“The Student Voice Since 1984”: every cover of Generation carries this label. Frankly, I don’t believe those words are always as true as I want them to be. We’ve got our voices down so hard we can hear each other in our sleep, but yours has gone missing. Generation is literally owned by the students, and it should serve as many as possible. It’s possible that we haven’t yet convinced you that we care; maybe this will help.

Listen, I know Generation can sometimes appear like a vehicle for liberal sarcasm. I have read many of the editorials, columns, and even feature stories that appear in print with a political slant. There have been and probably still are Generation employees with liberal agendas. Whether you agree or disagree with liberal thought, it doesn’t matter. The only agenda that really matters around the office is to make a great fucking magazine for our readers to enjoy.

How do I know this agenda comes first? I know it because I, Jason Tracy, card-carrying member of the Republican Party, have become the Features Editor of Generation. I believe I was hired because the Executive Board thought I was the best person for the job. They didn’t care about hiring an editor with a liberal axe to grind. Now that it’s my job, I want to hear what you think.

The most common area of the magazine for student voices is our collection of student rants called the personals section. Every year there are staff members arguing in favor of ditching the personals. They say that the personals lower the credibility of all the other content in the magazine. Yet each year the personals stay. We don’t kill them because they are student voices and are an important reason the magazine is picked up. Also, I think they are funny.

The personals though, aren’t the only voices we want to hear. What about the letters page, “Your Student Voice”? As the deck goes, it is for, “comments, concerns, or just plain bitching.” Anything you want to tell us about the magazine, we want to hear. We’re not easily offended, but we are legitimately concerned with exploring the stories you want to know about. Your letter might even get published with a response.

We want to know the kind of content you want to see in the magazine. Our sections are always looking for ideas. Maybe you want to see more stories about sports or homeless transvestites in our Features section. Maybe you want to read more about dead kittens in our Literary section. Maybe you want a concert or video game reviewed in our Pulse section. Maybe you are a liberal pansy and want more columns complaining about George W. Bush. Whatever it is, use your voice, and let us know.

I’m not saying we are always going to pander to our readers. If someone wanted a pictorial about a grown man pleasuring a horse, it might not get done. Not because we censor ourselves like that, but because I don’t think anyone here owns a horse. Horses aside, though,we may try to do it. This magazine is all of ours; it should try to serve all of us.

If there is anything you want to tell us, drop by the office at 315 Student Union or email us at sbi-generation@buffalo.edu. We also have our own newfangled Generation Nation website on MySpace, so please friend us and make some suggestions. Just think: next semester there could even be two Republican staff members.

Go Sabres!