Dear UCSB Class of 2011: You have been poked by the Daily Nexus…
“What the hell does ‘poke’ do?”
I remember asking this during my first day at UCSB as a wide-eyed, longhaired freshman in Manzanita Village. My hallmates had all asked me if I had a Facebook, MySpace or Friendster account. I stared blankly at them as if they were speaking in tongues.
“Is that like a religious cult or something?”
Well, sort of. It’s been over three years and I’m hardcore addicted to these friendship-networking sites. Every time I’m about to quit, they just pull me back in. I often wonder if this addiction is a problem, but then I think, “Hey, it could always be worse. I could be one of those guys who Googles himself all day.”
To those of you with an overactive imagination, I apologize for my previous sentence.
I’ll try harder next time.
Anyway, so what is this Daily Nexus issue all about? As you might have noticed, the staff and I have chosen friendship networking sites like Facebook and MySpace as the theme of this orientation issue. Much like these websites, this Daily Nexus issue focuses on ways for all of you bright, young freshmen to become more connected with your campus community. You don’t know it yet, but at the end of these four years – maybe seven for some of you Van Wilder-types – your online accounts are going to be loaded with the history of your misadventures in colleges.
Gazing at my own account, I come across many memories of great Halloween parties, long nights at the Nexus, last-minute cram sessions and even a Facebook group about my alleged distaste for whales. I promise you, though, I love sea life. In fact, I have my own mock-aquarium online. They have Facebook applications for anything these days, don’t they?
Back to the Nexus. In this orientation issue, we also threw in some fun and interesting facts that perhaps you missed out on during your freshman orientations because your tour guide ran out of time or because you skipped the tour to go partying in Isla Vista. Now, now. Don’t be coy with me. I checked out some of your Facebook groups.
On an unrelated note, RAs sometimes snoop through Facebook and MySpace photos…
Moving on, here you will find several articles about the best surf spots on campus, life in the residence halls, great clubs to join, how to get around campus and even what a night in I.V. is like. We hope that you’ll find these pieces both useful and entertaining. More importantly, we hope to pique your interests just enough so that you’ll come by and work for us!
As some of you may already know, the Nexus comes out five days a week during the regular school year, bringing you campus and county news, opinion columns from your peers, sports scoops and fancy-pants arts reviews. We need reporters, writers, photographers, artists and, for all you grammar gods and goddesses, some kick-ass copyreaders. Training session dates will appear in the Nexus during the first few weeks of school, so please check them out.
Again, like Facebook or MySpace, the Nexus keeps you tapped into what’s going on in your local network. We’re your campus paper and we’re here for you.
So, will you poke us back already?
Nick Dürnhöfer
Editor in Chief
Daily Nexus
Contact Information:
eic@dailynexus.com
805-893-2691
Offices under Storke Tower
