Greetings Loma,
We are incredibly excited to be writing to all of you as we are finalizing our first issue of The Point. A significant amount of time, energy and intentionality has been put into the issue you are holding. As first-year students in 2020, we co-wrote our first journalism article together on Zoom and published it on Lomabeat. Both of us are fourth-year multimedia journalism students and Charis is working toward a double major in graphic design. To be running this newspaper together feels like a full-circle moment.
We will be serving as co-editors in chief this year. As far as we know, this has never happened before, but we’re already seeing that this partnership is allowing us to be better resources for our staff and for the Point Loma community.
Here’s some background on us: Lainie Alfaro was editor in chief of The Point last year and has been a freelance writer for a variety of different publications in San Diego including the Filipino Press, the PB Monthly, the La Mesa Courier, the Mission Times Courier and others.
Charis Johnston studied abroad in New York City in the 2022 fall semester, interning for NYC’s No. 1 circulated newspaper. This past semester and summer, she contributed to the San Diego Union Tribune as well as worked to redesign The Point’s brand identity.
We’d like to share some of our goals and visions for this year. As a newspaper, we aim to educate, enlighten and entertain our readers. But even more so, we hope to be a space for connection, information and community.
We recognize that everyone is navigating nuanced experiences and hope to be a conduit for open dialogue and information. We also understand that in an increasingly polarized world and society, news can be uncomfortable to interact with and read. However, the work of journalists is centered on helping readers stay informed regarding the issues that actively impact our community. We encourage you to read with open minds and witness different perspectives and experiences from your own.
We’re committed to creating space at the table for everyone to share their stories, so please don’t hesitate to reach out.
We hope you have some fun with the crossword and sudoku, but we also hope you read stories that encourage you to pause and think about our community.
Whether you visit us on lomabeat.com or in one of our printed copies, we’re glad you’re reading The Point. Thank you for being here.
Charis and Lainie
