To the Editor,
This week, my children and I have been talking about the power of stories as “mirrors” and “windows” — mirrors that reflect and represent our identities, and windows that give us perspectives into others’ experiences and connect them to our own. Under the editorial leadership of Rachel Pastan and Satya Nelms, The Swarthmorean gave us new mirrors and windows into the lives of ourselves and our neighbors, especially those who have been excluded from the traditional narrative.
The power of Rachel and Satya’s writing has deeply resonated with me. When I first moved here, it was hard to figure out how I — a person of color, a newcomer, a young adult without children — fit into the dominant culture of Swarthmore. Picking up a newspaper to see representation of diverse voices and stories connecting national issues to local impacts would have helped me understand the community I was joining and made me feel like I would find my place.
I’m saddened by the publishers’ recent decision to scale back the frequency of these stories of diversity and relevance. The mirrors and windows grounded in social justice mixed with news and lighter features made for essential reading, examining how our town’s past informs our present and challenging us to be the inclusive community we aspire to be. But when this balance gets tilted by the dominant culture, I’m once again wondering how I fit in.
Jayatri Das
Swarthmore
