Spring is without a doubt my favorite time of year. Maybe it’s just because I grew up in Salt Lake City, where you get to experience four seasons, or maybe it’s because I think that nothing good can come out of three-plus months of below freezing temperatures, but springtime is quite possibly the best time to be living. Take a deep breath of air and what do you smell? For me, the spring signals new beginnings and a nod to the possibilities of the remainder of time left in this year.
As I set to graduate from Whitman in a few short months, I have a difficult time envisioning where I’ll find myself a year from now. Yet, I think that’s part of the beauty of spring in Walla Walla and what we’ve tried to do with The Circuit. As an evolving staff, we have no idea what The Circuit will look like a year from now, but the excitement of what this issue can be lingers.
Ten issues ago, former Pioneer Editor-in-Chief Tricia Vanderbilt started The Circuit in hopes of allowing the staff of The Pioneer to express ourselves creatively in ways we can’t under the constraints of producing a weekly newspaper. I can proudly say that Tricia’s vision is more alive now than ever. Past pages of the The Circuit have held stories covering the wider community of Walla Walla, the history of Whitman itself and discussions regarding food. Nowadays, over at The Pioneer, you’ll notice a change to The Circuit. For the first time since spring 2012, we will be publishing this issue without a theme. When the staff of The Pioneer sat down to think about what we wanted to center this issue around, we found ourselves gravitating toward the idea of a blank slate. Much like spring is a time for new possibilities, we wanted to use this issue of The Circuit to write about the various interests we have as a staff––to use this issue as a starting point to document what widely interests the Whitman community. I believe allowing our staff the flexibility to choose their stories without the constraints of a theme ultimately results in a much stronger publication reflecting people’s interests and abilities.
In these pages you’ll find a reflection of what fascinates the staff of The Pioneer. Writer Andy Monserud and photographer Marra Clay discuss and document Whitman students’ obsession with the local Goodwill store, uncovering the stories behind beloved items such as a faux fur coat and a neon green windbreaker (page 20). Writer Anna Zheng profiles various members of the Whitman community on why they choose to be environmentally conscious, looking at why people are involved with the Divest Whitman Campaign and the local food movement. And writer Emma Dahl taps into her passion for astrophysics, reviewing Paul Bogard’s book, “The End of Night: Searching for Natural Darkness in an Age of Artificial Light.”
In this issue, I hope that you’ll discover a slice of what excites Whitman students at this current moment. So please, kick back your feet, take a deep breath of spring air and enjoy.
Best,
Shelly Le
Editor-in-Chief
[email protected]
