February Editor's Note: Love

February has been a month bustling with traditions, exciting events and intriguing people. As the world enjoys St Valentines Day with their loved ones, fashion designers prepare their repertoire for an upcoming socially distanced fashion week and activists prepare to educate their communities for Black History Month. The Monthly has been hard at work to bring you as much of February as possible, packed into this issue. Love has been a powerful motif in society. If we take note of the most beautiful literature in this world, it revolves around the tragedies and dependencies of love. Art stays strong in proudly showcasing loved ones while music exists for sorrow-filled ballads of love of rejection. Popular singers like Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter have competitive songs released over love while Lana Del Rey prepares to release a new album. We may roll our eyes over love, but it is recurring throughout our lives and world. Thus, choosing to make it our theme this month was an obvious option. As English Literature students, we at the Editorial team could not help but bring a myriad of articles on love. Read ahead to find some of the most intriguing discussions of consumerism, your favourite teacher couples and the origins of St Valentine's Day. Loving people is an unspoken part of our daily routine and we hope to commemorate the beauty of this emotion in our multifaceted February issue.

While loving others becomes an uncontrollable daily activity, it is often that loving ourselves remains forgotten. Loving yourself isn’t all about bubble baths and face masks, rather, according to Gina a self-love mentor ‘everything in life boils down to self-love’. For example, just like a toxic relationship leads to a toxic environment, a toxic relationship with yourself leads to a toxic internal environment preventing you from reaching your full potential. Here at The Monthly we promote individuality, growth and regard matters of mental health with maturity - thus we truly believe that self-love is essential. The myth that self-love equates to selfishness is one The Monthly plans to eliminate in this month's issues with articles that promote self-love and care and encourage you to understand yourself deeper.

February also consists of ‘Black History Month’, which celebrates and displays the achievements of African Americans and the pivotal roles they played in society. In honour of the distinguished event, the February issue of ‘The Monthly’ will feature a spotlight on multiple noteworthy figures of the black community. The celebration is officially declared every year by the sitting President in the US, and countries such as the UK and Canada also take part. It was introduced in 1926 as a national ‘Negro History Week’, the February date was chosen in order to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, two men who played a prominent role in the elimination of slavery. The History Week eventually evolved, after the Civil Right Movement into a month-long celebration which showcased Black identity and pride. Every year a theme is chosen by the president and 2021 will focus on ‘Black Family: Representation, Identity and Diversity” explores the African diaspora, and the spread of Black families across the United States.’ Our team at The Monthly has expressed a deep passion for magnifying the achievements of these ground-breaking men and women, and their excellent work can be seen in the Black History Month Spotlight.

As we leave you with this issue we wish you a Happy Valentines and thank you for your constant support. The Monthly team is dedicated to bringing you the latest news, self-help and advice especially in the month of love. As you progress through this month's issue filled to the brim with love, diversity and our more serious topics we hope you find them as stimulating as the Editorial team did.

Much Love,

Editors-in-Chief

Leenah Asim, Kaviesh Kinger, Anoushka Subin