Letter from the Editor
It’s funny—putting this issue together, we had no intention of featuring so many articles that turn the journalistic knife on the student body. But, that’s how it turned out. Fortunately, we’ve warped into a self-loathing society, a generation that seems to get gratification from mildly criticizing ourselves, so it shouldn’t go over too poorly.
Stories of terrible landlords are more than abundant, filling kids’ heads the moment that lease is signed in the early weeks of fall quarter. But Rachel Nebozuk’s “At Your Service” tells instead of those rare landlords that seem to operate in the tenants’ best interests—something that can’t be easy to do with the way we treat these rentals.
Adam Wagner’s “InActivism” shows the current state of activism as less than impressive, serving more as a way to get together with like-minded people rather than to make actual change.
Perhaps most critical is Annie Beecham’s “Trophy Kids,” which examines the growing sense of entitlement in our generation. Known as Generation Y, we’ve become accustomed to getting everything handed to us, awarded an ‘A’ and a gold star for mediocre work. Some professionals see this as being detrimental to our future, but a few key students are making a case for the opposite.
Still, we find a few light spots in “Trash Talk,” “First Class Male” and “Patch Work,” all of which highlight some of Athens’ hardest working men, and Backdrop’s take on the infamous Cosmo quiz, “What Brew Are You?”
It’s an exciting time, beginning a new year of Backdrop, and we’ve made a few changes, some less obvious than others. Some might say they’re too ambitious, but we think they’re for the better. And if growing up in this generation has taught us anything, we’re sometimes always right.
Peace and love,
