35TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION Publisher's Message: Commencement All Over Again By Preston J. Edwards, Sr.

When I started writing this, I had a number of thoughts I wanted to share with you, information I hoped might be valuable. Foremost on my mind were four points: our company, our 35th anniversary, Katrina, and graduation. And thinking it over, I realized that what linked these together was a single word: commencement.

I thought of the commencement in 1970 of our company by eight very ambitious people with a great dream, but no experience in magazine publishing or running a business, and savings of a mere $3,500. Yet, we were determined to publish that first issue of THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Magazine "by any means necessary," and we did…and then we couldn't stop.

It was a "shoe string venture," and we had help. African-American writers, businesspeople, educators, and ordinary folks did what they could because they shared our vision and saw our passion. The only reason we survived in business is because we didn't have any money to lose. We operated on a hand-to-mouth basis. When we sold enough ads, we published an issue. We did not have any overhead because we operated out of my brother's shoe repair/printing shop and we didn't pay salaries. It took us eight years to make a profit and the main thing that kept us going was the psychic gratification from publishing a national magazine – the only national magazine in New Orleans.

Once we turned a profit, we could "exhale," and really run this thing. That was in the ‘70s. The next two and a half decades held ups and downs, right up to this point—our 35th Anniversary. Back in July, we sent out an announcement of plans to mark our 35th year of publishing. As I started to write it, I thought, and I wrote, "Can you believe that this is the 35th anniversary of THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Magazine?" Then I settled down and wrote that we would dedicate the 2005-06 school year to commemorating this milestone with three Super Issues and two celebrations: one in New Orleans during the Bayou Classic Weekend, the other at the meeting of the National Association of Colleges and Employers in May in Anaheim, CA.

While we were running around executing the plans, full steam ahead, Mother Nature was running across the Gulf of Mexico building up her own steam for the worst natural disaster in this country's history. On August 29, 2005, all of our plans, like our possessions, were blown away. Thank God that our staff and their families were safe, but many have not returned.

In publishing this issue, we began the commencement of a new company, and a new city. Pulling ourselves up by the bootstraps, shaking off the dust, we are thinking hard about how we can serve you better – what you need and what you want, and how we'll keep delivering it with exceptional quality. Although we have been able to readjust and continue operations because of technology, we simply could not do all of what we had planned for this year.

Commencement for the graduating class of 2006 will be an exciting new beginning for many of you. Yet, I think everyone can use a little extra inspiration and motivation, and, as someone who was a "C" student until college, I want to tell you: you can achieve your goals by staying focused on your goals. If Preston Edwards – raised with five brothers on a dirt street in New Orleans, by parents who had only a third-grade education – can do what he did, so definitely can you. But you might say that I had help; and yes, I did – from so many great African Americans who had to fight so hard. So, in this issue, I will share with you profiles of 35 African Americans I admire who succeeded against the odds. Reading them, I hope you will remember their struggle and dedicate your life to always doing the best that you can do in every-thing that you do. I want to close by quoting a great African-American disc jockey in New Orleans who says, "Remember, life is hard by the yard but a cinch by the inch."

In spite of what happened, we are very blessed and I have a lot to be thankful for. I want to thank our advertisers who supported us during these difficult times, particularly the Super Advertiser Partners who made a commitment to advertise in each issue of our 35th Anniversary Publishing Year. All are good employers with good people working for them. I also thank my staff for their work under very difficult circum-stances. Many, many employers in New Orleans have gone out of business since Katrina. I want to thank my wife of nearly 40 years, Rosa, who has been there to support me. I want to thank my sons, Preston, Jr. and Scott, and their wives Leslie and Trina, and all of my grand-sons. All have given so much happiness and the needed sustenance for this new commencement.