Editor