When I was a kid in England, I spent a good number of years running around the neighborhood horrifying elderly British couples with my intense need to run after my brother and our friends and give them “bunny ears.” It was a strong drive for all of us – successfully sliding your hand behind their head and extending the two fingers to make them look exactly like a little bunny. Photos were, of course, the optimal time to pull the prank, but any moment would do if we thought it would make someone look stupid.

A considerable amount of time passed between my first moving to England and somebody explaining to me that my much-loved bunny ears prank was the British equivalent to giving somebody the middle finger. Imagine the embarrassment in learning what I’d been unknowingly telling the neighbors to go do unto themselves.

Truthfully, I was probably six and yet too uncivilized to realize the rudeness of my ways. But the social faux pas have tracked me down throughout my life. Currently, the battle is against a weak, flimsy handshake. Try as I might, I can’t seem to nail any sort of shake that isn’t too long, too short, too awkward, too clammy or too tight.

One of the goals of our staff this year is to open the Daily to its readers, both in terms of how easy it is to get a hold of us and how welcome our readers are in our office. While I’m trying not to put such a strong emphasis on solely meeting and greeting this year, it’s still one of my duties to be the face for many issues regarding the Daily. That means that when I’m out and about, I’m trying to be as accessible as possible to any with concerns – from the editorial staff members who work in the newsroom to readers that want to voice their like or dislike for a particular feature in the paper. But whenever I go in with my handshake, the damned thing just flops.

You’re probably wondering at this point whether you really need to care about my handshake. You needn’t. Think little of my handshake, but do forgive me a weak one or two if we meet. Consider this column, instead, our handshake for the year, now that you’ve had a few weeks to spend with this year’s Daily. Let this be my introduction to you as the editor of the paper we hope you’ll be reading throughout the year.

Call upon me when I’m in the office, for I’m there a lot. Write letters. Post feedback. Send e-mail. Our jobs as editors extend beyond being word maids. If you have leads for stories or press releases, call upon those who run the sections of our paper – Emily Arthur (sports), Amber Billings (news), Rachel Faber Machacha (opinion) and Jeff Mitchell (arts and entertainment).

If you’re interested in reporting for us or a particular article you saw, you may find yourself going to our assignment editors – Jyni Ekins and Michaela Saunders (news), Anna Holland (projects), Megan Hinds (arts and entertainment) and Jeff Raasch (sports).

And when things go beyond that, you also have me at 294-5688 or [email protected].

Know, too, of the dozens of others behind this publication. Money and new products make the world go around, at least in America, and what keeps the Daily running on a smooth financial plane is the work of our advertising staffs, both those that work in retail sales and those that provide classified advertising. And when you take our advertisers’ desires and convert them into something visually appealing, you’ve got a staff of ad designers to thank.

Let me not leave this space without also addressing any recurring roles I will have on the opinion pages. While last year I wrote a column weekly, this year I find my role as editor in chief to override any need to provide regular commentary. While I do believe strongly that all our readers deserve to have a sense of how editorial decisions are made and to learn of the inner workings here at the Daily, I am also rooted strongly against any sort of regular note from me that would attempt to explain away, justify and defend our decisions.

Let the integrity and quality of any newspaper stand for itself, including ours; if in time you find yourself inquiring on a weekly basis why we’ve made the decisions we’ve made and why none of us are using 20-column inches to justify those decisions, our problems would be far larger than anything a column and my mug shot could repair.

All that said, remember that we have a drive to serve our readers. We welcome leads on stories, highlighting inaccuracies and criticism on any work we provide our readers. Talk to us. Our office – though at times it does feel as if we’re locked away in it – is not an ivory tower.

And if you need something, introduce yourself and let me know. But, please – remember what I said about not expecting a good handshake.

Cavan Reagan is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Bellevue, Neb.

He is the editor in chief of the Daily.ÿ