Over the last few months, the passion in my personal life lied in losing weight. Thus, I focused extensively on planning my food consumption. As bothersome as it was, I was delighted to find myself getting lighter and some of my jeans not fitting me anymore.

Like many other dieters would agree, the biggest obstacle I encountered while losing weight was homeostasis. Homeostasis, the tendency of the human body to stay the way it is. Our body is not clever enough and is very likely to confuse “what’s familiar” with “what’s sound.” When one reduces their food intake, the body accordingly reduces its metabolism in an effort to keep the weight stable. In order to get fit, breaking the homeostasis – needless to say, an agonizing process – is inevitable.

I believe journalists are as vulnerable to homeostasis as are dieters. Repeating what has been done before is comfortable and the reporters have little incentive to try something new. The challenge of writing about controversial issues may not seem worth risking receiving harsh comments. However, having to report on an ever-changing society, the press itself must not be afraid to have its forms, styles, and methods of investigations changed. 

As the new editor-in-chief of The UOS Times, I hereby promise our readers that my term of office will be a period of challenge and change, and of breaking out of the comfort zone. The changes in the November 2022 issue – some of which you would have already noticed – will not be the last of our advancements. We, The UOS Times, will not fear accommodating everything that should be covered and dismissing everything that should not. On the route to such a bold transition, only one thing will be left untouched – our sense of responsibility in journalism. I hope the readers of The UOS Times find our innovation pleasing, and anticipate our coming new changes.

I am happy to inform you that starting from the fall semester in 2022, The UOS Times will publish its magazines in print twice each semester. May this be an opportunity for The UOS Times to get timelier, more detailed and abundant in terms of its content for readers.

In preparing for Volume 158, we covered tragic incidents such as the death of Mahsa Amini in Iran, the murder in Sindang Station, and the death of Queen Elizabeth II. On behalf of all reporters of The UOS Times, I send the deepest condolences to all those who lost their loved ones. The UOS Times wishes that the deceased rest in peace. 

Kim Ye-il 
lavieenrose0705@uos.ac.kr