Still crazy after all these years...

Stop by the Herald office any time on a Thursday night, and you'll probably wonder how a newspaper ever emerges out of the chaos. In one corner, an editor curses his computer, a Reagan-era relic that has already stalled three times that evening. At the long table, somebody else blusters through piles of marked-up pages in desperate search of a flat pen. The nicotine crew hovers just outside the door, while over by the stereo, Josh and Ted bicker about whether it'll be Outkast or Madonna on the stereo next. Surrounding them all is a mess of old issues, crumpled faxes, fossilized Domino's, stale coffee, and inane "wall quotes"—remnants of previous weeks' production that never seem to get cleaned up.

For 15 years this February, Herald editors have been laboring in love and squalor to bring you the best damn publication on the Yale campus. Back in 1986, Steve Lange-Ranzini, TD '86, and Richard So, TD '87, decided it was time to inject some life into the University's dreary journalism scene. Out of a small, off-campus apartment, they hatched an edgy eight-pager that immediately raised the bar for student publications. Today, three offices, two fridges, and 284 all-nighters later, the Herald is still the source for news, arts, and sports analysis. While those other publications simply tell you the who, what, where, and when, the Herald delves to find out the why. As a weekly, we have ample time to synthesize and mull over, to break down the issues and find the personal angles. We dispense with dry reporting and stick to the interesting stuff.

No place else but the cover of the Herald would you find a challenge to the role athletics play at an Ivy League university. No place else would you find honest documentation of ecstasy use among students, or fresh analysis of why Ninth Square never quite gets developed. Don't want to spend yet another Friday night at Rudy's? Open up our Calendar to find out what movies, shows, and concerts are going up around New Haven—then turn to A&E to see what's worth your two bucks. If sports are what you want, we'll tell you why the XFL sucks, which coaches are loved and hated, and who Yale's best-looking athletes are. Plus we print those naughty, naughty comics.

What makes the Herald so extra-special is our array of savvy editors, writers, artists, photographers, and business staff. From our notoriously sloppy end-of-semester parties to our incestuous retreats to opening day at Shea Stadium, we know how to have a good time together. True, we've got diverse interests and talents, but we're united by one thing (besides, of course, our love of journalism)—we're the hottest bunch this side of Maxim. Just check out our photos.

Kate Moran, DC '02, is editor-in-chief of the Yale Herald.

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