The conventional editor at a college newspaper leaves with little fanfare. The typical graduating senior at The Bruin departs with a -30- column that declares a denouement.
Convention, however, is not what The Quad is about, so thanks to the demands of my succeeding editor, here is a second goodbye. With its aim to provide a mix of explanatory, analytical and personal content, this new section of the Daily Bruin has aspired to avoid the trappings of a typical college blog; indeed, editing it has been a difficult task. This direction is driven by a desire to draw on the best of the new, online-only media landscape and its principles and practices.
An unconventional editor was selected for this unconventional project. There were random times where I would become acutely aware of this. In a school with literally thousands of Asian males and no shortage of them in the newsroom, somehow I was the only one in The Quad. Actually, it’s just rare in general; between the blogs and online news sites I read – and I’ve read quite a few – I can probably count the number of writers who are like me on two hands. It’s indicative of larger issues in representation, because it’s not as if any one group is better at writing somewhat-funny, editorialized paragraphs than another.
OK, now that I’ve forcibly brought race into yet another one of my posts, we can move on.
I didn’t throw my hat in the ring to become editor to consciously challenge demographic trends or defy stereotypes, though I do enjoy knowing that I was an uncharacteristic selection. It’s the sometimes-wobbly three-legged stool of principles that anchor The Quad, not my anomalous profile, that has made for a more interesting and dynamic section. Indeed, in a span of a year, the Daily Bruin’s blog has gone from a haphazard collection of “listicles” to a platform that can compel a response from the chancellor himself. This transformation took a great deal of thought and support from this year’s management team – Jeong, Sam and Eldrin – so I have them to thank.
I leave now more voracious a reader of blogs across the internet than ever, and ever less certain about where I will find myself down the road. Here’s to hoping that The Quad’s future is less uncertain than my own.
Wang was The Quad’s inaugural editor from 2015-2016. His crowning achievement was writing a post explaining that UCLA doesn’t even have a real quad.