Hello, loyal readers! Pay attention, you two! How have you been? Good? That’s good. Because it’s going to get a whole lot better any way you look at it.

One, I’m going to be running this paper next year and so that might strike you as a good thing. If you are not a fan of mine, it could be a good thing for you, too; I won’t be writing “Scene Dissent” next year, so at least there will be one less place you’ll have to deal with me. In fact, other than an editorial and assorted pieces here and there, I won’t be writing as much. There is a lot of behind-the-scenes work around here with which I’m going to be busy.

For one, I’m going to be trying to solicit more reader content. If you have something that you would like to have two or three people read, by all means, send it in! Please try to make sure it doesn’t suck too bad, though; I hate writing rejection letters. Seriously, though, letters to the editor don’t have to be literary masterpieces; just try your best and we’ll fix the worst of your mistakes.

Are you a writer who would like to make a little extra money writing for us? If so, please send me a sample and I’ll take a look at it. If there is a subject that you feel strongly about and you’d like a place to be heard, we can be that venue.

Also, we are going to try sell some ads so we can make a buck off this paper. Turns out money doesn’t grow on trees—and the Rearguard just took a 15 percent budget cut. Aside from sending reporters out on the streets near the courthouse to ask for spare change, selling ads is our best bet. Otherwise, we here at the Rearguard will not be able to continue our lavish lifestyles. By lavish lifestyles, I’m talking about having enough quarters for laundry. Dumpster diving is dirty work. So if you know any cool businesses that are looking for some cheap adspace, give us a call.

This year, we finally came back into the future with a new website. You can find it at www.therearguard.org. So far, we’re just putting it together and updating the archives. It’s going to be evolving over the summer, and by the fall, all of us here will be writing blogs and doing our best to keep the site updated with new, interesting and, of course, hilarious content. With the website up, we are safe in case we run out of trees on which to print this paper. I like to be prepared for the impending environmental catastrophe. The internet will survive. We might run out of oxygen, but at least we’ll still have Wikipedia!

Speaking of hilarious: I’m interested in running more comics in the Rearguard and would love to see some submissions. I don’t have anything particular in mind so feel free to surprise me. Tell your friends. We’re not made of money here but I might be able to dig up a couple of bucks for a good monthly strip.

I’m very much interested in finding out what our readers would like to see here in Portland State’s alternative monthly. This paper has changed often over the years. It can be a lot of different things. I have some ideas, but I would like to hear yours. Please feel free to email me anytime, or stop on down by the office. Enjoy the summer and I’ll see you all in the fall.