Ryan's Second Volume.

As I stated yesterday, I will be retaining the editorship of the Jayhawker through next year. Though I don't think I can yet release some of the details of the catalyst for this decision (there are discussions going on regarding the future of the Jayhawker as a publication), I can say that it was a very fluid debate going on in my mind for the last month. There were many pros and not too many cons for doing it again, but for the past few weeks I had sided with the reasons against, notably because I was thinking of moving out of Lawrence after this fall to get an internship at a journal or publishing house. But the experience and result of doing a second book would very likely just be as helpful to my record as an internship, so there goes that.

Besides which, I seem to be blessed/cursed with an unusual ability: I can envision entire publications in my mind with no need for paper or a computer. Before I even sit down with Adobe InDesign I can have the cover and endsheets and pages, the folios and fonts and cutlines all determined and pictured with precision. This weekend, as I thought about whether I should stay as editor, I kept doing the vision thing with next year's book to such an extent that the question of being editor became a ridiculous one; to not create & design the book that has already hijacked my mind would be a crime.

That's not to say that everything will come out just like I imagine it; it all depends upon content and photos that don't exist, and fonts, software and a computer that we haven't purchased. This year's book, though having elements that I wanted all along, is nothing like what I planned in September. Which is why I love it so, and which is why I was so reluctant to return; the Annual MMV was such a work of improvisation (I did 65 pages in three days during Finals Week; I put together another 40 from scratch in one day at the end of February) and beauty that it is almost magical; I can look through it now and think "My god I couldn't have possibly foreseen that." For the last month I kept thinking that I couldn't top it either; it's like a band facing their sophomore album. But the ideas, as they always seem to be, were there in the back of my mind, ready to come forth if I ever got another chance to run another book.

A month ago as I was making my initial decision, Jeff told me during CoB, "Always leave 'em wanting more." Well, I don't know about the rest of 'em, but I certainly want more, and I've never been this ready to rock.