The rallying cry!

My name is Sean Maher, and during the Fall 2007 semester I will be the editor of the Golden Gate [X]press newspaper at San Francisco State University.

So: why bother reading this? Why bother writing it?

Because the learning curve is steep, and there's a world of my total ignorance out there. That's been true of damn near everyone on every [X]press staff I've heard of; we keep cycling out at the end of the semester, bringing in the wide-eyed newbies. It's time we started building on the mistakes, successes and trials of others, rather than blindly walking through the same mine fields with their crippled and scarred survivors laughing and pointing at us from the other side.

The editorial role is a new one to me, as it was new to my predecessor, Ian Thomas, and to most of his staff and mine. And I've heard a lot from the departing crew in the way of warning: You won't be so excited when the trouble starts, they tell me.

Like hell, I say. I'm stubborn in my optimism.

So this is my How It Went Down blog. I know that we learn more from failures than from successes, and I know pain is the greatest teacher. I sincerely don't want to rob anybody of the experience of frustration, ignorance or helplessness.

But there's plenty of it out there, anyway. We might as well start trying the new flavors. And I'll be right up front, spitting out what tastes terrible and making mistakes so you don't have to.