The Moon was created two years ago by Ethan Wang (‘l9) and Matthew Fan (‘l9), but until recently, it was the only JBS publication not to receive funding from the school.

     This year, however, leaders Ian Gillanders (’20), Cristian Perez (‘20), Ben Stettin (’20), Rafi Brent (’20), William Dong (’20), and Evan Wang (’22) struck a new funding deal with headmaster Andy Abbott. For every dollar The Moon raises independently, they agreed, the club will receive an additional two dollars from the school. They also recently received a gift of $l000 to continue their journalistic work.

     The purpose of The Moon is simple: to be funny. Gillanders believes “that’s what makes it special since every other publication” has other focuses and “it just spices up the school publications with some light reads.”

     He believes that if “we got more funds we would use it to print more copies and if there was more support the content “could only improve.”

     The Moon runs on mystery and secrecy. Gillanders believes whole-heartedly in the idea of release date being a secret to build the hype and excitement.  Kazdan believes The Moon belongs at JBS, as an outlet for creative and forward thinkers. “It takes a lot of extra to produce with the minimal funding they receive, so with funding it could be an even bigger part of the community/tradition and have a stronger legacy.”

     Some students like Hannah Wilkins (’22) want to see more from The Moon. She likes the lighthearted side of The Moon, but “would like to see more funny content from The Moon.”

     What many students do not know however, is that The Moon is not the first of its publication. Over 10 years ago, a similar publication called the Mad Bomber was created and run by Ian Nightingale. Mr. Newman said it had slightly different humor–more like The Onion–but that “he started as the backpage editor of the World.” People loved his humor and “he had so much content that he proposed the Mad Bomber, but after he graduated, it just didn’t stick… Ian [was] the humor.”

     The Moon only released its first issue of the year in mid-February. leaving open the possibility that they would be unable to produce another. The Moon’s leaders admitted that funding had been an issue in the past, echoing other clubs that have expressed frustration over a lack of funding.

     The Mad Bomber may have lasted only two years, but with a new partial funding deal, and an anonymous donation of $1000 under their belt, The Moon is hoping to buck that precedent and remain in the Burroughs publications galaxy for the long haul.