'Entertain A New Perspective: Chew The Cud'.

It was with this tagline that Oliver Pennington and I kicked off The Cud fifteen years ago this very month (side note: HOLY CRAP, FIFTEEN YEARS!).

The Cud initially was intended as something of a diversion for two good mates with an interest in writing who were spending far too much time either not writing at all, or forced to write in jobs that helped pay the bills but didn't exactly... 'inspire'. Sod waiting for the opportunities to come knocking, we figured perhaps we might create our own? With that, we asked our one friend working in I.T if he might help put together a website for us (the same, bare bones website you're reading this issue on today!), and recruited a few additional friends to pen a handful of articles for our first issue. We held a little launch party at the Hollywood Hotel in Surry Hills, Sydney and off we went- The Cud was live!

Oli and I never could have thought The Cud would still be going fifteen years later. Fifteen years felt like an eternity away, for a start, but the truth is we didn't really know where The Cud might take us. Riches? Fame? (um, still waiting on that...) But a chance at a lasting forum within which to write, share ideas and flex some creative muscle, all the while collaborating with an ever-growing family of talented and supportive writers (over one hundred contributors to date!), and an even larger circle of enthusiastic, loyal readers? I mean... that was the dream outcome.

I'll of course never sit here and stake a claim that this tiny, OLD website (revisit please: our outdated, clunky design) challenged existing notions of media and writing, and helped transform the journalistic landscape forever (we have a cow as our logo, for crying out loud). But we keep on keeping on, sharing new ideas and promoting the work of up-and-coming writers, as well as continuing to support the good words of some of our most loyal contributors (HELLO: David M. Fitzpatrick, Tony Smith, Juddy and Lazy Eye, just to name a few). Hopefully we've kept things at least a little bit interesting? Goodness knows the support and kind words of our readers is a driving part of what has kept us going.

This anniversary issue features the most popular articles from our very first year in existence, 2004, spanning countless subjects and fields of interest, and including straight-up reporting, opinion-pieces, humour, reviews and more. Looking over these articles in the last few days I can confidently assert that if we had only ever managed to publish that one year online, I'd have been truly content and so very proud. That we went on to produce another fourteen years of issues and are very much still alive and kicking? Well, heck! This Editor may well finally be out of words (and yet so very, very grateful). Truly, it has been a dream outcome.

Thank you, ye Cudlings!

Evan Kanarakis
Editor, The Cud