LETTER FROM THE EDITOR I remember when the first COVID case hit. I remember working with the Barometer editor staff in March 2020 to create a weekly issue clarifying that students and the community would not need to panic. Four days later, the sports world came to a halt, classes were finishing online, and our lives changed as we knew it. It seems many more years than just about one have passed since that week. We graduated online, thought maybe by late fall or winter we would be back. But we weren’t. We have had one full school year of remote learning and classes. One year of being away from our friends, our favorite coffee shops, our peers and teachers. It seems astounding that we made it this far. I am blown away. I see the grit, determination, perseverance, but above all hope that our Orange Media Network staff, the Oregon State University and Corvallis communities and beyond have had through it all. So I bring you to the precipice of hope: “Reflections.” We’ve been in a struggle for nearly 15 months. Nearly every day, something changes. Within our society. Within our communities. Within ourselves. This issue is the opportunity to reflect on the highs and lows, the victories and failures, the stresses and adaptations, the new and old selves we’ve discovered from a full school year in COVID-19. So sit down. Read it. Reflect on the year. I hope this magazine is a ballad and yet also a love song to the missed moments of the year, the brightness of our future. I hope you see yourself in these pages, the beautiful triumphs and struggles that we all have together in striving through a global pandemic. And take in it all.
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This issue is dedicated to my love and rock in my boyfriend Kobe Nelson; my unwavering support system of my parents Toby and Christina; my inspirations in my brothers Jacob and Joshua; my hero in my best friend Ashley Ferns; my work wife in Jaycee Kalama; my advisers and our astounding OMN student staff. But most of all, I dedicate this issue to you, dear reader. May “Reflections” be a rally for you to continue to find grit and grace in your own life. You have been an inspiration to us all.
Signing off for the last time,
Alex Luther Beaver’s Digest Editor in Chief
