
{"id":10915,"date":"2010-06-10T13:31:29","date_gmt":"2010-06-10T21:31:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=10915"},"modified":"2010-06-10T13:31:29","modified_gmt":"2010-06-10T21:31:29","slug":"from-the-editor-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2010\/06\/10\/from-the-editor-6\/","title":{"rendered":"FROM THE EDITOR"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Happy Graduation<\/strong> (with apologies)<\/p>\n<p>For those of you receiving diplomas from one of our fine high schools, let me first offer a hardy congratulation. Good job. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve earned it, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure. The schools here are not easy places to coast through and undoubtedly you have learned a thing or two in the classrooms of Carrboro, Chapel Hill, East Chapel Hill and the Phoenix Academy.<\/p>\n<p>You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve grown up a good bit as well \u00e2\u20ac\u201c at least that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the theory. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be up to you to prove that as you make that rather awkward transition from top of the heap in your hometown to lowly first-year student in some institution of higher learning.<\/p>\n<p>Some of you will jump straight into the workforce, some will travel and most will be preparing to depart this community come fall.<\/p>\n<p>We all hope that, if circumstances permit, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll take a little time off to enjoy another idyllic Piedmont summer. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to suggest you not waste it; because as you are probably well aware, the rest of us are going to need your help, plenty of it and plenty quick.<\/p>\n<p>Ordinarily in an editorial before graduation, I would point out the various troubles and maladies you face as a result of the faults and follies of previous generations. Some less willing to take the blame like to call these your \u00e2\u20ac\u0153challenges.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>However, since your particular age set is entering its ascendency in a world featuring monumental catastrophes, the longest war in this country\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s history, economic collapse and as fractured a collection of humans as this planet has ever managed to host, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll spare you the laundry list. Long story short, your predecessors have screwed up in a major way. History calls. Sorry about that. Turns out we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to need your smarts, your drive and your spirit \u00e2\u20ac\u201c every last bit \u00e2\u20ac\u201c after all.<\/p>\n<p>We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re pulling for you. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re hoping you were inspired in Mr. Wartski\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s biology class, that Ms. Manning helped you find a sense of purpose, that Mr. Irwin showed you how to tap your creativity, that there will be more environmental scientists because of Mr. Greenberg and a new wave of journalists thanks to Ms. Colletti, and that you are stronger because you always knew that people like Ms. Eriksen cared.<\/p>\n<p>You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll need all that and more. Most importantly, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll need to have a greater engagement in civic life. The system we have now, if left unchecked, is not your friend, and if left unchanged could one day steal your future. Nowadays, less than a third of your age group votes. Speak up. They can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hear you.<\/p>\n<p>Class of 2010, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re the hope of the world \u00e2\u20ac\u201c bleak, smoldering, oil-soaked and shell-shocked as it is. Every now and again, a generation is called upon to step up. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m afraid yours just won the lottery.<\/p>\n<p>Have a good summer. Be sure to get some rest.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Correction<br \/>\n<\/strong>In last week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s story on WCOM we misspelled Jon Paul McClellan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first name.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For those of you receiving diplomas from one of our fine high schools, let me first offer a hardy congratulation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10915"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10916,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10915\/revisions\/10916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}