The last thing that I wanted for this issue of The Burr was a theme. Instead, I wanted stories that stood apart — stories that were about real people, trends and issues. So that’s what we did. Without any constraint on our creativity or struggle to weave concepts throughout the magazine, we wrote the stories that we care about, stories that we thought you, the reader, should care about.
And now, looking back, all of the stories that I originally thought stood starkly apart, I see are connected far beyond the binding that holds their pages tightly in this book.

Tony Lombardo takes us into the Lake Erie Correctional Institution to meet the inmates who are taking classes through Kent State’s Outreach Program. These men are Kent State students despite any charge, sentence or prison-issue blues (see page 22).
And we return to education and the evolution of the way classes are being taught in a story on distance learning. But the impact that technology has on our lives is touched upon again in stories on local filmmakers and the alienation that accompanies the use of headphones and cell phones on campus. We look at those who may not always have a voice, as well, in profiles on a transgender student and third-shift custodians.

But more than anything else, these stories are social commentaries that have, at least, made me stop for a moment to notice how I interact with others, how I look at others and how they may see me. I hope it does the same for you. Enjoy.

Jennifer Kovacs
Editor
 
EDITOR Jennifer Kovacs
ART DIRECTOR Jody Harvey
PHOTO EDITOR Jacob Stewart
ASST. PHOTO EDITOR Stephan Cayon
MANAGING EDITOR Tony Lombardo
ASST. MANAGING EDITOR Dana Curcio
CYBURR EDITOR Jeff Baker
CYBURR WEBMASTER Rami Daud
MARKETING MANAGER Lorain Ogden
SALES MANAGER Jenifer Cox
ADVERTISING MANAGER Russ Lynn
AD DESIGNER Student Media Design Department
PRODUCTION MANAGER Kate Common
ADVISOR Ann Schierhorn