Welcome readers,

At the risk of sounding unforgivably contrived, a new year is upon us. With that new year, a new era.

You may be wondering what the idea behind this seemingly familiar, yet mysterious new insert you’re holding in your hands might be. At the risk of continuing to sound unforgivably contrived, it’s the wave of the future.

This section has undergone a myriad of incarnations during its lifeline. Last year it was simply known as Arts & Entertainment; the year before, it lived under the title Intermission; many years back, during a period long before I had cracked open my first Wes Anderson DVD and was left to ponder just where the line of pretension exists, it existed as The Glass Onion.

Enter The Weekender.

The Weekender isn’t about arts or entertainment. It’s about the student experience surrounding those things. It involves what goes on beyond the academics, politics, and social issues that we often find ourselves drowning in. More importantly, however, it’s about exploring that field of middle culture that most college students immerse themselves in, which usually lies somewhere below Brahms and Kierkegaard, yet still well above The Ugly Truth and (nowadays) Kanye.

The purpose of The Weekender is to serve as a road map to the Seattle-based cloud of distractions that will undoubtedly take precedence over our schoolwork, rather than just reporting on events that have already happened or previews for releases that you would have certainly known about already. We will highlight realms of both hype and obscurity, and hopefully introduce readers to ventures that they would not otherwise undertake.

We’re now jumping into the mass media frenzy that is autumn. Oscar shoo-ins are approaching. The new television season is here. Across campus, student bands are aspiring to be the next Blue Scholars, or (most realistically) Harvey Danger. There’s going to be a lot to keep an eye on.

These pages will still be filled with traditional features such as films reviews, spotlights on artists, and guides to upcoming attractions in the area. The difference here is that The Weekender isn’t simply about highlighting the latest in a small group of mediums; the goal is to cover as many bases as possible, and leave the readers of the publication with at least one, if not several ideas for events and experiences to include in their leisurely weekend time, and oftentimes leisurely times that aren’t the weekend. After all, life is nothing without distractions. That’s where we’ll be coming in to assist.

Be well,

Ivan Vukovic

Reach Weekender Editor Ivan Vukovic at weekender@dailyuw.com.