With a spontaneous knock, the Daily Aztec office was surprised with a visit from its very own writers.
Sumaia Wegner, the Arts and Culture editor of the Daily Aztec, was initially shocked at the sudden cluster of people present in the office.
“I was like, ‘who are these people?’ They were very comfortable in here.” Wegner said. “And then once I found out who they were, I was pleasantly surprised.”
The Daily Aztec’s 1994-1995 sports section, with the exception of Jennifer Stone who was an opinion writer, decided to reunite at The Daily Aztec Newsroom after their fellow writer Greg Block passed away about a year ago.
Block, a former chief communications officer at SDSU, was a diehard fan who attended and tailgated almost every game. The former writers said they had to fulfill his wish to see the new Snapdragon stadium, so in his memory, they attended the football game vs. Hawaii on Oct. 8 and spread Block’s ashes across the field.
During the impromptu visit to the office, the archives were dusted off and displayed, as the former Aztecs flipped through years and years of pages, until finally stumbling upon their own articles.
The entire room’s attention became drawn to the culture shock of the 90s which included a racy full-page cover of a women in lingerie and an article on the outdated taboo of interracial dating.
Jennifer Stone, an attorney for the County of San Diego, elaborated further on the two-decade gap that caused the culture shock for the current Daily Aztec writers.
“I thought it was interesting to see your 2022 staff react positively to our old feature stories on strippers, interracial couples and weed. Telling untold campus stories was a huge part of who we were…you all seemed to share that same aspiration.”
Josh Suchon, a play-by-play announcer for the Albuquerque Isotopes (the Triple-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies), discusses another massive difference, specifically between the current frequency of the Daily Aztec’s publication in comparison to the one during his time.
“The biggest difference is the frequency of publication. We were five days a week, you guys are one day a month with a strong daily presence on the web and social media,” Suchon said.
The former writers’ comradery and closeness hit home for Wegner, especially as a current Daily Aztec editor.
“If they maintained that level of closeness, I know we can… That’s a good feeling to see that.”
Established in 1913, the Daily Aztec newspaper marks its 110th anniversary in the 2022-23 school year.
