Dear Friend,
June. For half of the planet, it’s the month summer officially begins. For the other half, it marks the beginning of winter. By the time of the December solstice, parts of several countries in the northern hemisphere are experiencing polar night—a period when, because of the angle of the Earth, the sun is never seen. But in the southern hemisphere, only Antarctica—which is not a country—ever has a polar night. During the June solstice, every country on the planet, in both hemispheres, gets at least some direct light from the sun each day.
So many of the articles in this month’s issue reference the sun’s light. The sun is often used in religious writing to point to God’s power. Joseph Addison, an 18th-century poet, wrote,
