If this is your first day on this campus or if this is simply your first time reading The Daily Mississippian, then I welcome you. I welcome you to this special place and welcome you to the proud and outspoken student body you now represent. It’s time for you to step into your new role as a living and breathing part of this evolving campus. The time is now for students like us to embrace those around us, regardless of difference in upbringing, philosophy or preference. The time is now.
This is the first print Daily Mississippian of the summer and the first letter from the editor I’ve written from this desk – welcome to the 2018-19 DM. Today’s 16 pages are here to hopefully be a little bit more than a place for students and Oxford’s own to catch up on what’s new since school let out. We’d like this issue to be one we all remember and one that we can flip back through whenever we lose touch with a sense of pride in ourselves or our neighbors.
These pages focus on Pride in the LGBTQ community. They focus on individual stories of finding personal happiness and on broader movements bringing a shift to the mindset surrounding LGBTQ communities in the South. We chose to run full speed with this issue to send a signal of oneness to the members of that community here in Oxford and a message of normality to those across the South who might not have before seen a front page as colorful as this one.
This month is more than a celebration of the LGBTQ community nationwide, and this edition of the DM is more than an acknowledgement of that community’s bright and thriving facet here in Oxford. I hope this first edition of the 2018 summer serves as a jumping off point for both newcomers and Oxford lifers to begin rediscovering what it means to be a part of this Oxford town.
For us at The Daily Mississippian, this year looks to be one of rediscovery as well. The campus around us is changing, and we’re hoping to keep up with y’all. For us to do that, we’ll need some help on your end. Subscribe to our email newsletter (and sign your parents up), check out our website every day for news, features and sports, and pick up your print DM this summer on June 28 and July 12. We’ll make it worth your while.
Welcome back. You should be proud to be here.
Slade Rand
dmeditor@gmail.com
