Production Weekend

It's production weekend for The Cipher and shockingly early to have our copy editors plugged into their ipods in the next room. Maybe it was the freak (but not so freak for Colorado ) April snow storm that kept our heads in the game, or the mid afternoon wine. Even better, a long-due intervention kept Jenny away from 7-11, which, in turn, kept us all from eating a lunch and dinner of Doritos.
Maybe our relegation of snack duty to Matt the Foodie (where are my prociuto wrapped portabellos!) made for better brain food after all.
So, we're taking some time to work on our shaky-at-best mission statement. The main problem with our old mission statement was that it read like a Victorian treatise (complete with creative word choice like "reportage" in lieu of "reporting".)

While John wanted to add in a few more metaphors and start it with the phrase ("since the beginning of time, magazines have existed to investigate, explore and delve into"...just kidding, John), my move to begin it with "The Cipher strives not to bore the reader" was also summarily rejected. We now have a few drafts and we could use all the input we can get.

"The Cipher is a nonfiction magazine that emphasizes journalistic writing. It features profiles, opinions, and investigations of social politics, arts, culture, and current events. The Cipher comes forth from and through Colorado College, but it does not cover Colorado College exclusively. The magazine investigates matters affecting the college, Colorado Springs, this nation, and the world, and strives to be a venue for creative, critical perspectives. The Cipher embraces pluralities within its pages and endeavors to meet the reader’s expectations for engaging and meaningful discourse."


"The Cipher is a nonfiction magazine that emphasizes journalistic writing. It endeavors to engage the reader in meaningful discourse. The Cipher comes out of Colorado College, but it does not cover Colorado College exclusively. The magazine investigates matters affecting the college, Colorado Springs, this nation, and the world, and strives to be a venue for creative, critical perspectives. The Cipher embraces pluralities within its pages."

Among other issues we would like you, our new-but-already-totally-addicted readers', advice on:

What do you think of our vote on the theme of "Firsts" over "Tradition" for next issue's theme? I'm having second thoughts!
Possible themes for next years issues?
Do you think John is sporting a mustache ironically?
Or, alternatively, is there such a thing as unconscious irony?