My time at the Corsair has been far from what I originally anticipated. I enrolled in Journalism 16; Producing the Campus Newspaper, simply to check off the final box I needed to get my associates degree in journalism before transferring to California State University, Northridge (CSUN) for the Fall 2020 semester.

Once a week I get a notification on my phone telling me the average amount of screen time I’ve used over the past 7 days. What was once an alert I didn’t put too much thought into, now serves as a reminder of how I spend the majority of my time each day on my phone.

On April 19, all adults in the United States became eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. This is a cause for celebration for many — myself included — after the difficult months the state faced over the winter season. In December, California received its first shipment of the Pfizer vaccine, and began vaccinating essential healthcare workers. At that same time, Los Angeles became the latest epicenter in the country, where it was averaging over 15,000 cases a day during the holidays.

As I write this Letter from the Editor, news has just broken of the verdict for the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former police officer who murdered George Floyd on May 25, 2020. Chauvin has been found guilty on all three counts — second-degree and third-degree murder, as well as second-degree manslaughter.

Letter from the Editor: Issue 2 (Spring 2021)

There is a phrase that has stayed with me since my freshman year of college, “just take it bird by bird.” In a passage by Anne Lamott, she tells the story of how her brother has found himself in a homework crisis, having waited until the last day to finish a report on birds that he had three months to write. Rather than stress his son out further, their father goes up to his child and offers the simple advice, “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.” It has been a reminder in times of feeling overwhelmed and stressed with everything on my plate, to breathe, and focus on one task at a time.