I can’t speak for the entire staff, but fall break (lovingly termed at Whitman as four-day) has undoubtedly been a much needed breath of relaxation. In the hectic weekly production cycle we have at The Pio it can be hard for people outside of the staff to remember that we’re students and also hold a job that can take anywhere from five hours a week to over 40 (most people don’t actually work over 40 hours a week … I’m probably the only person on staff who is that obsessed with my job).

Anyway, having a break from the daily demands of classes and getting to sleep in has meant more to me now that I’m a senior and am trying to recuperate from Pio needs. I’m one of those people who get tired/sleepy when stressed, and having some of that stress abate for a little while has been a relief. Personal zen is important, but four-day has also given me the chance to get to know the rest of the staff a little bit better. Last night junior Matthew Nelson (Chief Copy Editor), sophomore Quin Nelson (Sports Editor), senior Pamela London (Managing Editor) and I took a break from our “relaxing” (aka Sunday night studying) and got frozen yogurt. Sophomore Sarah Cornett (News Editor) was going to join us, but had to be called away for house meeting at the Environmental Interest House. Pshhh… on-campus living and “house meetings”.

All jokes aside, we ended up talking for nearly two hours and got to know Matthew and Quin’s life stories. Matthew apparently has to attend a wedding in Nashville during Thanksgiving, has a twin sister and knows three languages. Quin’s sister works for Nike, thinks utilizing his Econ/English double major would be useful for owning his own bookstore if bookstores weren’t dying and believes the Amsterdam airport is a great place to be stuck in if you have a canceled or delayed flight.

Although classes have been on hold this Monday and Tuesday for four-day, The Pio hasn’t––a couple of Production Associates will be coming in today to layout their pages and writers and graphics people have been working on their assignments all weekend. Check out the labor of our love this Thursday when Issue 6 is distributed across campus.

Here’s a sneak preview: There may or may not be cute pictures of cats somewhere in the paper.