A few weeks ago, students began to see an unknown newsletter scattered about campus. It lurked in lounges, dining halls, and residence halls. It offered students news they wouldn't find in The Heights, The Patriot, or The Observer. And none of it was true.
The New England Classic, a Boston College-based satirical newspaper making its debut on BC's campus in October, quietly made its presence known to the students. Where did it come from exactly? What started out as kind of a joke based on loose ideas turned into a more concrete and realistic goal achieved by the creators Katie Forberg and Jacqui Geaney, both A&S '10. "We are huge fans of The Onion, and we were definitely inspired by it," Forberg said.
The New England Classic satirizes events, trends, and experiences here on BC's campus. Forberg and Geaney look at the publication as a way of bringing attention to topics that are overlooked, forcing students to acknowledge these issues and look at them in a different way. "Most of our stories are based on events that have happened to us or inspired by people we know. You'd be surprised by how much of this is real."
To come up with articles for their newsletter, the girls bounced ideas off of friends who gave them outside input on what would appeal to students. They do not attribute their creation to one specific moment, but rather the accumulation of observations of BC's campus that they have made since freshman year. "A lot of the things we wrote about I have been thinking about for a while," Geaney says. "This just seemed like a fun way of voicing our opinions."
The publication is not out to make a political statement, nor is it meant to offend anyone or any specific group. The New England Classic is filled with plenty of tongue-in-cheek humor that offers clever observations of the common experiences of a BC student. Among the issues addressed in this edition is the annoyance with the residence halls of College Road; the piece which details the "actions" taken by several female residents of College Road housing in the hopes of improving their living experience in Welch Hall. While blasting the ever-popular song "Soulja Boy" on repeat to mask the sounds of the ongoing demolition, the girls knocked down the walls to create an eight-man suite only to discover that the walls were so thin that they really didn't gain that much more living space.
There is also a piece regarding the restrictions on residence hall items, specifically egg-crate mattresses. Absurdly enough, a fictional fire starts in a freshman residence hall caused by the unfortunate oversight of a new BC student, coupled with the ash of a cigarette of an unknown individual who was clearly not abiding by the University's policy on smoking at least 10 feet away from a building. Another article that is bound to have the student body laughing is a piece about the unforeseen consequences of several freshmen girls' illicit attire on Halloween.
The New England Classic has been very well received by the student body; Forberg and Geaney have received a lot of positive feedback in the form of many e-mails applauding their efforts. "It was great; we were sitting having lunch and saw some kid laughing and talking animatedly with his friends. We realized that he was showing them a copy of The New England Classic. Katie and I looked at each other and had this golden moment," Geaney said.
Currently, The New England Classic is not sponsored by BC, although attempts have been made by Forberg and Geaney to get it approved as a club. Their efforts, however, have had little success, forcing them to use their own resources. "We used InDesign in the computers in the O'Neill computer lab. Basically, in our free time we huddled in a corner of the computer lab trying to lay out the paper. I'm pretty sure we disrupted everyone who was there until 12 a.m. with us. Then we sent it to print at Eagle Print in Carney," Forberg said. Because the school does not sponsor the paper, the girls were able to talk to local venues and have the paper completely funded by two advertisements for restaurants in town.
Being the only two contributing writers, Geaney and Forberg relied on friends for feedback, editing, photographs, and graphics.
Sal Cipriano, A&S '10, drew the cartoon for the first issue. "I draw cartoons for The Heights and Katie and Jacqui are two of my closest friends, so I definitely wanted to help out and draw for them as well," Cipriano said.
Forberg and Geaney said that many students, including both their friends and fans of The New England Classic, were surprised upon finding out that the authors of the publication are females. Believeing that it may be harder for girls to come across as funny, both creators noted that most people assumed the publication was written by males.
Even Cipriano was caught off guard upon first reading. "I didn't know that they were like that," he said. "I thought it was great when I read it."
Geaney understands the surprise of many of her friends and acquaintances. "I was never what you could call the class clown, so yeah, I guess that the paper does show a different side of me," she said.
Neither Forberg nor Geaney ever had ambitions to publish a work here on campus. "If you even told us a few weeks ago that we would be doing this, I don't think we would have believed you," Geaney said. Neither creator plans on a professional career in humor and the idea didn't stem from their majors. Geaney had never written for a publication before, while Forberg had worked for her high school newspaper and has previously taken a news writing class. They are both its creators and the only two writers among a staff of 25.
The duo is continuously looking for more staff writers, preferably ones with 500 pages left on their printing allotment. Geaney and Forberg hope to make this a monthly publication, with another issue before winter break.
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