Welcome to the Harvard Press, Volume 1, Number 1. Since this is our inaugural issue, we’ll break two journalistic rules, but only once: We’ll cover our own newspaper as news and we’ll write about our advertisers in the editorial.

The outpouring of support we’ve received is almost worth its own story. How did the news travel? We’ve received requests for subscriptions from out of town, courtesy photos to use in the first issue, offers of help to copyedit, cookies and tea to sustain us.

What has sustained us most in the months we’ve worked to arrive here is the joy with which the news of the Press has been received. “Yipppee!!!!” one email from a stranger was titled (and almost didn’t survive spam check.) Congratulatory phone calls from acquaintances, ovations at church, unsolicited checks to buy patron ads, discounted fees from talented consultants excited to work with a start-up newspaper – all have reinforced our sense that we are filling a deeply felt need in town for local news.

Local and area business owners we’ve approached to advertise in the Press have reacted with much the same enthusiasm, and we thank them for their trust and support. Without them, we wouldn’t have a newspaper, since display advertising covers 80 to 90 percent of a newspaper’s costs. We hope our readers and our advertisers will be happy with each other.

We know you won’t always be happy with our editorial position, and we welcome your letters to the editor on those and any other local subjects.

As hard as we try to get our facts right, we know we’ll make mistakes, and we ask you to tell us so we can make public our corrections.

We know there are many stories to be told about our town and its residents, and we hope you’ll tell us when we miss some of them.

Independence is hard to keep, and it’s rare for anything that loses its independence to regain it. We’re willing to make this commitment to independence with the Harvard Press – and hope you’ll join us.

Read on!