Editor’s Letter

By Adam Magnoni – Editor-in-Chief
Greetings Bulldogs,
Though most don’t want to admit it, we are back in school full swing. It’s an easy call to make with the crisp air and all the North Face jackets; summer is gone and fall is here. We were fortunate this past summer. There were just enough hot days for my bones to retain some of that big bright star’s residual heat, and the Bumbershoot schedule this year was not all that bad.Alright, I’ve got it out of my system. I am still allowed to dream of summers past, but during waking hours my mind must be focused on the school year ahead. I will be creating my own podcasts (check-out www.thejibsheet.com/podcasts!) this quarter in an independent study course. This class (and yes, only one class for me as I don’t want to overdo things here) is perfect. There are no specific class hours, no book and nothing that I consider to be traditional homework. Not to say that production of a quality podcast is easy, far from it. But this course is what they call practicum. All the work done leading up to the final product, and that product itself, can be applied in a pliable context. I always had trouble motivating myself when the theories and ideas couldn’t be put to use after the bell rang and the classroom walls dissolved (along with our train of thought) until the next hour of learning. This is me. It has always been discouraging for me when registration time came around. We don’t go to a trade or technical school, so most of the classes being offered, in any given track of study, are a forum for abstract thoughts and ideas to be applied within the confines of a career that seemed out of hands reach. As I thought of this and tried to work out a schedule that was just right for me, I thought, “Why is it that I actually enjoy going to school?” I could just take on a vocation and focus my time and energies elsewhere. But that has never quite felt right. I want to be a writer, and along with real-time experience I do feel the need for a diploma on my wall. The thing I realized while walking on this very campus, is it’s not necessarily any one aspect of the collegiate experience that I like, it’s the overall attitude and feeling on a college campus. Unlike high school, the people that are here want to be here. There is a general feeling of direction and purpose in the student body. That by going to class, sharing thoughts with professors and fellow students alike, we are working to not only further our careers, whatever they may be, but also becoming a part of something much larger than ourselves. I think of Plato and one of the first colleges of western civilization, The Academy, in Athens. It was a place where great thinkers gathered to discuss and argue not only grandiose philosophies, but current issues that mattered on any given day. It’s romantic, if you ask me. And the coolest part is we find ourselves in an institution still driven by those same core principals. So, even if class is getting you down (it’s only the first week for gosh sakes!) and the homework is already too much and your teacher seems a lot like the guy from the Ferris Bueller movie, don’t fret. Go out and throw some of your ideas to the wolves. Take a stand, if for no other reason than to see who will oppose it. If it were not for you, me, and the guy eating a corndog in the smoke shack, we would not have this institution of higher learning. It simply could not fulfill its purpose. I guess we would all have to choose between hunting and gathering.