Dear Hyphen staffers,

Before we bond over our ink-on-paper brotherhood, I have to get something off my chest. Why’d you dump your 2007 edition in the Temple News boxes – without even asking? C’mon dudes, you understand how ungodly printing costs are these days, no? Businesses pay us to advertise on that big red box in the SAC. Show it some respect.

That being said . . . you’re like the aloof roommate who steals my hummus and leaves the lights on, but I still adore because you’re witty and have a great vocabulary. Plus, we’re one and the same. Temple News doesn’t get the love it deserves, and neither do you. Screw the naysayers, though, ’cause this year’s publication ain’t bad. The nuggets:

Natalie Galante’s B&W photography: Galante’s got a thing for girls (as subjects, that is). Her photos capture the pretty parts of pretty ladies: a hoop earring dangling alongside a swan-like neck, tan legs leaning on a Mercedes Benz, and a toothy smile sandwiched between two goofy dimples.

Danielle Blanchard’s “Good Hair”: A caustic poem about a white boy who loves a “pretty black mama” for her kinky curls, but leaves her when she chops ’em off. Complete with awesome lines like “nuzzling in my pumpkin patch, a tiny afro covering the tips.” How scandalous.

Alina Ladyzhensky’s “Charmed, I’m Sure”: A short, Rules-of-Attraction-inspired essay on the courting rituals of drunk, pseudo-intelligent college students. I couldn’t stop nodding my head to lines like “Eight out of ten of us are fully aware that these half-sober conversations will be forgotten history in a few hours. But we do it anyway, the whole ‘Have you heard the new Belle & Sebastian’ thing . . .” Ladyzhensky, girl, can we collaborate?