Frustrated with the YDN’s lack of coverage students actually enjoyed, the Herald’s founder, Richard So, TD ’87, started the Herald in an effort to “reach out to those the Daily had ignored.” He envisioned a publication that celebrated intramurals and theater events; published comics and humor pieces; and analyzed rather than broke the news.

But what really made So and that first Herald board so revolutionary was that they insisted that the paper be free. Little known fact: When the Yale Herald was founded in 1986, it was the Yale campus’ sole free newspaper. At that time, the Yale Daily News charged 50 cents per issue and 40 dollars per subscription, whereas the Herald staff, though broke, without an office, and composed entirely of undergrads, hoarded computers in CCL (now Bass) and distributed the papers themselves to cut costs, all to provide students with an alternative paper at absolutely no charge. When subscriptions dropped to an all-time low of 570 in 1994, the YDN followed suit and switched to free distribution, a victory, in So’s words, against “inertia and malaise.” Next time you enjoy your free, morning YDN, think of us.

No, we’re not the not oldest college daily; at 24, we’re a little bit older than the average college student. Our editors aren’t in Skull and Bones and certainly don’t have 4.0 GPAs. (We don’t even have 4.0 InDesign!) Though we can’t count Sen. Joe Lieberman I-CT, MC ’64, or William F. Buckley, DC ’50, as alums (and thank goodness for that), Herald staffers have gone on to the New York Times, Time, The Paris Review, and The Wall Street Journal; while others have found work as both bankers and professional poker players, rowers, and comics. And many of the folks who now run The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and Dream for Darfur got their start in these hallowed halls.

Though we’ve amassed a small fortune in our young existence, we still operate on the barter system, often trading ad slots for Thai food or a bar tab. I’m happy to say we recently entered the twenty-first century, replacing our ’98 Macs monitors with shiny Dells. Unlike the YDN and other storied Yale publications, we’re unendowed—indeed, until recently we actually owed Yale money.

There’s still something inherently nuts about joining the staff. It’s a hands-on job: Our editors do their own layout, copy-editing, and at times, design and photography. Unlike the YDN, we don’t have our own building: Our office is nestled on the third floor of 305 Crown that we happily share with our friends The Yale Review, Yale Angler’s Journal, The Yale Scientific, Queer Peers, and the Women’s Faculty Forum, among others. But we’re a close-knit family that likes to listen to Motown, eat Papa John’s, and watch the sunrise together on Friday mornings.

We don’t mind publishing the word “fuck.” (I counted approximately eight in this issue, and as well as “motherfucker,” “shit,” and “masturbating.” Hi grandma!) This week, we sent our writers to Elevate to party with Vinny of Jersey Shore fame, visit Yale’s Pistol Team, and to investigate controversial issues of linguistic preference at Atticus. We love writing and more importantly, we love each other. I’m proud to be part of this paper and I invite you to join us, whomever you are.