Letter from the editor: Going for trial and error

This section leader overviews plans for taking over Opinion content, hopes to gain more experience

JACQUI THOMASSON | THE DAILY EVERGREEN

Opinion editor Kade Russom makes edits to a piece from one of the columnists on his staff Monday in the Evergreen newsroom.

KADE RUSSOM, Evergreen columnist

When I came to the Evergreen, I had no idea what I was supposed to do. Coming into college, in fact, I had no idea how I would spend my time here.

Even as I write this letter, I haven’t the slightest idea of how to continue it on past this paragraph.

Yet you’re still reading this small spiel of mine. I’ve gotten through my first semester on track as a biochemistry major. I’m still figuring this newspaper thing out, one question and two mistakes at a time.

I recognize the age I’m at and how the decisions I make now are pivotal to the rest of my life. As such, I must steer myself the way which I find suits me best. Sometimes that will take me through a storm, other times through waters so calm I think I’ll rest there forever. But always I continue toward a place better than before.

It’s experimental trial and error. Even if an error in itself is not desired, what is learned from it can change the process for a better outcome, bringing success ever closer.

I take this mindset with me into the Opinion editor position at the Evergreen and with it in mind I hope you’ll understand the course I’ll take with this section.

Not every idea presented in our pieces are agreeable, not every point made is the most reasoned and fair, nor will every detail be refined to perfection. That’s just as it should be.

The writers and I work to our fullest to make the highest quality writing we are capable of. The columns of every writer are then subject to the scrutiny of myself, four other members of the Evergreen staff as well as the writer themselves, each improving the piece’s articulation and clarity.

If there arises a grammatical, spelling or factual error in the print of the news, it’s a mistake of our team we will admit and correct. Issues found in the subject or presentation of a piece are another matter.

My section of the newspaper is Opinion, the writing within it is opinionated and the faults our readers see within the writing is likely their opinion. Dispute that or any other column we publish all you like. Whatever is printed in this section belongs in this section.

Opinion is a platform for people to present their ideas on a topic, regardless of whoever thinks them right or wrong. Writers are required to integrate accurate and citable information within their work to strengthen their own argument as well as to provide a foundation for debate.

Should you, as a reader, decide you are passionately against what an article has to say or how it is presented, the Opinion section is open to your thoughts. Publication of submitted work is possible. Whether or not it prints, you’re contributing to what makes this section what it is.

I can’t say how this section will develop or how it will affect you. I can only say that I’ll do everything in power to ensure the voices of my writers are heard and well spoken, as well as to listen to and consider all of what our readers have to say.

Then, even if it takes a while, I think we’ll all be better off by the end of things.