On March 14, 2006 I bought the domain name sadielou.net to launch a student-run website based on work I had been doing on Raptor, incorporating what I had learned while retooling the Phoenix website. It was a long haul to secure funding as a student space and encourage adoption by the student body. Along the way, many, many students have made this site possible and great. If I can, I’d like to thank them, I hope they don’t mind me calling them out here.
Cori Johnson, Gabe Aronson, and Neil Makhija helped me shape the concept and a new design for the site during the summer ’06. In the fall, Neil, Franne Grimstad, and Jen Montalbano worked with me to establish Sadie Lou as a student space. Shortly after that, Lauren Parrish, Alex Rosenberg, and Joanna Harmonosky joined me to form a managerial/editorial staff. Alex has been instrumental in drumming up enthusiasm for the site, and Lauren worked tirelessly to encourage students to submit work to what was still a fledgling publication. Joanna, who joined as a first-year, took on a key role in the site very quickly, especially during my absence in spring ’07. Joanna shaped Sadie Lou into a well-run organization, and oversaw its substantial growth that spring. Over the summer, Joanna gave countless time and energy to adding new resources to the site, working with me to craft yet another redesign, and planning for the fall.
This year has been a runaway success, and it has everything to do with the wonderful editorial staff we’ve had this year – Rebecca Rubenstein, Joanna Bettelheim, Allison Grande, Taylor Pavlik, Madelyn Sutton, Erin Bailey, Jacqueline Strzemp, Zoe Simmons, Franne Grimstad, and Cori Johnson – and all of the wonderful contributors to the site. None of this would be possible without our readers, who have grown substantially in number this year, and who now span every state and over 60 countries. It’s been great. Thank you all, and have a good spring break.
Update: I really should also thank all those who preceded me, in addition to those who have carried the site forward. Matt Bateman was running Raptor when I started here, his commitment to and ability with the server was almost super-human and has been an inspiration. Emily Sharp culled me when I was first getting my feet wet designing faculty websites, and has been a close friend, advocate, and mentor since. Jess Hamilton worked with me on Raptor, and helped me establish my own web design sensibilities. Kimmie Nguyen, who had designed the print edition of the Phoenix, inspired my own thinking about layout. Alex Berger has put up with me for years going on and on about Raptor and then Sadie Lou, his design advice alone is responsible for the maturity of the site, and his support of Sadie Lou as it found its sea legs has been generous and greatly appreciated. Liz Henderson, who was the chief at the Phoenix when I entered, worked hard with me to make the Phoenix’s website into something usable, and taught me how much work really goes into running a large campus publication. Greg Conn hired me as a web programmer a few years ago; he shaped all of my thinking about site management and usability and has always encouraged my efforts with Sadie Lou. Winston Churchill-Joell has amazed me with his ability to wear creative and management caps with aplomb, our conversations about design, web standards, and usability have been instrumental in the formation of the site. I can’t really begin to describe how much all of their help, support, advice, etc. has meant to me and to the site these past years, and I hope they don’t mind me saying that their work is a big part of what Sadie Lou is.
On a final note (I feel like there should be an orchestra that has swelled to full blast by now), an enormous credit is due to the Campbell Corner Language Exchange, an ongoing project established by Elfie Raymond to explore, examine, and admire the connections between philosophy and poetry, in a world where both are so easily overlooked. I have had the honor of working alongside the people running the Language Exchange and its poetry contest (Carlin Wragg, Phillis Levin, Vijay Seshadri, Rachel Hadas, Susan Guma) as their webmaster. Sadie Lou is a very different kind of site and project, but I count the Language Exchange as its predominant progenitor. At Sadie Lou, we are far more immersed in the fast-paced flux which prevails in the culture. The Language Exchange exists as a different sort of stopping off point on the web: it is full of gems, but it is not shiny.