It’s a crazy world in which we’ve found ourselves, where masks are high fashion and hand sanitizer suddenly becomes a hoarded commodity. Personally, I never could have predicted a worldwide pandemic. (My money was always on a nuclear war, but that’s another story.)

When you look around, however — far from seeing riots in the streets and disaster reports on the TV — you see how even the smallest institutions and businesses have found a way to hang on. Farmer’s markets are offering no contact delivery, restaurants have pivoted to take-out and the Evergreen has gone online.

As an institution, we’ve managed to take even the biggest issues in stride and have continued to report and write about the issues affecting the WSU community.

Working as an opinion columnist, a copy editor and now the Opinion editor — I’ve had the opportunity to learn from the people around me about what makes a good column and how to engage readers who want to know what we think. Opinions and well-researched arguments matter, perhaps now more than ever.

In my time working for the Opinion section, we’ve covered campus politics, arts funding and especially the coronavirus, in an attempt to influence the way readers analyze and understand the arguments circulating around the news. The summer edition isn’t going to be any different. We’ll keep delivering fresh opinions and fresh takes on what’s going on, as long as we have readers.

We’re a scattered group of people — I’m in my hometown of Anchorage, Alaska, but we’ve got writers from Olympia, Colorado, and Pennsylvania. Regardless of location, there’s a common ground that unites the Evergreen and its readers: WSU.

No matter what, the focal point of the section is going to be our university — which has been through several pandemics, multiple wars and at least two financial collapses. It’ll be fine.

Keep reading, and have a great summer!