Letter from the Editors: Introducing Your Spring 2021 Board!

Welcome back friends! After a hellish fall semester and an even more hellish 2020, we’re so excited to be back for spring semester. Following last semester’s student body elections, the Quest has a new Editorial Board — with some familiar faces. Katherine Draves and Elai Kobayashi-Solomon return as content and copy editors, with Wani Pandey returning as layout editor. Through the power of student democracy, we have two new content and copy editors: Albert Kerelis and Betsy Wight!

Although many of us hoped that in-person operations would resume this semester, we’re facing another semester full of Zoom meetings. That being said, it’s easier than ever to come to a Quest meeting! Contributor’s meetings are (still) on Tuesdays from 5-6 p.m. PST. No experience necessary; we’d love to teach you how to write a news article! Public editing nights continue to start at 5 p.m. on Wednesdays and last into the wee hours of the night. Feel free to stop by, say hi, and watch us slowly lose our sanity as the night trudges on. We’ll continue to improve our presence on Instagram, Twitter, and our website. We’re hoping to get synchronous roll outs of stories across social media and our website, as well as advertising events and workshops on our Twitter and Instagram. We’re also looking to start hosting and sponsoring events of our own, whether that be panels with alumni working in journalism or workshops teaching the basics of reporting. We’ll also continue to accept your Letters to the Editors through our website, and — god willing — we’re hoping to revive the QuestCast, the weekly Reed-related news podcast.

We’re excited to announce that we will be a part of Funding Poll this year, and we hope that with access to funds, continued collaboration with other publications, and a renewed sense of caffeine driven purpose, we will find a way to compensate those who contribute every week to the issue. We can’t wait to work with the Grail, the Pamphlette, Loose Change, and the Creative Review to ensure fair practices for all student-run publications on campus and all their contributors.

The publications on Reed Campus are more than just pieces of paper or words on a screen. In a time of distance learning and social distancing, they are the way we connect to Reed and ultimately to each other. Preserving tradition and staying current are both imperative to a successful publication, and with the support of our readers and co-editors we hope to do both and more this semester. It’s with your support that we find our drive to represent the spirit of journalism on campus, and we hope to nurture a fair, safe, and mutually supportive atmosphere with our publication. We believe that the Quest uniquely offers a place on campus to learn about and practice journalism, and we want to stress our role not only as a publication, but also as an educational body, teaching journalism in the most hands-on way possible. This semester we want to foster a community of writers who can support each other and help each other grow their writing skills.

We’re always working to improve communication between the Quest and the student body. Don’t hesitate to say hi! We promise we don’t bite. Whether you come to a meeting or reach out to one of us individually, we’re always more than happy to talk Quest and journalism at Reed. We look forward to bringing you the news and chatting with you sometime!

Your loyal Queditors,

Katherine Draves ‘22, Albert Kerelis ‘24, Elai Kobayashi-Solomon ‘22, Wani Pandey ‘23, and Betsy Wight ‘23