From the Desk of the Editor

Dear Readers,

For Duke students Hurricane Isabel was, to re-appropriate Macbeth's words about life, "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing," except for an early dismissal from class. Off campus, however, the storm wrought damage, left millions without power and claimed lives--more than 40 of them at last count.

For me, Isabel remained a humorous and insignificant event for a week afterward. I had enjoyed the buildup as the storm surged to Category 5 status and it was suddenly cool, or at least acceptable, to watch the Weather Channel and comment on barometric pressure (I should note here that I come from a family of serious-minded Weather-Channel watchers and though I broke out of the habit when I arrived at college, Isabel triggered a momentary relapse.) When the storm finally hit, I relished walking under the flailing branches that screamed in pain with each gust of wind. Skulking beneath them on my way to class, I considered Duke's willingness to take on risk and liability: Had administrators done the calculations and decided the odds of a widowmaker taking me out were sufficiently slim that canceling classes was a bad financial move?

If they had, somehow the balance tipped that afternoon and classes were canceled, though I had another walk through the trees back to my room to consider mortality and listen to the trees howl. By the next day, I was ready to forget about Isabel as she became the subject of "she's all talk..." jokes.

But Isabel was not done with me. She had knocked out the power at our printer's facility in Virginia, thus delaying the September issue's publication by one week. Now, perhaps that doesn't seem like a big deal to you, but for me, the two weeks between when I send the magazine to the printer and when it shows up in your mailboxes is an agonizing time. It is perhaps the second most agonizing time for an editor, the first being when a source for a recently published story calls and you don't yet know whether he is calling to congratulate you on a great story or to announce you will soon be served with a libel suit. But for those two weeks, I frequently wonder what typos and mistakes slipped past my tired eyes in the last hours of production. I worry about how each story will be perceived; I think they're all great at the time the magazine goes to print, but in the first week it's out of my hands I begin to doubt and in the second my qualms grow. So frankly, a third week was a little unfair.

In the Summer issue, I expressed my desire never to write another letter from the editor. Unfortunately, the delay means the September issue has been out for less than one week as I write this, and the letters have not yet arrived. We will happily publish your letters regarding this issue or the last in the next issue. So, yes, that is the long-winded explanation for why I'm back here.

Since I am writing this, though, let me spend a minute to take you through the issue you are about to read. Lucas Schaefer delves into the world of debutante balls in which some Duke students participate. Matt Sullivan explores the advantages Duke athletic teams gain from the extraordinary sports medicine facilities and personnel at Duke Medical Center. Ruth Carlitz sinks her teeth into a subject that is near and dear to our hearts--and cholesterol levels--with an exploration of Krispy Kreme's rise from a small family operation to a hot brand fighting for control of the donut market. Finally, Cori Cerny spends a day in the life of the Duke Gardens and Robert Russell illustrates the experience with his breathtaking photography.

I hope that with tasty morsels such as the doughnuts and flower photography, this issue is a treat and not a trick.