Alex Serrano

As some of you may know, I, Alex Serrano, have taken up the mantle as the new managing editor for your beloved Beacon. And I’m here for you. I’m here to facilitate reporting on issues around campus that matter to you, from the baseball field to the Captain’s House to the dining hall to the modest lighthouse for which we are named.

You may be asking yourself “How? How can a paper represent the entire student body so succinctly?” Well. It surely cannot without the help of helpful contributing writers writing about what they think is necessary. As managing editor, it is not my job to decide which articles get into the paper. It is my job to help contributing writers expand their journalistic vision, to break down the doors and learn a thing or two about themselves. It is my job to help.

So if you think that at any point that the paper is not representing you, your opinion, or your personal philosophical tendencies and you have the inclination, write. Even if you are a Neo-Nazi anti-socialist lizardman from Neptune, we are all very interested to see what you have to contribute to the paper.

In the journalism world, a lot of weight is put on being ‘objective.’ The objective truth being completely factual to everybody, all the time, with no opinions or slant. Unfortunately, ‘objective’ news, article-by-article, is impossible. This is painfully obvious in the modern media climate. On one end you have Fox News and the alt-right and on the other end you have MSNBC and Bernie bros’ and there seems to be no truly factual news outlet without a political leaning of their own. This is why I have embraced objectivity by way of diversity. If anybody of any creed wishes to write for the paper, writes well, and gets their articles in on time, I cannot complain about their worldview, whatever that may be. Perhaps a well-reasoned discussion will erupt, and that’s awesome.

Because at the end of the day, we’re all students. We’re all here to learn. To learn about life, about all the differing opinions out there, and to find our own opinions somewhere in the slippery middle ground between extremities.