Editor’s Note:

The perfect cup of coffee is at least ten ounces of extra hot, freshly ground Sumatran blend brewed via whatever is the quickest method. Just enough cream should be stirred in slowly to create the perfect medium-brown color. If you want to be exact, and I encourage you to be exact when making your morning brew, it should be somewhere between Gidden PPG1060-5 or Behr N150-4, more commonly referred to as Bedford Brown or Modern Mocha. Serve immediately, drink while hot – until you are distracted and forget about the cup. Then microwave at your own risk or drink at ambient temperature.

Now, about The Laconic.

As we hurdle past the first frost, we move onward to the end of another semester at NCC and look to our futures with as much hope as we can muster. Some of us prepare to move on to other pursuits, while others are readying for a well-deserved holiday break after their first semester. Before we know it, the ground will have thawed again, and new growth will break through. For now, we embrace our shorter days, though what they will bring is yet unknown to us. Bid farewell to the last autumn leaves of reds, golds, and oranges. We now turn up our collars against the incoming chill, preparing for the moods, mystery, and magic of the autumn and winter seasons, whatever they may bring.

We all enjoy our coffees, or beverage-of-choice, to our own tastes. The pieces we received this semester all shared this individuality and reflected the beautiful bouquet which is the NCC community. Over one hundred submissions were received, each of them beautifully personal and authentic. And like the soon-arriving snowflakes always have their own unrepeated shape, each submission was wonderfully unique.

Thank you to everyone who submitted and contributed to this semester’s magazine. Continue to enjoy that coffee, tea, or beverage however you like it best and keep that creative engine running. The world is a better place with you and your creations in it. _ Many, many thanks to the rest of The Laconic Staff and our fearless leaders, Professor Michael Pogach and Dr. Abigail Michelini._

May all your beverages be at the perfect temperature, your towels be warm, and your pillows perfectly cool on both sides.

Your humble, very-hot-coffee-drinking Editor-in-Chief,
J.M. Fleetwood_