Unless you’ve been condemned to the CCL underworld, withering amidst fluorescent lights and garish vinyl, you probably have noticed that it’s been raining. Correction — it’s been pouring, biblically, in a way that compels us to build a large wooden ark, fill it with reasonably attractive Yalies and prepare for the worst. In some ways though, the cleansing deluge outside is a perfect metaphor for the engorged eight pages of fun spread eagle before you: it’s a little wet right now, but we’re looking forward to stable weather and blue skies ahead. By the time Yale’s campus dries out, the new scene will have moved past awkward puberty and emerged into developed, well-endowed adulthood.
If you’ve been reading scene for the past year, you’ve certainly witnessed some changes. The section has gone from a unsatisfying six pages to a girthy and pleasurable eight (notice how thick and heavy it is to hold in your eager, trembling hands?). In addition, the scope and quality of the content within these pages has improved dramatically. For ending their tenure as editors with a quality package, lubricated with smart journalism, we owe great thanks to the former scene editors, Susan, Claire and Max — we hope it was good for you, too.
Starting with such a well-established section is both a blessing and a curse, but we vow to do our best to bring you more of the quality content you’ve come to expect, while finding new ways to explore our content fetishes.
In this issue alone, we’ve instituted a brand new “Mixtape” box — an outlet for iTunes aficionados to prove their taste is more esoteric than yours. We’ve kept “Desert Island Books” as well, so you can snicker when you discover that Harold Bloom loves to lounge pool-side with a copy of “The Da Vinci Code” and a tall margarita. Also new is “Scene’s Fashion Faux Pas,” our valiant effort to unspool the white sneaker shoelaces and pink polo threads of Yale’s fashion miscreants. Alas, fear not Group IV majors and home-schooled wunderkinds — you’ll be name-dropping Arcade Fire lyrics and sporting velvet blazers in no time!
Vapidity aside, you can expect more in-depth coverage of student life issues and all things generally dubbed “scenic.” In this vein, we’ll work on increasing the variety of content on the two pages we devote each week to “living.” We’ll also dive into campus life with our front page scene feature coverage. Over the next two semesters, we will expose on-campus subcultures, activities and controversies using a discerning eye and cutting prose. While the honeymoon continues with next week’s fall fashion issue, in the future we will delve into such topics as the athlete-artist divide, homosexuality in greek life, gender discrepancies at Yale and more thorough coverage of intriguing student groups.
As with all things Yale Daily News, scene is nothing without its bevy of talented writers who take a break from their academic typing to get down to writing columns, reviews and living pieces. We’re always looking for more to join our encourage — kinda like P. Diddy, minus the “p” and with a lot more “diddy.” If you’re down for having your name and ideas in print, e-mail the friendly new scene editors, David, Kevin or Stephanie. We promise we’ll treat you right.