Each edition of Wabash Magazine begins as a theme, but the cover title develops organically during the gathering and editing process—sometimes precariously late—as our stories take us deeper and the issue becomes more personal.

It’s kind of like naming babies the first time you really meet them.

Last winter’s “adoption” issue became “Getting to the Good” after Professor Bobby Horton used that term to describe his family’s growth after adopting his daughter Maesa, and those words just seemed to fit so many other stories in the magazine.

WM Spring/Summer 2017 began months ago as a holistic look at men and mental health with the theme “Mind, Body, Spirit.” That guided the Big Question we asked alumni for the issue: “How do you take care of yourself physically, mental, emotionally, and spiritually?”

But the candor and vulnerability of pieces like Tim Padgett’s on depression, Bob Royalty’s LaFollette Lecture dealing with his father’s suicide, and Scott Dreher’s essay grieving the death of his son took us from the idea of mental health to people—our people—coming to terms with some of the most difficult moments a person can face.

There were times when editing this issue felt like I was walking with a good friend trusting me with his most important story. One part gift, one part responsibility.

But we didn’t have a title until I was editing Christina Egbert’s excellent article about the people and inspiration behind the College’s new Mental Health Concerns committee. Looking to add context, I thought of Professor Anne Bost’s words to grieving students at a memorial service for Luke Borinstein ’20 about this time last year. She attributed the words to Professor Eric Wetzel, who would be quick to credit health care innovator Dr. Paul Farmer.

But Anne’s use of Farmer’s phrase “walk beside each other” in this setting—as well as Eric’s application of that phrase in his own life—tells you something essential about Wabash teachers and this place. To a Chapel full of young men a month after Luke’s death and only days after the death by suicide of Austin Weirich ’18, she said:

“We are meant to love one another, so don’t try to go it alone. I encourage you instead to be present with each other, in whatever ways are genuine for you. As a friend of mine wisely advocated, ‘practice walking beside each other, not just physically, but intellectually, spiritually, and emotionally.’”

So the weekend before designer Becky Wendt received the stories and photos for this issue, “Mind Body Spirit” and all the cover ideas for it went out the window as WM Spring/Summer 2017 became “Walking Beside Each Other.” Becky could have freaked, but instead she came up with the idea that became our cover. Rich Paige and Adam Phipps ’11 provided the shadows and Kim Johnson photographed them on our Alumni Terrace, among other places.

Becky had been taken by the photo Bumper Hostetler ’76 had sent in months earlier of his grandkids walking together and she placed it as our Last Glance.

An hour’s search of the bricks on the Alumni Terrace turned up Bob Allen’s inscription for the Contents page: “Grateful that I walked this way.”

President Hess and professors and students had returned earlier in the summer from a long walk in Spain, and “Lessons from the Pilgrim’s Road” become From Center Hall

Look at WM Spring/Summer 2017 now and you might think “Walking Beside Each Other” was our idea at that first planning meeting many months ago. But that’s not often the path at WM, or at Wabash, or by Wabash alumni, come to think of it. All that questioning, all those possibilities, the new connections and ways of seeing happening every day—its hard not to get caught up in the flow.

And we get to tell the stories.

—Steve Charles