Page 115 - YB1969

Student Publications Critically and intellectually presenting the news of a community is the responsibility of a good journalist. The literary media adapts itself not only to the function of informing, but also to that of creating. The question we now pose is when will the informative and the aesthetic be represented at Western Maryland? The Goldbug, our school newspaper, presents a bi- monthly coverage of the events here at WMC. Unfortu- nately, it has not met all the standards of a good news- paper, specifically, to include all points of view and give every element of the campus an opportunity to express itself. Perhaps the changing face of Western Maryland has caused the editors to concentrate only on the newer and less conventional members of the college community. Perhaps some day we may achieve a truly adequate and comprehensive presentation of the facts. Contrast is the publication of student creative literary works. The only shortcoming of this publication, that any- one can see, is that nothing has been created. Weak editorship has not given imaginative writers the oppor- tunity to present their works to a critical audience. By adopting an exclusively contemporary tone, Contrast nar- rows its objective of freedom and artistic expression. Perhaps responsible editorship would make Contrast the aesthetic achievement it was meant to be. The Aloha, the College yearbook, draws on the efforts of the school paper and the school literary magazine in presenting an overall view of each year. Often a definite tone of sarcasm, humor, or seriousness pervades the book. Usually the tone is set by a group of seniors with varied and diverse views of campus life, always, however, keep- ing in mind that our aim is to please the Methodist Board of Directors. The major problem that the senior Aloha staff has not eliminated is their lack of foresight in train- ing underclassmen to carryon Aloha publication. Every year the incoming staff inefficiently gropes through the first months of editing and publishing, an inefficiency that could be eliminated by proper training. After much argu- ment and editing, we usually find something nice to say about all the organizations spattered over the campus. The problem does not Iie wholly with the staffs of the three publications, though. The student body is gen- erally oblivious to the time and effort it takes to produce a Goldbug, Contrast, or Aloha. Perhaps if more students decided to help in the creation of these publications; perhaps if more students took enough time to care, these organizations could meet the standards of good journalism. 111