Hello my readers! In your hands is the last Iron Warrior of the term, and the last one that I will have produced as the Editor-in-Chief.
The last issue of the Iron Warrior in any term is a special treat because it also includes the Tin Soldier. For those of you who live under a rock, the Tin Soldier is the parody issue of the Iron Warrior. We take potshots at things that UW, EngSoc, the IW, and the government have done during the course of the term. In a gentle, affectionate way, of course. The Tin Soldier is located in the very middle of the paper. It is fun and you should read it.
Anyways at the end of the term I also get to announce the recipient of the Iron Pen award (for most words written, and no, a “picture is a thousand words” maxim does not count here) and the Editor’s Awards. The wordcount race this term has been a rough three-way-tie between Sherwin, Elizabeth, and Caitlin.
Despite a late start (only coming to the Iron Warrior in 3B) he has maintained a column about important historical figures in the sciences (“On the Shoulder of Giants”) and taken on a plethora of articles, mostly on current legal issues.
Elizabeth, on the other hand, has been writing the Benchwarmer Report since 2013 (and other articles since 2012), and she hasn’t let a co-op term stop her from writing about all the domestic and international kerfuffle that I’ve foisted upon her. Thanks for that.
Caitlin no longer writes “Highly Variable Recipes” and has since moved on to “Things You Really Didn’t Want to Know.” Every time I read her column, I learn something new and am extremely grateful that I live in a time of indoor plumbing and not one of human sacrifices. She also volunteers very often to write about the XYZ crisis or SCIENCE fact of the week. Really she’s like the Nicholas Cage of the Iron Warrior. So I am very grateful for that.
Not all contributions are wordcount, though, and that’s coming from someone who wrote nearly 14000 words in Spring 2013.
Bryan Mailloux continuously and mysteriously showed up to production weekends and took on the unenviable task of conducting the Iron Inquisition. I did the Iron Inquisition once. It was awful. So much rejection and fiddling with the camera and trying to take a picture without autofocus. Bryan also copyedited a lot of articles and learned to do layout. Good job Bryan.
Also on the Thank You list is Nina, the previous EIC. Nina helped me to get food for almost all the meetings and also showed up for almost every day of production weekend to copyedit. Man, I don’t know why she does that. Maybe a lingering sense of nostalgia for her old position. Who knows?
We also mysteriously have a lot of comics contributors, including Kyle (didn’t he graduate last year?), Tim (simple but not simple, y’know?), David (elaborate postmodern meanderings of a madman), and Joanna (her hatching is to die for).
Other contributors include Devika (well-thought out articles on an eclectic range of topics), Alex Toth (his music column is almost always on time, and he also dealt with contacting advertisers at the start of term! Thanks Alex.), Nachiket (I complain that his articles are slow but they are always of high investigative quality), Emmanuel (man, so many ideas! If only you had time to put more of them to pen and paper), Ashlyn (responsible for the excellent prof interviews, and might inspire many of you to delve further into academia!), Tina (such eagerness! Such direction!) and Donovan (a man of many interests, who is luckily willing to write about them.)
On the copyeditor side we also have Isabel Vilchis (I see you copyediting late at night when I’m doing layout…), Jessica (is in Alberta!), Cameron (in Edmonton!), and the Fall 2014 EIC, Leah. Thank you to all the contributors and copyeditors, including those that I have not named because my brain is bleary with endorphins from having completed the final issue!
The Iron Warrior isn’t like a lab, where if your group is a no-show then you can still bite the bullet and solo it yourself. That was actually my number one reservation when taking the job. What if nobody wants to write or copyedit? This is not something that one can do by themselves. And luckily, I never had to. Thanks to everyone who ever came out to meetings, copyedited, tried to learn layout, or honestly even poked their heads into the office. I love you all.
So, what happens next?
Well, we all get finals. Then in Spring 2015 Cameron Soltys will take the helm of the Iron Warrior. Cameron knows InDesign shortcuts that I can only dream of, so anyone on term then will be in very good hands. In Fall 2015 the job will go to Meagan Cardno. Meagan has been in Ottawa on an 8-month co-op but she has been contributing to the paper since Fall 2012. She will do an excellent job as the EIC. I mean, I did fine. It can’t be that hard.
Anyways, since this is the last thing I will ever write for the Iron Warrior in the foreseeable future, I get to subject you, the reader, to a little trip down memory lane.
Joining the Iron Warrior in the beginning of my 2A term was one of the best decisions I made regarding my time at Waterloo Engineering. I’ve learned and grown so much since 2011, even as writers and editors come and go. There were periods during which I’d talk more during an Iron Warrior meeting than during the rest of the week combined. Eventually I grew more confident and volunteered for more articles and learned to copyedit. I even began to show up to some production weekends. I wrote more articles. I even shuffled through loads of pseudonyms, including “Luna Lovegood”, “Jackie Meow”, and “Tanya Montana.” But despite having been around for so long, I never actually felt ready to become EIC.
Though, who is ever totally ready to take the next step, and assume a new level of responsibility? As EIC I had to come to terms with the fact that if I screwed up, or didn’t put the paper together, then failed in anyway, there would be nobody to run to for help, and nobody to clean up after me (except probably all the former EICs, but they’re retired, and one doesn’t want to go stirring up traumatic memories of their time in office.) And it was a little weird at first, with people asking you for an opinion or to make decisions. The first few weeks were definitely the most difficult, since a lot of things need to be set up at the beginning of term, including the rate card, posters, contacting advertisers, and setting the budget.
But one grows into it. One learns to clear one’s entire weekend. One learns to bring really large bagged lunches.
And then one learns things…
For example, if you ask someone to do something, they have a difficult time saying no. So, voluntelling people has a higher success rate than you might imagine.
It doesn’t hurt to diversify when acquiring beverages from the C&D. Milk is a healthier choice than “fruit cocktail” and is just as popular during meetings.
If you eat a bite of really expired (but innocent-looking) C&D hummus, realize you’ve made a mistake, and put it back in the fridge, it will first turn orange and then green and fuzzy.
I never did get the hang of thinking of good article ideas, though. Most of what you see in the paper is what the writer themselves thought of. Which is something I enjoy about the Iron Warrior: it’s lovely to see fresh crops of eager-eyed sprogs (or for that matter, bitter old staff writers) take ideas and run with them.
My main goal this term (excluding getting the paper published and distributed on time each issue) included increasing the number of contributors (particularly first year students). And with that, I think I’ve succeeded.
If I had to do this EIC gig again, I totally would. But maybe not in my 4B term, eh? Maybe 3A or 3B.
This is the end of my editorial. In a few weeks (knock wood) I’ll leave KW forever, take a few months off, learn to drive, travel to New Zealand, and then start grad school at UT, in roughly that order. What will you do? Whatever it is, don’t be afraid of taking on new roles and responsibilities. It will probably go fine. Long live and prosper. Namárië.
— Nancy Hui
Editor-in-Chief
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