As both 2023 and the first semester come to a close, Spyglass is finishing the year off strong with a slightly smaller, but still abundant, edition. This month, we have campus culture articles further exploring Westridge’s response to the war in Gaza and the drama of discovery week signups, new stories in our Backstory and Sounds For State Street columns, and of course, festive holiday pieces including a “how festive are you” quiz and a comical contemplation on the celebration of Saturnalia. Although the December edition of Spyglass often features an annual collection of holiday recipes from our staffers, we’ve unfortunately been forced to abandon that tradition as most staffers have nearly exhausted their family’s cookbooks.

As we head into 2024, I can’t help but reflect on the strides we’ve made as a paper in the last year. We have expanded our social media presence, celebrated Student Press Freedom Day (more to come on that next edition), and our staffers have taken on progressively bigger and more challenging topics that affect our community. That being said, we still have so much growing to do over the next year. In 2024 we hope to continue challenging ourselves to tackle unexplored tensions on our campus and amplify perspectives that typically go unheard. Further, we’d love to see more engagement from our readers either through comments, publishing pieces, or simply reading our articles. Your support is more appreciated than you know.