Arguably, extending deadlines isn’t a great precedent to set in the journalistic world. But hey, it’s summer. To those who have sent their applications already, many thanks. Everyone else: you get a one-week reprieve. Applications are due June 30.

I want my inbox flooded with applications from every corner of the Northwestern and Evanston communities. Don’t make the selection process easy for me. E-mail [email protected].

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Forum needs your help. Fall Quarter, like every quarter, this page starts over with basically a blank slate. It’s not just that we need a whole new lineup of columnists. Two of our longtime cartoonists are graduating as well. That’s a lot of space to fill, and we need you to fill it.

I’ve been at the Daily since freshman year, and I’ve worked in a lot of different parts of the paper. But I’ll tell you a secret. Forum has always been my favorite page. I’m something of a commentary junkie. My first memories of newspapers involve reading The Washington Post’s Outlook section every Sunday.

This page is special. Most of the Daily is a one-sided conversation. This is the place where you get to talk back.

At its best, this is a place for genuine intellectual debate. At its worst, it’s a place for empty rants. But it’s not even that unless you help us out.

What do we need? Five weekly columnists, at least three cartoonists and all the original ideas you can muster.

I’m not going to lie. These aren’t easy jobs if you do them well. Anyone can write 550 words about Northwestern’s lame dating scene – again. Anyone can draw a cartoon mocking the Greek system – again. Anyone can string together enough profanity, outrageous generalizations and half-baked notions to make people angry.

Not many people can think of an interesting, relevant take on a topic that hasn’t been beaten to death, or are willing to put in the time, energy and research to produce a sensible argument.

And even if you do write thoughtful columns or draw witty cartoons, you can probably expect to get called an idiot. A lot. And those will be your more polite critics. You’ll need to grow a thick skin without developing a thick skull. You need enough confidence not to be intimidated while retaining enough good judgment to know the line between being provocative and being gratuitously offensive.

This is a forum, not a free-for-all. If all you want to do is bash your chemistry professor, there are plenty of free blog-hosting services.

I’m not trying to scare you off, or make you think you have to be deadly serious. There’s nothing wrong with a sense of humor, after all.

Ready? Send two sample columns (550 words each), five column ideas and a brief bio to

[email protected] by June 23. The same goes for aspiring cartoonists (substituting cartoons for columns, obviously).

Go ahead, give it a try. The great thing about NU is that there really are so many intelligent people here. You probably have more to say than you might realize. And don’t think you have to be a perfect wordsmith. That’s what editors are for.

Even if you don’t land a weekly spot, one of your pieces could still make it in sometime during the quarter. What have you got to lose?

You don’t have to be an undergraduate, either. I want a page that reflects all our readers. Graduate students, professors and city residents are all welcome – urged, in fact- to apply.

We get a clean slate in September. Let’s not waste it.

Fall Quarter Forum Editor Michael Beder is a Medill junior. He can be reached at [email protected].