by

Letter from the Editor

One evening during winter break, I visited the el Don newsroom. When I walked in, I saw our business manager, Joanna, and our instructional aide, Alex, at our big table, with a century’s worth of newspapers and magazines in archival boxes with sticky notes on them. Joanna looked up and asked me, “What do you want?” but followed it with a chuckle. I said I was there to use the computer. She said it was fine as long as I didn’t touch anything.

I, obviously, did not listen. I wrapped up, went over, and started to flip through the issues that were laid out on the table. When I made my way over to the magazines, I began looking for the 1999 issue of West 17th magazine, the year I was born. I don’t remember if I found it, but I do remember finding other issues from the late ‘90s and early 2000s. I was hooked, mesmerized by the page designs, the images and the writing. Before I knew it, like my grandpa with his cigarettes, I went through four boxes.

The last edition of West 17th magazine was published in 2005, the year our creative director was born. However, students were still reporting and designing layouts for a few years after. The class that produced the magazine was canceled in the late 2000s due to recession-era budget cuts. Last semester, el Don reporters made an “in-between issue,” a product that was a mix of our old and new print products. This is the West 17th rebirth issue.

The pieces in this magazine include some of the finest reporting produced throughout the semester, all which carry the spirit of renaissance. Jack Mueller was given a second chance after losing a baseball scholarship after a hand injury (page 26). Our reporting also covers the Related Bristol project (page 16), which will give a section of Bristol Street a facelift for better or worse. On page 30, one staff reporter’s snarky opinions about rock music explain that the genre has changed and is all the better for it. Elsewhere, we talked with the district publications supervisor, Michelle Ramos, about balancing life as a professional, artist and a mother.

Change is inevitable, and we’ve noticed the changes. Santa Ana is evolving; people’s interests are shifting, attention spans are diminishing, the price of paper is climbing, and readership rates are plummeting. In response to this, we innovated to meet our audience’s needs. So sit back and read the longer pieces in this issue and take in the creative designs and images. Hopefully, one day, the kid who is being born today, who will eventually become editor-in-chief of el Don, will find this issue in a box that’s being put away into storage, and it will inspire them to do something different.