Yellow, faded issues of “The Weekly” line the eastern wall. Adjacent, a poster depicts a young, deadpan Cuba Gooding, Jr. in a creased, yellow shirt, and a straight-faced Ice Cube wearing a navy Tigers cap and a black collared shirt. Inches above, under illuminated polychromatic Christmas lights, a vintage picture of businessman Billy Carter in dark jeans and a plaid orange shirt holding a beer is supported by diagonally applied Scotch tape. A cloudy-grey closet on the northern wall contains Dijon Solo cups with white tops stacked horizontally and encased in plastic wrap. An ivory, inviting husband pillow is situated on the ground containing multicolored messages.

This space, known as “the pub office,” or “the pub,” serves as the fourth floor home of school publications “The Parker Weekly” (newspaper) and “Phaedrus” (literary-arts magazine).  Given the prohibition of food in the library, the pub has also become a miniature cafeteria and lounge for upperclassmen invited by the editors-in-chief.

It’s long been a hangout place. “Anyone and everyone could eat in there,” Nora Gregor, who served as Editor-in-Chief of “The Weekly” during the 2010-11 and 2011-12 school years, said. “I think it was probably occupied every lunch break.”

While serving as Editor-in-Chief, Gregor casually enforced an open-door policy to allow any student to eat lunch in the pub office. Gregor said, “I didn’t really like the idea of the three people with keys being able to lock people in or out of it.”

Having been given keys, the editors-in-chief have a significant responsibility, which feeds into the feeling that it is a room for the students. Jeffrey Cicurel, who served as editor-in-chief of “The Weekly” during the 2010-11 school year, said, “The room kind of symbolized that responsibility that we held as the objective eyeballs of the school community.”

Gregor agreed. “It was obviously, first and foremost, a ‘Weekly’ space,” Gregor said, “but secondarily, a big hangout place for people.”

Despite being a “hangout place,” a considerable amount of work gets done in the pub office. “I spent tons of time after school in there,” Gregor said.  “I remember working on the computer and putting everything into InDesign.  I’d stay as late as maybe eight or nine P.M. when the janitors would be walking by, poking their heads in, like, ‘Oh, you guys are still here.’”

Cicurel spent a substantial amount of time in the pub office as well. “My best memories are us being there late on Thursday and Friday nights, especially before issues had to come out, eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner in there,” Cicurel, referring to his co-editors-in-chief, said.  “Just typing away.”

Cicurel always believed that the room was like a material embodiment of the passing of the baton. “The room itself was always a place where whoever the leaders of the newspaper were—it was usually seniors—it was mainly their room,” he said.  “It was mainly a place where the Editors-in-Chief and their friends would kind of conglomerate. It was an intimidating room when I was a freshman and sophomore—maybe even a little bit when I was a junior—but by the time when I was a senior, we took it over.  It became our room.”

Throughout the years the charm of the pub has remained about the same. “From the first time I walked into it as a freshman to senior year, it was exactly the same,” Cicurel said. “The only thing that changed about it was who ruled it.”

Editors-in-chief have added decorations to the space, and throughout the years, these odds and ends have accumulated. “Phaedrus” has not made much of a mark on the appearance of the space given that their work does not require the computers and white board in the pub office.

The pub office contains a sword signed by each editor-in-chief—including Gregor, who had many fond memories. Gregor said, “I remember we put someone’s graduation gown up in the ceiling tiles.”

Hidden near the center of the pub office, the navy blue graduation gown—once belonging to a Parker alumna who elected not to participate in the graduation ceremony—remains tucked away in its original packaging with its corresponding cap.

Even given these “shenanigans” (Gregor’s word), students in recent years have used the space relatively responsibly in that there have not been many major issues. “I  think that students can be given that responsibility and will handle it well,” Dean of Students Christian Bielizna said. “If there’s an issue, we’ll take a look at it and handle it and keep moving forward. I don’t personally see a problem with it. It’s a great resource to have a space dedicated to the school newspaper.”