Every now and again, I’ll hear somebody say, “You learn something new every day!” In general, this exclamation follows the transmission of an interesting but ultimately useless kernel of information. The last time I used the expression, for example, was when I learned that snakes don’t have eyelids. It’s a saying that often seems to treat knowledge like a set of possessions to be accumulated and tucked away. It suggests that knowledge is matter rather than energy, and robs learning of its capacity to bend, move and erase, as much as add.
At Tufts, you will learn something new every day, but I’m not talking about cool snake facts (though you may find some of those if you hang with the right crew). Your daily “something new” won’t be added to the heap of what you already know; it will push at that heap’s very foundations. It might even push hard enough to shake up the whole thing. It could be in class or it could be in conversation (hopefully, some days, it’ll be in a Tufts Daily article); it could be amusing or it could be uncomfortable. But it will always be consequential, and it will always, in some small way, change you. If college promises to be a transformative time in your life, it’s because of the different directions in which you’re constantly pushed by everything you learn here.
Tufts is the smallest college in the country with a daily print newspaper. At the Tufts Daily, we don’t hold on to that title simply because we like the way it sounds – that’s what our Princeton Review #10 college newspaper ranking is for. We work to publish every day because at Tufts, daily, there is something new worth knowing. The ideas and actions of the people studying and working here are what make this place so rich every day. From op-eds that present arguments you never considered to sports recaps that change the way you watch a game, we do our best to make sure that richness reaches you in real time.
We hope you see yourself in these pages over the next four years. This could be literal: our top-notch photographers might snag a sweet action shot of you in the middle of an activity that means the world to you, and since we’re always looking for new people to join our team, your name could be showing up in bylines as early as the end of this month. But it could also be implicit, as our staff captures pieces of the home you make for yourself on this campus: the events that matter to you; the Tufts you love, and the Tufts you don’t love (you will find yourself in both, every day); the conversations that you find crucial; the people you see every day and the incredible things they’re doing (and maybe some of the less incredible things they’re doing, but thankfully the Police Briefs remain anonymous). If everyone can find themselves in the Tufts Daily in some capacity, then they’ll find everyone else there, too, and we’ll all have a better understanding of the people with whom we share this hill.
I’m thrilled to be able to work on the Daily with such a talented and passionate group of people this semester, and even more thrilled by the opportunity to communicate what the members of the Tufts community – which, as of today, includes all of you! – have to offer one another and the world. In helping tell the stories of such a vibrant group of people, I’m positive that I’ll really, meaningfully, learn something new every day. And I know that you will, too.
Welcome to Tufts! I can’t wait to learn from you all.
Sincerely,
Joe Palandrani
Editor-in-Chief
