Greetings, Gators. We’re The Alligator. It’s great to meet you.
Not all our papers will be like this one, which is crafted by yours truly to make sure you have all the deets they don’t tell you in polished preview packages, crowded classrooms or dorm floor meetings.
We’re the ones who won’t B.S. you with overpriced bookstore merch (check out our Redbubble though), ramblings about our rankings or messages controlled by our capitol’s legislators. This school is great, but it has some faults: abuse in the athletic department, academic freedom scandals and the administration’s uncertain pandemic precautions — all uncovered by the journalists who fill our newsroom.
This edition exists to equip you with the basic knowledge you need to understand the new digs you just claimed as your own.
Life is going to be chaotic for a while. Embrace it. Whether you came up I-75, down 301, via airplane or ship, you’re here to learn, and you’ll do just that. But the real lessons don’t come from learning that the Civil War ended when Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered, that Oxford commas are indeed sinful or that y=mx+b. They come from good old-fashioned trial and error.
These next few years are going to be a little messy, and that’s okay. There will be times when you think you’re doing too much and times when you think you’re not doing enough. That’s totally normal.
The world around us is constantly changing, and we — as journalists — get to see the effects firsthand. Admittedly, sometimes it’s hard to keep up. But our staff is constantly breaking news about local and national issues, like the overturning of Roe v. Wade Friday.
At the end of the day, we’re just students like you. Our candid advice: don’t go out without leaving a Gatorade on your bedside table, don’t fall for the first person who buys you a drink and don’t believe everything you hear (unless it’s from us).
We’re here to support you, and you should support us. Subscribe to our newsletter here, and apply to be on our staff here.
Welcome to Gainesville, Gators. We hope you’ll keep this edition and all the other ones you pick up during your time here.
