The Retort

Letter From The Editor

Mon November 9th, 2009 by Steven Pittenger Of The Retort Staff

For those of you who were anx­iously awaiting the next issue of The Retort (all two of you), you may have noticed that this issue was a little late hitting the stands, which marks a first for us here at The Retort. The reasons are unim­portant, but let me just say to ev­eryone that I’m truly sorry. Usually at this point I would take the time to tell you about what’s going on at the paper, but for my editorial this time I felt it was important to talk about what isn’t going on. I look around this campus, and I see so much potential and possibility and I’ve often wondered why we aren’t unleashing it.

The Retort has some great writers and staff but I have to be honest, I can’t for the life of me figure out why more people aren’t getting involved. Sure we may not be the biggest coolest paper out there, but we provide a voice and forum for students to express ideas and views and in my opinion that alone should send people flock­ing to their keyboards to sound-off about something they’re passion­ate about. Now, I know this is a sys­temic problem, that is, not unique to The Retort. I think we need more people challenging the apathy and indifference here on this campus. We have too many people making too many lame excuses about why they can’t get involved and we just accept it. I’m not asking for much, heck I’m not even asking for just The Retort, but you won’t convince me there is someone out there who can’t give an hour a week of their time.

It may not seem like much but if everyone on this campus (faculty and staff included) gave one hour each week of their time to a proj­ect, organization, or cause we could accomplish over 5000 hours worth of work EACH WEEK! I’m tired of people using children, school work, or being tired in general as an ex­cuse. Yes family and school are important, and you certainly have to make sure you take care of your­self because it’s unlikely someone else will do that for you, but ONE hour a week is very reasonable. It may mean you have to shut off the TV, or log out of WOW, or put away the porn and/or beer, but is that really so much to ask for?

So MSUB, I’m calling you out. I’m tell­ing you collectively to get off your back-side, find something you care about and do it! To those of you who are already involved and those veterans, who have been for some time, please allow me to extend my deep thanks and appreciation for the selfless work you do. Too often you don’t get the credit you deserve and it can seem like no one cares. I’m here to tell you however that people do care, and people do notice, and that the work you do is invaluable. More directly how­ever, I’m asking people to write to The Retort about things that your passionate about, things that piss you off, things you think should be given props or just anything at all. We as a newspaper really, honestly, and truly, want to hear from YOU.

Also, just for the record The Retort as an organization is open to criti­cism as well. If you think we are doing something wrong, or if you have an opinion about an article, let us know. Don’t think we won’t publish something just because it’s critical of us. So where does that leave us? Well hopefully, one or two of you will read this and light a fire (figuratively, NOT literally) under yourselves or some friends. Hopefully those friends will in turn do the same, and hopefully we can create a culture of service and pas­sion on our campus that gets peo­ple motivated, and inspires them to stay that way on a regular basis. Until next time, take care of your­selves and each other, and let your passions soar.