Cate Roser

The October issue of the Yale Daily News Magazine is now available on our website and in dining halls. Read the print e-edition here.

Hi Mag Fam, 

Goodbyes are hard. 

Last week, I had my last board meeting as editor in chief of the YDN Magazine. It was an open board meeting with many writers popping in and out of the newsroom for final edits. In what has already become a lasting memory for me, I was working with Isabella Zou, the 2020-2021 Mag EIC, on her personal essay, “The Pole Climb,” while Abigail Sylvor Greenberg, an outgoing ME and the incoming 2022-2023 Mag EIC, sat across the table making final revisions on Noah Humphrey’s religious commentary, “To the Preacher.” As the rest of the 2021-2022 board filtered upstairs to attend the meeting, Isa and I stayed back — both to finish discussing her piece and also to reflect and reminisce. 

Like Isa, YDN Mag has been one of my most meaningful Yale experiences, from staff writing to being an associate editor to finally assuming the role of editor in chief with my amazing partner-in-crime Claire Lee. Along with long nights proofing content in the two-room, Claire and I spent a lot of time thinking about the culture we wanted to craft as EICs. We implemented social activities such as our cross campus print sales to help our staff of 30-strong bond. The night before print sales our board and staff would gather in the YDN basement with glitter glue, scissors, newspaper scraps, googly eyes, etc. to hand-make mementos that would go towards printing the Mag. Everyone would very politely bop along to my shuffling Liked Songs while determinedly cutting away at pieces of construction paper — in effect buying into our vision, for which I could not be more grateful. 

But producing the Magazine has always been a collaborative labor of love, as we could not produce a publication without the YDN’s amazing Photo, Illustrations, Copy and Production & Design editors. However, this issue is special, as it’s our first time having a designated creative director, the imitable Catherine Kwon, who has already done much in terms of creating Mag’s new visual aesthetic. This heightened focus on production will help propel Mag into the already emergent digital media culture that is rapidly transforming newsrooms around the country. But more importantly, it has been my utmost pleasure to work closely on my last issue with such a kind, attentive soul and a competent and innovative designer. 

This issue is all about leaving it all on the field, as my mom says. This is the first issue in the current volume of YDN Mag that has a humor piece, Hannah Mark’s brilliant, “Inventing H(Annah),” and an opinion piece, Loren Bass-Sanford’s incisive critique of Yale’s Music Department. Gavin Guerrette’s beautiful photo essay, “Coming Home,” explores his changing relationship to his home, Pottstown, Pennsylvania, after a year of grappling with Yale’s unthinkable wealth. Caleb Dunson’s comprehensive profile of Christopher D. Betts follows Betts’ journey as a Black, queer artist from elementary school to now directing the Jeff Recommended production of “Dreamgirls” at Paramount Aurora Theater in Aurora, Illinois. And Tyler Jager, in “Tenant Chemistry,” follows Connecticut Tenants Union organizers and local residents ardently fighting for their housing rights against exploitative landlords such as Pike and Ocean Management. 

I am so proud of the stories shared in this issue of Mag. I hope they inspire you to question the status quo and remind you that your livelihood is worth fighting for. As I am reminded again and again during my senior fall: Nothing lasts forever; all bets are off.  

Best,

Marie Sanford

Magazine Editor in Chief, Managing Board of 2023