The Zamboni

The Zamboni is a student-run humor publication at Tufts University. It was founded in 1989 and comes out with six issues per year. It contains satirical articles (such as fake news briefs, interviews, and op-ed pieces), cartoons, and photos. It is known as "Tufts's Only Intentionally Funny Magazine." The Zamboni is fully funded by the Student Activities Fee as allocated by the TCU Senate.
History
The Zamboni was founded by Josh Wolk (Class of '91) in the fall of 1989 with the help of a Tufts Daily layout artist, Nicole Pierce. Wolk described his reason for creating the magazine as:
"It was basically a reaction to what we felt was a lack of sense of humor on campus (this was in the dawning days of political correctness). It was also a slightly embittered reaction to the fact that the guys at the Harvard Lampoon were sitting in a castle just two cities away and getting every TV writing job as soon as they graduated. Crimson bastards."
The name itself came from Wolk, who always expressed amusement of the concept of an actual zamboni. "It just seemed silly to be a guy driving a machine around the ice." He created the letter from the editor sign-off of "Ain't that a kick in the head?" which still continues to this day. The original staff was mostly seniors, and the first issues
poked fun at the TCU Senate and on-campus fraternities. One such example included a full page parody of a Delta Tau Delta rush ad. DTD responded with an ad in the Daily that referred to The Zamboni as "Dorkman Zamboni," a shout-out that the original staff proudly embraced.
Format
The Zamboni is fourteen pages every issue in addition to a front and back cover. The average issue contains a word from the editor, two to three pages of fake news briefs, followed by two pages of campus news, a center spread dealing with the theme of the issue, and then more pages of miscellaneous content, also often concerning the issue's theme (which is on the cover). Recurring features include The Zamboni Interviews and The Zamboni Roasts. The fourth or fifth issue every year is a parody issue, which mimics the style of another publication, on or off-campus.
Current Developments
In spring of 2006, the Zamboni ran a parody of the Weekly World News. This parody entailed a change in style from the then-used magazine format (book with staples) to a larger folded-tabloid format. This change proved so popular that, beginning in the 2006-2007, that format became the regular one of the Zamboni. This allowed more space per issue, leading to an increase in photos and articles. News briefs particularly expanded, going from one page with no pictures, to three pages, often with a picture per article.
As of the fall of 2009, the Zamboni has its front and back covers in addition to the sixth and seventh pages in color.
Controversy
As Tufts's humor magazine, The Zamboni has had its share of people who were not happy with its jokes. There is an on-going rivalry with The Primary Source, but it is almost entirely good-natured. However, after reading an article entitled "How to Get Kicked Out a Club," one student took offense. The joke in question said that to get kicked out of SSARA (a sexual assault counseling group) one should say, "With an outfit like that, you should have expected it."
The student wrote a letter to the Daily, which was promptly retorted by both current staff members, a prior editor-in-chief, and the then-editor-in-chief. However, she has since written a letter to The Wall Street Journal in which she mentions a humor magazine at Tufts.
Notable alumni
Josh Wolk, editorial director at Vulture.com

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