Publisher's Notes: Paying Homage to Those Who Came Before Us

“Will you guys please give it a rest?!? I’ve already had four different people today ask me if I want a copy of The Voice!” said the slightly exasperated Ben Ruback ’08 walking into Quincy House at dinnertime last Thursday. I looked over my shoulder at Nico Papamichael, Voice Distribution Director, and my lips curled into a smile. “Good stuff,” I said.

For the last two weeks, Voice staff stood outside the Science Center – music blaring and hearts pounding – with copies of The Voice in hand, delivering them into yours. Like many other aspects of pulling together and operating a new publication in largely uncharted territory, figuring out the most innovative, effective ways to distribute our weekly print edition has been a learning process.

Every day, though, we as a team are learning more and improving how we work. But coupled with the progress of growth is the pain of growing up.

How to strike a balance between organizational expansion while remaining personal, respecting people’s privacy while following a hot lead, and pursuing ad revenues without sacrificing our editorial independence are among the list of many issues that a community-centered journalistic publication faces. Keeping a publication running isn’t easy, and taking flack for hard work is even less easy.

In this light, I pay homage to those who have come before us – The Crimson, The Independent, The Advocate and the many others that have paved the way for what we are hoping to achieve. The examples of hard work and devotion that you set for us are admirable, and the bar in our community for published work is high due to your tremendous efforts.

Together, I hope that the work that we publish and the discourse that we facilitate will benefit and enrich the lives of all members of our community, not just our own.

OK, it’s time for me to get back to working on my philosophy paper for a Mansfield class that’s due tomorrow. I am, after all, a student (most of the time).

Thanks for sticking with us, and stay tuned for our final issue of the school year next Thursday!