The world is not black and white, but that’s often how society sees it. Last year, the Tom Tom decided to show the Antioch community that there is more to life than what’s on the surface. The 2017-18 staff wanted to figure out why people only see the black and white, and not the shades of gray. Society seemingly forgets that there is more to life than meets the eye. The Tom Tom doesn’t like to just go with the flow, we like to be out of the box and make people think about things society might limit us from doing. Much like the staff from last year, my staff likes to find the stories that people won’t see on a day to day basis.

To go along with our new theme for the rest of the year, this magazine is based off of the book “To Kill A Mockingbird,” a text that students read during freshman year. As the book has a variety of ideas ranging from racism, wrongful imprisonment, empathy, etc., our magazine is based off of these same main points. The staff from last year found that it was important to show the colors in every situation. This idea has carried over into my staff, especially in the stories that this magazine holds.

We try to see the color in the seemingly dull world that we live in with everything we produce.  Sometimes, just like last year, we fall under the trap that society has set. For a little while, my staff stopped finding the color in their stories; instead, they listened to what was around them. Even though we fell dull, like last year, we found our true colors again. Throughout the process of this magazine, my staff was able to see things in a new light. They found story ideas based off of topics that they would have never given a second thought in the past.

My staff and I want to show our readers our true colors. We want to show everyone that it’s okay to follow along, as long as you take a different road every now and then. This magazine will show you that the Tom Tom is not afraid to talk about the “hush hush” in society. We want everyone to see that the black and white can be colorful—you just have to allow yourself to see it.

In our second magazine of the semester includes stories from what the life of a left handed person is truly like by senior editor Joseph Whittall, to a story about how people may take the wrong medication for certain pains by junior editor Emily Higgins. Junior editors Valerie Rasmussen and Alexandra Johnson go head to head about love at first sight. To kick off the feature section of our “To Kill a Mockingbird” issue, Tom Tom staffer Lena De Vore talks about why people lie while senior editor Jacob Leitza wrote about what it means to follow the leader. Tom Tom staffer Kaitlyn Howe writes about what it feels like to be a mockingbird.

Thank you, as always, for reading our magazine. We hope you enjoyed our take on a classic piece of literature and that you were able to find the color that the Tom Tom strives to achieve in each magazine.