“It begins with an idea, and then it becomes something else.“
— Pablo Picasso

So it’s hitting 3:20 a.m. on the impromptu third production night for The Boar. This is officially attempt number one billion in a process that has produced innumerable drafts and two final copies that are now delegated to the residual memory of my hard drive.

From the outset, I have always found it more than challenging to articulate my vision for The Boar — something that should be rare for a writer and English major — and it only became worse when I tried to
write not only what I wanted The Boar to be, but what it was, and what I hoped it could be. What seemed like three very similar concepts were leaps and bounds apart, each with its own set of limitations, idealism,
and flaws.

The idea for what eventually evolved into The Boar sprung out of a lazy, hazy, afternoon in late summer. A discussion of possible involvement with the Arts Student Union (ASU) with the President and Vice
President – the latter of which became the General Manager for The Boar — became a discussion of the need for a newsletter for the faculty.

It seemed rather illogical that the largest faculty, not to mention the one that generally requires the most writing, was one of the few without its own publication. From there, the newsletter idea evolved into the inklings of a magazine, and the initial idea for The Boar was conceived.

That initial conversation was followed by a sun-soaked patio meeting in early September, which involved a twenty-page proposal that tried valiantly to convey the early concept of The Boar. By the end of the
meeting, we had formulated a plan to see if The Boar could fly — but not without the memorable parting
words of “Um…you know that proposals are typically like a page, right?”

That tidbit was the first of many lessons on navigating the bureaucracy of the university and managing the
business aspects of the magazine that I absorbed over the past eight months. My focus was then, as it is now, primarily editorial, so I left it to my General Manager to steer through the side of the administration that actually wants to talk to you, as opposed to just directing your call to the public relations office.

We got through in the end, and somehow managed to get a fistful of cash from the Arts Endowment Fund
along the way. What started as a vague idea quickly evolved into reality and my perpetual description of “Think The Walrus meets the New Yorker meets Imprint meets Adbusters meets The Iron Warrior” would hardly suffice any longer. I suddenly found myself trying to explain what The Boar was, not just to backers, but to a fresh faced editorial board looking for direction.

Together, we defined the type of content we were looking for, outlined our submission standards, and started carving out a face for The Boar. We decided on the proportions of fiction, poetry, art and photography
against the analysis, commentary, and research-based articles, while foreign language content was ruled out based on the difficulty in editing and fact-checking it. A loosely formed style guide was pulled together with the input of Imprint design experts and based on my own rudimentary design ideas. We finally knew what we were looking for — well, maybe not exactly, but we had a good idea, and sometimes that’s all you need.

Now that dawn is approaching, and I am finally holding the skeleton of a magazine in my hands, the reality has finally hit me. The Boar is no longer an idea, but a reality. Thanks to the incredibly hard work of my phenomenal editorial board, who not only put up with me and my flailing attempts to lead, but produced an excellent inaugural issue. There have definitely been growing pains, and we are by no means done. A few glitches in content prevented us from fulfilling the intended proportions between sections, and I’m sure I’ll find a plethora of errors when I get a chance to examine the issue with non-over-caffeinated-and-sleep-deprived eyes, but The Boar was eventually formed. It might not be the perfect replica of my vision like its namesake outside Modern Languages is of Porcellino in Florence, but I think it’s getting there.

I couldn’t tell you if The Boar is what I imagined, because the process has been so fluid, and that notion has evolved so many times that I’m no longer exactly sure what my original idea was — or if I ever even knew exactly what I wanted. What I can tell you is that my vision was not to try and report the news on campus like Imprint, @UW, or The Iron Warrior, or even to poke fun like MathNews, but to provide arts students with a medium through which to express themselves.

My intention was not to create a campus version of Maclean’s, but something more aesthetic, thought-provoking, and analytical that encompasses the diversity and creativity of this faculty — and I certainly hope we have done so. It’s up to you to judge nd I hope you do, because I will always encourage your feedback,
your submissions, your criticisms, and anything else you have to throw at me.

So what exactly is The Boar? Well I guess you’ll just have to see for yourself…