Today marks my 17th first day of school.
For the first 13 years of my educational career, my parents took a picture of me to remember the day. These pictures usually consisted of me wearing a new outfit that I had picked out the night before with a foolish smile on my face. While I left that ritual in Oklahoma once I began college (like so many of the other traditions from my youth), I brought it back this year. I made my roommate take a picture of me to remember my last first day of school.
I like to think The State Press is similar to that photograph — it records a specific moment in time. The State Press just happens to come out five days a week, not once a year as my photograph did.
But like the photographs, I hope you can use The State Press as a tool to capture what is happening now — whether that is parking decal price increases, Sun Devil football or Tempe City Council meetings. The State Press will (hopefully) give you everything you need to know to stay informed this semester.
The newspaper is undergoing a few changes this semester that we hope these changes will enhance your reading experience.
The most noticeable change is the separation of The State Press and The State Press Magazine, the weekly magazine that can best be described as the edgy alternative to the daily newspaper. No longer will you flip to the back of the Thursday paper to read SPM. Beginning Wednesday the magazine will stand alone, and the pages will trim down to the more traditional magazine size (making it easier to sneak into your textbooks and read during class). Don't worry; it will contain all of the same content and more. Expect to read about sex (a weekly sex feature), drugs (male birth control this week) and rock n' roll (weekly music reviews).
And because news doesn't just happen when you pick up your newspaper every morning, we are going to be updating asuwebdevil.com, The State Press' Web site, throughout the day. Make sure to obsessively check the Web Devil as often as you check your e-mail on your Sidekick or iPhone during class. Of course, the Web Devil will still contain all of the news from that day's paper.
I hope you are as excited for this semester as I am. I look forward to hearing what you, the readers, have to say about the newspaper.
And if you haven't taken your first day back to school picture yet, get to it! But don't forget to smile.
Kristi Eaton
State Press editor in chief
Fall 2007
