The Ragged Edge

Near the end of publishing an issue of the Oak Leaf your production editor gets a bit out of his mind. Last minute changes, last minute letters, coordinating edits...all this becomes quite difficult.

Since I began working on the Oak Leaf, however, each issue has had its own significant challenges. The first issue required a huge amount of work just because it was my first and there were so many design decisions.

The second issue was troublesome because it was ready to be assembled in early October, 1996. That Tori and I had a Halloween wedding to plan eliminated all possibility of an October issue. Thanksgiving. Christmas. New Years Eve. Suddenly it was 1997! Chris and I had been so determined to publish two issues last year, we were devastated. Fortunately, we were able to interrupt the space-time continuum and managed to actually publish the December 1996 issue in December 1996 from the then present January, 1997! Amazing, I know. We did later learn that there were a very small number of you for whom the time-shifted-delivery failed so you received that issue in January. This was an extremely isolated phenomenon...there were only a handful of you. Really.

Now, this third issue, which I had truly hoped would have a "normal" production cycle, has run up against Alumni Weekend, 1997. Some significant events, awards, honors, need announcing with the hopes that you can attend. Most notable of these is Jack Peck's induction into the Pomona Athletic Hall of Fame. Additional honors include celebrating the publishing of Gina Maranto's '77 #807 book, the 65th anniversary of the initiation of Professor Chet Jaeger '61 #139, and the presentation of a copy of Lloyd Miller's '29 #78 The Spirit of Contribution - The US Pharmacopeia 1820-1995.

So. I don't care if you receive this issue with only two weeks to spare. Hell, I don't care if you receive it one week before Alumni Weekend: Now it's your turn! Move time and space if necessary so that you can attend. Your brothers and sisters expect and deserve it.

- Paul Nagai '88 #978