Summer has arrived with the impending end of the 2009 spring semester. The weather is indeed brighter and warmer as the days go by, and the prospect of the upcoming summer vacation is lifting up the atmosphere of the Yonsei campus.

 The heat of the summer provides a chance for stripping off the thick and long clothing and wearing something with thinner and shorter sleeves. Yet the heat is not always welcomed by everyone. For those who are not as comfortable with showing of their flesh in public, summer can be a time of envy and disappointment. In pursuit of model-like bodies, many college students go on radical diets, putting “losing weight” at the top of their priorities. But uncontrolled dieting and fasting, of course, are not the healthiest ways to enjoy summer.

 The Yonsei Annals this month therefore deals with the topic of “lookism” in the Cover Story, a word used to describe the societal pressure and expectation on seeing beauty as thin and attractive. Consequently, the individual reactions to such societal pressure, such as eating disorders and anorexia, are also dealt with, in pursuit of alerting readers to the dangers of an uncontrolled search for a thin body. The Annals hopes readers will exercise caution this summer.

 And this concludes my last message to you as the Editor-in-Chief. My sincerely thanks are offered to all our readers for their support and criticism this semester, and I hope that you will continue to offer much of the same affection you have shown over the past few months. I wish everyone a joyful future with unlimited possibilities, and humbly hope that the Annals was able to contribute to the possibilities.

 Farewell, and good luck.