We began this school year on the steps of the New Haven Courthouse, in solidarity with a group of 44 of our peers, who appeared for their court hearing, following the arrests made by Yale Police last semester for their peaceful occupation and encampment of Beinecke Plaza. We continue to call on Yale University to disclose and divest from the ongoing war in Gaza, and reinvest in New Haven.
We hope that the Yale Herald can serve as an alternative to the rigid stylistic restrictions that are placed on traditional journalism—not in opposition to the tenets of rigorous, thoughtful reporting, but in their service. To treat our communities with the care that arises from remembering that they, like us, are composed of people. People with voices. For this, the Herald is a magazine replete with stories that have voices.
Our inaugural issue of the 76th volume of the Herald is dedicated to embracing homecoming, in both its accelerating certainty and ruminatory unfinishedness. In their review of The Dare’s What’s Wrong With New York? Sara Cao ’26 and Oscar Heller ’26 unveil faux individualism and grasp for authenticity. Los Angeles-native Julian Raymond ’28 reflects on the slowness possible in a callous and clamoring hometown. In the cover story of this issue, Jisu Oh ’27 chronicles the six years of student advocacy that preceded the opening of the MENA suite at 305 Crown Street this semester. Finally, Gabrielle Burrus-Bustamante ’26 pulses through the rhythm of the Yale University Art Gallery’s new exhibition, The Dance of Life.
Thank you to the eyes, ears, hands, and voices that have embraced and generated this issue. We want to especially thank Yale’s MENA community—specifically MENA Assistant Director Lena Giwani, Asian American Cultural Center Director & Assistant Dean of Yale College Joliana Yee, MENA peer liaisons, house staff, and members—for trusting us to report on and photograph the new space as the cover story of this issue.
The Herald is a place for incisive, assertive criticism, for experimental, creative narratives. For offbeat comic strips and intimate, relational profiling. It is a place that writers and editors can, together, shape into their own kind of home. We have a deep belief in the imaginative possibility of this publication. You, reader, are a part of this process. Together, we can begin creating an otherwise—our alternative homecoming.
Yours most daringly,
Connor Arakaki & Madelyn Dawson