The Stale Mess, coming to newsstands the last day of classes, is fake. Most people would understand that President Crow throwing up on himself, while making an interesting photo, wouldn't have the fortune of being caught on camera. So each semester, with a little help from Photoshop, the State Press Magazine makes it happen -- for fun, you know, to laugh at.
The end of the semester is a crazy, hectic time, so why not sit back and have something to chuckle about? In the past, The Stale Mess hasn't had the best disclaimers, so here's one in advance: Again, The Stale Mess is fake. Yes, fake. Got it yet?
Recently, there has been an uproar when it comes to spoof editions of college papers. Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Scranton and the University of Nebraska at Omaha found this out firsthand. Carnegie Mellon's spoof edition was found offensive enough to have the paper shut down for the rest of the semester, but not before the editor in chief decided to take "a leave of absence."
Nebraska's paper, The Gateway, was renamed The Ghettoway as an April Fools' spoof and racked in complaints from community members and the NAACP.
As we try to use our best judgment as to what's considered offensive and what's considered hysterical, we run into a huge dilemma. The State Press can't even avoid letters to the editor complaining about offensive material in the real news, so imagine what The Stale Mess staff is faced with. But they take it (and we occasionally take it for them), and we do it for you, the avid Stale Mess readers whose semester wouldn't be complete without a little satire.
In an attempt to keep what little money we're harboring in this basement, we've got the good folks at SPM working extra hard this semester to weed out the nasty and leave in the funny. That means no "TA gets fired for too much T and not enough A" or "Puppetry of the Anus." No Crow ralphing on himself either.
When enjoying our FAKE edition, please remember that it's meant to be funny, not offensive. If you don't want to read it, don't pick it up. After all, we are reminding you days in advance -- it won't hit the stands until Tuesday. We would have held off with the warning but, come on, nobody comes to class on Friday or Monday.
For those of you who do look forward to the friendly spoof, we appreciate your sense of humor. For many of us, this is our last semester to do something fun and crazy before heading off to the corporate real world. College is the last place where free and wacky expression is welcomed with open arms, so enjoy that privilege and enjoy the FAKE paper.
