Well, finals are here, we have a beautiful dusting of snow and everybody has pneumonia. On the bright side of things, winter break is fast approaching and two weeks from now, we’ll all be laughing about this week’s trials and tribulations. Maybe over a cup of hot chocolate. Or cider. Or egg nog – or whatever beverage you enjoy when it’s cold outside.

On another sad note, we will not be editing the editorial page next semester. It’s been a delightful and eventful fall at the opinion desk. We enjoyed the hell out of it and we have you – our readers – to thank for that. There’s been no shortage of lively (and sometimes heated) discussion on the page. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading all your letters – there were weeks it seemed like our inbox was bursting at the seams, but this is a good problem to have.

The goal of the opinion section is to create a marketplace of ideas, and it has certainly achieved this goal.

There’s been a lot of change in the way opinion things (a technical term) happen since we turned up at the Herald doorstep as a couple of punk, argumentative kids with naivety to spare. For instance, when we started editing opinion columns, The Badger Herald operated out of an office that will almost surely be condemned by the time you read this, but nonetheless possessed a certain bohemian charm.

On a more serious note, last September we were entirely focused on producing a print newspaper each and every night – this led to a more fast-paced production cycle in which the bottom line was moving content onto pages. Now, printing twice a week and placing an emphasis on online content, we are able to spend more time thinking about long term projects. We publish things when they are ready to be published.

Now, it is time for us to part ways with the page, and we are excited to hand off the section to a well-qualified team of editorial page editors. Expect to hear more from them this coming January. We have full confidence that they will steer the page in promising directions and explore new frontiers.

For the time being, good luck with finals, stay warm and as always, if you have something to say, send it our way.