For this issue, we decided to put something together for people living on campus, and especially for newcomers. The break to college life is one of the most radical and bewildering any of us have experienced thus far in our life. Stripped of the day-to-day supervision, the freshman has to depend on his or her own faculties in every concievable matter, from balancing studies with social life, to the moral and ethical questions that the depraved college social scene poses.
There’s not much anyone can do to help the confused freshman with his or her newfound freedom (other than to wrap it up and to not sleep around – see A few useful facts about STDs), but we have included some pretty fun material about the dayto-day stuff: reviews of the local coffee (Don’t expect anything but stomach cramps from Aramark’s third rate mud), some basic info on the shuttle bus system and other campus resources and lots of miscellaneous stuff scattered around the issue. We even have some advice on dressing yourself(see Runway vs. Hallway)!
This week’s themed paper has been kind of an experiment. It turned out pretty much successfully, even if it didn’t come together as neatly as it could. I envisioned a beefy special section, rather than a themed paper, with the themed material scattered around.
What I think you have here is kind of like when my dad first started cooking tofu in a traditional teriyaki recipe. At first, he could make it taste good, but it looked like a steaming plate of kibble and tape worms. Eventually he managed to make it look nice, tossed on a china plate with a garnish of parsley, It tasted just as good, though, when he just thrown it all together in a big bowl.
Anyhow, we are planning on doing something similar for the next two weeks. Next week we’re doing an issue themed around food, that most essential of human needs, and the week after that, it’ll be the nightlife in the Portland/ Gorham area. The idea with these special editions is to give the paper some direction and to beef it up on slow news weeks. By spring, we hope to be knocking out these special issues like a gymnast landing on her twinkly little toes after doing a dozen flips from those uneven bars. Which is to say, I don’t want you to think it’s easy, but we will make it look that way because we are professionals and we are amazing.
I hope you like what we’ve done. As always, beam all your comments, large and small, directly into my sexy PowerBook at [email protected]