Letter from the Editor

It may seem counterintuitive to keep printing a physical newspaper when U.S. print circulation of newspapers has dropped 70% since 2005. In essence, the very paper you’re holding right now is a remnant of the past, grasping through cellulose fibers to stay relevant in a world turned digital. However, there is one caveat that ink has over pixels. And that is connection. Creating a print publication means a printer assistant every month making the journey from Los Angeles to my doorstep with 1,200 papers bound with twine. Through our work at The Forge, a printer business helps keep its doors open. Those papers get loaded up in my truck bed, and staffers grab bundles to start passing out. 

A knock on a classroom door. A friendly good morning to a teacher, Forges in hand to place by the entryway. Each little connection point aids in the humanity of a shared project. We work to serve you, to make this school: every student, every teacher, feel heard, inspired, or educated. There is something to be said in the exchange of a physical object, an entity composed of matter, quadrillions of atoms: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, all compressed together, billions of years of bonds broken and reborn again, in your very hand. For the rest of our lifetimes they will serve as the molecular web that assembles text printed on a page, to make YOU, the reader, feel something. How much more human can you get? So much of what it means to be a connective species seems to be eroding away. Letters have been replaced with emails and texts, photos used to be passed down through generations as a priceless heirloom, now they sit lost in iClouds. Existing only as binary code to determine the color of each pixel, instead of the physical compounds of colored ink stowed away in an attic. 

The constant drone of consuming, scroll after scroll, dopamine dripping through our midbrain, more and more data being produced to sell to the highest bidder, this is a reality that is inhuman. For what is the connection of a digital avatar compared to living, breathing organisms? Yes, print media is dying. Yes, newsrooms are closing at an alarming rate. But in this world of less and less human connection, if The Forge can serve as one small cornerstone of human creativity and gumption in the physical realm, I will remain honored to serve as your editor-in-chief. 

In other words, print is here to stay at Santa Barbara High. Statistics be damned, let’s keep print media alive. Together. 

With thanks, 

Clara Watson