Welcome to the Viewpoint section!
This is the Daily Bruin’s opinions and editorials page. This is where student journalists have a chance to express their ideas and thoughts about issues that matter to them and to their fellow students.
If you are a new student, welcome. In this special extended edition of Viewpoint, we’ve included a sample page that will show you what to expect from our paper on a daily basis. If you are a returning student, be prepared to see some changes in the Viewpoint section. We’re really hoping to enhance the ways students can interact with and access our newspaper. Basically, we want your voice to be heard on our page, as well as those of our columnists.
First, I want to tell you a little bit about myself. I am a fourth-year art history student who originally hails from the North Shore of Chicago. I started off writing for News and have written more than 70 articles. Last year, I was the official crime and obituary reporter for News. I have interned with the Photography and DBTV sections. I am also a member of the editorial board.
My enthusiasm for journalism reaches back two generations. My grandfather started his journalism career as the obituary writer for the Newport News Daily Press in Newport News, Va. He became the overnight editor for the United Press in Chicago, where from midnight until 9 a.m. he received news filed from the battlefields of the Korean War and passed it on the news outlets around the country.
My mother went to the University of Missouri for journalism and wrote for the Chicago Sun-Times for a number of years. When a good friend suggested I apply to the Daily Bruin, I decided to go for it. Ink is in my blood.
And now I’m the Viewpoint editor. In this section, we run columns, editorials and cartoons done by our staff, and submissions and letters to the editor from the UCLA community and beyond. This year, we’ll be adding even more. First off, we’re going to revamp the bottom bar that usually resides on our page. We’ll keep the daily statistic and quote but replace the probing question with useful Web sites, new vocabulary words to spice up your essays and TA e-mails, and other assorted items of interest.
We are also adding a feature tentatively titled “What’s Wrong with this Picture?” We want to draw attention to problems at UCLA and in Westwood with the help of our readers. Maybe it’s a constantly overflowing trash can on campus, or a bathroom where none of the locks work, or a sidewalk with cracks that rival the Grand Canyon. Whatever it is, we want you to snap a picture of it and send it our way. Basically, we want to give you a way to make UCLA better.
We are also going to try and get submissions from professors at UCLA to find out what research they’re working on. If you are a professor reading this right now, go ahead and drop us a line. We want to hear about how you’re improving your field and the quality of education here at UCLA.
We also hope to collaborate with DBTV and create a Meet the Press-style show in time for elections analysis. Last year, we ran theme pages on the economy and student government. This year, we want to run a theme page every month where our columnists write about an issue from their points of view.
In addition, we want to recruit submissions from students of different backgrounds for a “What it’s Like” feature. Basically, it’s a day-in-the-life column about being a medical student, or an art student, or a student from another country, or someone who balances class with a full-time job. We want to know about life from different perspectives and these students’ opinions of how UCLA makes it easier or harder for them to achieve their goals. In other words, if anyone has ever asked you, “How do you do it?,” we want to know the answer.
You’ll also be hearing quite a bit about our new Web site. Our editor-in-chief, Anthony Pesce, is hard at work with developers putting together a top-notch site that will allow you to comment on articles and follow your favorite writers and illustrators, among other things. The Web site will be debuting some time this fall. In the meantime, our current Web site will still function.
I encourage you to become actively involved with the Daily Bruin. If you object to something in our coverage, write a letter to the editor. If we haven’t covered an issue that’s important to you, address it in a submission.
If you are interested in becoming a part of the Daily Bruin, applications for all sections are already up online at www.studentmedia.ucla.edu.
We want people who love to write about news, their opinions, arts and entertainment, or sports. We also need people who love to draw, design, illustrate, fact-check, and correct our spelling and grammar.
Most importantly, we want people who are passionate about bringing a world’s worth of news to their fellow students.
I hope to hear from you at some point this year. In the meantime, keep reading the Daily Bruin ““ we’ve got you covered.