Suffolk community! Hope you all had a nice spring break and eased back into classes this week despite the snow. We’ve been gone for a couple of weeks now, but we’re back in full swing as of this edition! This is the one editorial of the year where we talk about ourselves. During the first week of March, six of us, accompanied by Professor Ken Martin, took the trek out to San Francisco to attend the 2013 Associated Collegiate Press conference. What we discovered was a beautiful city full of culture, dissent, and pride.

As the ominous fog constantly poured over the hills, we took to the streets to explore as much as we could within the four-day period. Our Managing Editor, Alex Hall, finally got to visit the headquarters for Turner-owned Bleacher Report, for which he is a featured columnist. Thanks to Mark Smoyer, Creative Manager at BR, for allowing us to take a tour of the offices and for sitting down with us to discuss post-graduation options. It meant a lot to us!

Also thanks to the city of Oakland for showing us what an active community really means! During February’s monthly First Friday street fair, a young man was murdered. As we walked from the BART station towards the March 1 fair, groups of people wearing bright green shirts reading “Respect Our City” marched towards what we can only explain as an experience. Oakland, home to student protests, the Black Panthers, and the harshest Occupy battles, is an incredibly united city, priding itself on acceptance, equality, and solidarity. If only our city could bond together like Oakland. Even Mayor Jean Quan walked around talking to everyone she could. Thank you to Verbs, a member of the FMLY, and the rest of the city of Oakland.

The hills of San Francisco will give you blisters, but the view is worth the climb. The Haight-Ashbury district, full of homefree travelers, can offer you more thrift stores and niche shops than your parent’s bank account can afford.

Finally, in addition to our Editor-In-Chief Ethan speaking on a panel, the Journal has once again brought home an award. This, tenth place Best-of-Show for a small school newspaper website, is our sixth nationally recognized award since 2010. We are very proud of our staff for helping dominate and innovate the college journalism field yet again — our current website has been noted for its increased mobility as well as it’s unique international coverage.

We hope you continue to read and support us! Here’s to San Diego 2014!