Welcome to the first Record issue of 2017. By now, I hope everyone has settled into their new schedules and found a routine. In college, each semester feels as if it’s a school year of its own, with completely new classes, professors and seasons.
With the new year comes different responsibilities. My biggest new challenge will be taking on the role of editor-in-chief of this newspaper. Because of the brilliant work my now associate editor and friend Jordan Waidelich did last semester, I have some big shoes to fill.Soon, tomorrow actually, we will see shifts happen on both a personal, national and global level. For some, these changes mean more worry and fear, while others won’t feel much effect at all. In times of change, both drastic and small, we find refuge in the people around us.
My hope for this semester, my last one ever at GC, is for our community here in Goshen to seek and find refuge in each other. I hope the Record can be a space where we can come together and share our joys, our worries and struggles, a channel to stay connected to each other, for each other.
Sarah Thompson, who spoke at Monday’s convocation, called us to embrace the uncomfortable.
“We have to figure out how to share this planet with people who have different truths than our own,” Thompson said, reminding us that we have more in common with each other than we think.
So, my call to each reader is to have courage. Have the courage to take the time to listen to a perspective different than your own. Have the courage to reach out to me or any of the other editors and let us know you have a story to tell. Have the courage to speak your mind even if it makes others uncomfortable.
Your voice is valid. Your voice is valuable. Your voice is needed. Let’s make this semester the best yet.
“If something needs fixing, then lace up your shoes and do some organizing,” Barack Obama said in his farewell speech last Tuesday. “Show up. Dive in. Stay at it.” My goal is to do just that.
