New Threads: Opening Thoughts From Your New Editor
Photo by Andy Shelter
When I moved to Swarthmore in June 2000, our real estate agent gave us a year’s subscription to The Swarthmorean. I remember how happy it made me to leaf through those pages. The articles, the ads for local business, the calendar, and the classifieds were all windows into this new, unknown community I was joining. Since I was already 35, I figured it was probably too late for me to ever become a real Swarthmorean, though I hoped my kids, then three and six, could. I wasn’t even sure I could become the true resident of our new house, which everyone called “Liz and Pat’s house,” and which people told me belonged to the Lewises before that. I felt like a pretender—an outsider. But I was determined to put down roots in this pretty town with its vigorous trees and civilized sidewalks, its appealing shops and its campus with a bell that tolled the hours. I wanted to hear those bells for the rest of my life.
In the nearly 20 years since, I have looked forward every week to getting the paper. Even as I came to know my neighbors, get drawn into local organizations, and see my kids’ procession from first grade at SRS all the way through the high school, I have counted on The Swarthmorean to inform me, enliven me, and help me feel connected.
The Swarthmorean binds our community together. It tells us about the people who live and work here, what our local government is doing to try to make our lives better, and what concert or cardio class or quizzo event we might attend on a Friday night. It can help those who’ve moved away to feel as though they could almost still hear the distant blare of the fire horn.
My goal as editor will be to continue these missions and to broaden outward. In recent months the paper’s banner has been adapted to express an expansion of who we serve: Swarthmore and Surrounding Communities. I hope we can also reach more deeply into all the corners and pockets, so that no one feels like an outsider. I want to find new stories to tell and to spin new threads in the vibrant web of connection that holds us together. I hope everyone who reads the paper will feel like a real Swarthmorean.
This week I take over from Chris Reynolds, who has brought us his astute, clear writing for four and a half years and enriched the paper with features like Bill Menke’s “Guess the House” and Robert Scott’s “Wildlife Sightings.” Chris himself took over from Beth Gross, who guided The Swarthmorean for over a quarter of a century! I guess it’s not surprising that I’m thinking about what it was like moving into “Liz and Pat’s house.” How long will it be before this paper truly feels like mine? I don’t know, but I’m not worried about it. Back then I felt like an imposter, but this time I understand what I really am: the heir to a rich inheritance.
— Rachel Pastan
