And now, a word from our editors

MY CHILDREN,

THIS IS THE MALEVOLENT VOICE OF WINK. THIS VERY MOMENT (about 2:40pm, April 9th on a sunny afternoon) WILL BE AN ENDURING AND LASTING MEMORY. For you Golden 39, as we so fondly call you, ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE FUTURE. Yes, you will take over the reins of Westview Ink when the Three Crazies (That would be us, your editors. Proof of confession: Editor's Note of Vol. I, Issue 2) leave the DAUNTING and PARAMOUNT responsibility in your chocolaty, sticky little hands.

You gather on this day for a meeting in the multi-purpose Room of Requirement. Ignorant plebians of society know it as N131. The Wink staff, editors, contributors, and now the Golden 39 know this room as the J-ROOM (was that anti-climatic or what). Take a look around, Golden 39. This will be your den of iniquity. In this very chamber, you will see great injustices inflicted on English (or Spanglish, Franglish, Etc-lish) literature and rhetoric. Commas will be misconstrued for semi-colons. Prepositions will be placed at the end of a sentence; according to Writer's Inq, the end of a sentence is where prepositions like to go to. You will come across poetry written by teenagers (who have posted it on their Myspace blog) that is SO BAD that even Panic! At the Disco would agree.

BE WARNED, MY CHILDREN. Tread safely through shark infested waters. Today's note could have had the tone of a "ben" prefix instead of a "mal" prefix (Latin. Look it up. Improve your SAT verbal score. Oh wait, don't. See: The Grapevine, Vol. I, Issue 1). We could have adopted the voice of Glinda the Good Witch and conned you into believing that running Wink was all sunshine, roses, and refracted light. But no, today we decided to take a step above the usual level of Passionate and advance all the way down Crazy Street. Like Gene Wilder's portrayal of Willy Wonka in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, we do weird things to you because we care for you...and we like tiny rock-like candy packaged in a box with TWO FLAVORS (greatest invention ever).

Maybe one day, we will be the Benevolent Voice of Wink. But in reality, we want to inform you that running and producing a magazine is not easy, not one bit. You will find the weeks approaching a deadline to be incredibly intense and frustrating. You will find your eyesight blurred and unfocused due to staring at the computer screen for long periods of time...trying to fix the minutest of details. You will essentially live in the J Room and must leave home and never see your parents again.

BUT take it from us. You will also find that working for Wink is extremely rewarding. Your efforts will produce a thing of creative beauty, art, literature, and truth. These benefits are numerous and far outweigh the costs and sacrifices which, eventually, you will begin to tolerate (sounds ominous, but it's true). You already know what Wink is capable of, or else you wouldn't have signed up for the class and attended the meeting today. But we, your editors, promise you that one day soon we will enumerate these benefits. But for now, prepare yourselves. The upcoming issue in May will be a wild one.

Peace,
Elisabeth, Neethu, and Leann