Dear readers,

We hope that you are all enjoying your food, family, and festivities this week, to whatever extent you may be celebrating. Earlier this month, The Stripes was revealed on this blog for the first time. In the weeks since, we have seen amazing support from our readership in ways we never could have imagined. Our team has grown from a handful of students to dozens of members, and our site has seen over 12,000 hits in less than a month – averaging nearly 500 views per day! All of this inspires us to continue producing material which addresses issues of race, culture, and identity – issues we believe are meaningful.

Of course, as we are only now entering our fourth week of publication, we are still working to establish a forum that most effectively meets our goals. In doing so, we are revealing new initiatives aimed at getting our readers and community more involved. Today we release our first (hopefully, of many) recorded Roundtable Discussions, where we bring together people from a variety of backgrounds to have a conversation about issues The Stripes deems relevant. Our inaugural discussion explores the question “Why is something like The Stripes needed?” and can be found here. We plan to release recorded discussions at least bi-weekly, and encourage readers to both submit topic proposals as well as participate in the discussions. If you would like to be a part of a discussion, please let us know. Topics will be posted in advance on the ‘Connect’ page.

Similarly, we strongly encourage readers to provide feedback and commentary on our work; this is the best way to foster conversation and expand both our readers and our writers’ understanding of these issues. The Stripes authors often respond to the commentary themselves, and we are all eager to discuss the issues we put much time and thought into presenting. Lastly, a further initiative that The Stripes will soon promote is the use of larger discussion boards, a distinct space for blog visitors to contribute their own insight on topics pertinent to race, culture, or minority identity.

As always, please like our page on Facebook and follow us on Twitter (@The_Stripes_) to stay up to date on our work and interests. More importantly, if you would like to get involved with The Stripes in any way, please contact one of our Editors-in-Chief, or email thestripesblog@gmail.com.

Best,
Kovey Coles & Aisha Oxley, Editors-in-Chief of The Stripes
Emily Tu, Production Manager of The Stripes