Communication is key

Hey! Mustangs! Welcome back! As all of you pick up this firstissue of The Daily Campus and head off towards your firstset of classes, I’d like to take this opportunity to say,”Hey! What’s up? How was your summer?” My name isEmily Powell, and I am the editor in chief of this fine publicationbefore you.

I know you’re all being inundated with a stunning amountof information since it’s the first week of school, so mymessage is pretty simple so you can read it and be on your way.Stop and think for a second — what is the one thingthat’s not going to change about you this semester? Itdoesn’t matter if you’re new to SMU or if you’regraduating in December. What is the one constant thing, the overalltheme behind every action, every decision you make?

Now, we both know there are a million different answers butponder this one: communication.

Everything you do this semester — be it going to class,studying, partying, walking back to your dorm, calling home, doinglaundry with strangers, staying up late with friends to solve thoserelationship problems — it’s all aboutcommunication.

Now I know “communication” is usually just thisbuzzword used by people who don’t really have any idea aboutyour life and the way you want to run it. But, and just go with meon this for a minute, if you stop and think about it, everything inyour life is centered on this exchange of ideas, in one way oranother. Email, instant messaging, talking on the phone, meetingnew people at parties and in your residence halls, kissing up toprofessors — it’s all communication in one form oranother.

What’s the point? I need you to communicate with me. Mypersonal goal and the goal of my staff this semester is to coverthe campus like it has never been covered before. I want to findout what’s going on in every corner of this campus. I want toget the inside scoop on your life — what do you like, what doyou wear, what do you do in your spare time? Does your RA have coolcontests and wild decorations? What was the coolest thing aboutthat party you went to last night — the free booze or gettingto know all the people there? What’s it like in the MeadowsOrchestra? How bad does it smell in the locker rooms? Is it creepydown in those chemistry labs?

I want to know all this and more, but I need your help. You knowbetter than anyone else what’s going on in your life. Andodds are, if it’s important to you, it’s important tosomebody else. In fact, odds are, it’s important to a wholelot of people. And if it’s important to you, The DailyCampus should talk about it.

This is where the whole communication-thing comes in — Ineed you to tell me about what’s important to you. Evenbetter — I need you to write about what’s interesting,fascinating and amazing about the projects, personalities andpeople here at SMU. Reporters, photographers, editors, designers— without them, there’s no communication between youand me. But I need people to make it happen, and I want you!

There’s no need to be a journalism major or minor, andthere’s no prior experience required. We can teach youeverything you need to know about writing, editing and thinkingabout people and events in a completely different way.

To wrap things up — because I know your professor isgetting ready to hand out the syllabi and you really should bepaying attention — come pay us a visit. We hang out, work andplay up on the third floor of the Hughes-Trigg Student Center. Goup the stairs, hang a left right after the Coke machines, andyou’re there. We’re inside the Student Media Companysuite, and we want to meet you! We need people with opinions forour Editorial Board, we need people that like to take pictures andwe need people that like to meet other people. We need you! So pinthis up on your new bulletin board with those cool new thumbtacksfrom Target and keep in touch!

Emily Powell is a journalism major and editor in chief of TheDaily Campus. She can be reached at 8-1513 and [email protected].