For as long as I can remember, September has been my favorite month.  I’m not exactly sure why, but I think it’s because September has always seemed like a month of new beginnings and new hopes, a time to discard all those accumulated petty cares and move on.

Perhaps this has something to do with my New England roots.  Here in New England, September heralds the impending arrival of another glorious, multihued New England autumn.  To be sure, the transition is seldom immediate.  Like guests overstaying their welcome, the humid, hazy days of late summer often linger well into September, oblivious to our increasingly impatient hints of farewell.  And then suddenly, often with little warning, they are gone, replaced by the first delicious, clear, crisp days of early autumn, and the world is new.

When I was young, September was literally the start of a new school year.  The arrival of September officially marked the end of the long, lazy, summer vacation—never nearly as long or as much fun as it promised to be in late June—and the beginning of another year of books, classes, and homework.  And somehow, even as a young boy, knowing I’d soon long for nothing so much as freedom from the tedium of the classroom, I always welcomed the change.  New teachers, new subjects, and new possibilities—it was all a wondrous new adventure, and I knew, just knew, this was going to be a year of living joyously.  In September, all things were possible.

But even today, when the prospect of new courses and new teachers is a distant memory, September still seems a special time, a time of new hopes and new beginnings.  Here at Choice, for example, this September marks the beginning of another new volume year, Choice’s forty-fifth, as it turns out. Which is to say that next March Choice will officially celebrate its forty-fifth year of continuous publication, no small achievement in today’s rapidly changing scholarly publishing environment.  There will be folks to thank, milestones to celebrate, and a general opportunity to take stock of Choice’s past accomplishments, present realities, and hopes for the future.

But Choice’s forty-fifth volume year isn’t just another anniversary.  It’s a very special anniversary featuring two major new milestones. The first is the complete redesign of our flagship publication, Choice magazine.  If you’re holding a copy in your hands right now, I encourage you to peruse the entire issue, taking in the brand-new format with its new typeface, increased white space, increased use of color, and new look.  It’s the magazine’s first do-over in a long time.  We hope you like it.
The other major development is Choice’s new home at Liberty Square.  We aren’t there yet, but we will be soon.  Liberty Square marks another new beginning for Choice, its first new office space in over forty-two years, and the first office space it has ever owned.  Liberty Square will be a major milestone in Choice’s history.  We’re looking forward to the move, we plan to celebrate it properly, and then we’ll go back to work.  Just another September—not.—IER