I’ll be honest, writing a letter-from-the-editor after years of anticipating being in this position is both exciting and a bit anticlimactic. What am I supposed to say here, anyways?
I’ve been invested in the Crown for a while now—I was a reporter for two years and a devoted reader before that. Even before I was a student here, I read articles online and looked through the physical copies that my sisters brought home with them. There has always been something that appeals to me about a student-run newspaper.
I love that the articles we put out can be both fun and serious, winsome and academic. I love that we can showcase valuable parts of our community and also call out things that seem amiss. We can expose readers to issues and perspectives that they might not otherwise have made time for, and we can offer commentary on specific and niche community content.
This month’s paper is full of all of the stuff I love. On the front page (hopefully you’ve already read it) is a feature on the French and theatre students who are still reeling from the short notice closure of their programs. We’ve also written on Redeemer’s vaccination policy, making an effort to show both sides of a divisive issue, and put readers in the shoes of the ‘other’. On page five, Ian Dejong reviews Aaron Griffith’s God’s Law and Order, a worthwhile read (both the article, and the book itself); Griffith is the recent winner of Redeemer’s Emerging Public Intellectual Award. There’s a rich and insightful interview with new philosophy professor, Dr. Amber Bowen, as well as a piece discussing the negative rhetoric Christians tend to use when we discuss politics, particularly in the face of the recent election. Finally, we hear from Redeemer Royals athletes who talk about what it’s been like to sit out of competition for a year and how they’re feeling about jumping back in.
You might notice we’ve made a few changes to the paper. For starters, we’ve downsized from our usual twelve page layout to a slim eight pages. This goes hand in hand with our decision to begin publishing six times a year, rather than four. You can expect two more copies of the Crown in your mailbox before Christmas, and three more in the new year. We did this in part because we wanted to be able to respond to current events more quickly. All physical content is now posted simultaneously online and in physical copy, rather than having separate online content as in years past. As well, we’ve nixed the activities page, changed the format of Humans of Redeemer, and added a new section, student involvement portfolios, which features various people who are investing in the Redeemer community.
Do you have any thoughts about these new changes, or about this month’s articles? Maybe you want to suggest a topic to write about, or you think there’s something we could be doing better? Perhaps you’re interested in guest writing for us yourself? Write to us at thecrown@redeemer.ca; I promise I’ll respond. Thanks for reading!
Lucy Brinkman,
Editor-in-chief