Hello all,

My name is Rachel Southmayd and I will serve as the Opinions editor for The Pendulum through the 2011 year. I apologize that I was absent from the blogging world for the first month of this year; I was focused on starting our Resolution Project blog, a compilation of the efforts of five Pendulum staffers as they try to maintain their new year's resolutions.

But I am back now, and as it is a Wednesday, I encourage all of you to pick up a copy of the latest edition of our fine paper. It's a quick 8-page read this week, but never fear, it will be back to our normal size next week. For those of you who are not on campus, you can read the latest Elon news at Issuu.com. In the edition, we have a staff ed about recent events involving Elon award recipients as well as a wonderful column by Caitlin O'Donnel, one of our news editors, about sustaining our giving spirit past the holiday rush. This ties in with Caitlin's resolution to help more in the greater Elon community.

So if you haven't already, add this to your blogroll or the list of websites you frequent. I'll try to add a few posts each week, either about Elon or about the world in general, and feel free to comment. Conversations are what move us forward, both in history and society.

Thanks for reading!