We are not living in fun times. We look up to see a plane overhead and, if just for only a second, our hearts skip a beat. We view that unopened pile of mail on the corner of our desks just a little differently now. And we have a heightened sense of knowing who is around us.
For us in D.C., a simple cough brings concern we never had before. We worry about the thought of what might be next. This is the reality of where we live right now, and it is a reality your student newspaper has worked hard to portray.
When I read Tim Foden’s well-thought letter addressing a concern that perhaps his student paper has gotten boring, my first reaction was to agree. Stories about people filing into the GW Hospital to get tested for anthrax or about Capitol Hill interns re-thinking their daily tasks or about Sikh students feeling unsafe because of what they wear do not make for light reading. But it is important.
While what is going on in and around D.C. dictates most of the news stories we print twice a week, there is still no excuse to have a boring newspaper. And, despite these trying times, we have worked hard to produce a paper that not only tells our community the often gloomy news around us but also addresses other important and interesting areas.
Coincidentally, we have a new humor columnist starting on our Opinions page today. She’s been known a least to cheat a chuckle out of stressed-out editors, and I hope you find her funny, too. We also have some promising new cartoonists.
Our new design editor has re-worked the layout of the paper to make it cleaner and easier to read. Break-dancing, 3D drawings, cut-out photos of basketball players and color graphics are not my idea of boring front pages.
We have attempted to offer you a diverse range of news stories from volunteer efforts around campus to crime reporting to application trends to Foggy Bottom’s history, just to name a few. You also might recall a six-part series on the effects of an oversized freshman class.
Our features pages have tackled homelessness, dating, skipping class and addictions in addition to weekly outings to D.C. events. Our arts pages have given you reviews of any movie worth watching along with interviews with people such as Vince Vaughn. And our sports pages have kept the score on every team.
A student paper is a reflection of its campus. And this is certainly not a boring campus. So if you feel The Hatchet is boring to read, then we are failing at our jobs.
The people who run The Hatchet are students just like Tim Foden. While some of us are hardcore newsies, others are on staff to work in an interesting environment and do something that serves a purpose. We are here to put out a great product that will hold people’s attention just long enough so they can learn something and take away at least one interesting piece of information they did not know before.
I am sorry we have failed you so far, Tim. I pledge to try harder, even in these not-so-fun times.
-The writer, a senior majoring in journalism, is Hatchet editor in chief.
