In newspaper, open discussion forms the base of everything we do as a staff. We talk through the whole issue process from story ideas to page planning and critiques. Even though sometimes these discussions have led to heated arguments, we’ve seen how essential they have been to making our paper a representation of our staff, mixed opinions and all.

However, we haven’t seen this level of open discussion in many of our other classes, whether those discussions are about current events or even weekend plans. We wanted to find out why so many people, including ourselves at times, are hesitant to speak up. Even when students do speak up, our peers fail to cultivate respectful discussions and also struggle to learn from others’ perspectives.

We realized that now, more than ever, we needed to have this conversation. For our second issue, we wanted to make sure we gave students, especially those sometimes too scared to share their opinions, a voice. It wasn’t always easy for our staff to find the people whose voices got lost, but with lots of open discussion and some disagreeing, we managed.

We hope that our second issue sparks discussion, whether that be about your favorite matcha place or your Halloween costume for this year. We urge all our readers to be open to others’ perspectives and don’t be afraid to share your own.