Hello Iron Warrior reader! Thank you for taking the opportunity to pick up and read the best, and only, student newspaper in the Faculty of Engineering. This issue marks the 33rd year (give or take a few months) of The Iron Warrior since its creation in 1980. There has been a lot of history that has traversed through these pages over the years and I am honoured to add to that plethora of written information. As the 127th Editor-In-Chief (don’t try the math, ’cause it won’t work for you) I hope to continue the trend of providing you the student, professor, alumni or whatever category you consider yourself a paper full of interesting articles which will entertain the duller moments of your day.
Oops! I totally forgot to introduce myself! How rude of me. My name is Andrew Fisher and I will be your Editor-in-Chief for these next five issues of The Iron Warrior. I am currently in my 4B term of Civil Engineering and am well on my way to get my Iron Ring. How many days fourth years?? That’s right, 17 days! I am from the small town of Dorchester, Ontario which is 10 minutes east of London. Don’t doze off in the car because you may just pass through the town’s two traffic lights and miss it completely. I am an avid car enthusiast and will take a trip to a car dealership over a movie any day. I also love wearing the colour green because it brings out my eyes and I am very computer illiterate; hence my pursuit of a civil engineering degree.
Throughout my time here at Waterloo, I have been heavily involved in the Engineering Society, Engineering Orientation, and the Federation of Students (Feds). All of my experiences in leading a team, event planning and logistics, as well as sponsorship are what brings me here to the paper today. Based on these experiences, I was asked to take over the role of Editor from the honourable Jacob Terry, the Editor of Summer 2012. I must say, I have very little experience producing a newspaper, but since you are reading this now, I guess I was able produce my first ever document using InDesign. Now hold on there! Don’t give me that much credit. A huge amount of the paper you see in front of you was thanks to my team. I have a great group of people helping me out who also want to ensure the paper’s success. Just take a look at the list of contributors to the right and see for yourself!
Speaking of contributions, we have some really great articles in this first issue of 2013. Jacob wrote a very enlightening article about Aaron Swartz’s contributions to our society and I really encourage you to read it if you haven’t had the opportunity to already. If you are more environmentally conscious and want to help improve the environment even after you die, take a look at the article regarding eco-friendly ways of disposing the dead. The Engineering Society is having a by-election this term for their Vice-President External and the WEEF Director, so be sure to turn to our centre spread to get the full details about the candidates as well as the date for their ratification. Lastly, be sure to check out the Arts & Entertainment section in the last few pages of the paper. We have a large variety of articles on recipes, movies, music, art, gaming, beer and comics!
As with every Editor, I have a few goals for the term that I hope to accomplish. As an outsider to The Iron Warrior these past 5 years, I come to the paper with a fresh perspective. My main goal is to increase the number of contributors to our paper. At this time we have a fairly consistent set of people who write for The Iron Warrior, and I am thrilled to have them as key members of my team; but I want more! As a paper reaching out to 6000+ students, faculty, and alumni, there is a great audience at my disposal. Wouldn’t you want to write about tomorrow’s history, today? Man, that’s deep. But if you are interested in writing for the paper, be sure to email iwarrior@uwaterloo.ca and let me know. Our staff also meets every Tuesday at 6:30 pm in the Iron Warrior Office (E2-22349A) so please plan to attend if you want to get further involved!
This past Saturday and Sunday, I had the opportunity to experience my first Iron Warrior production weekend. It was definitely as painful as every past Editor says it is. I had such high hopes and expectations that, yes, I could definitely get this paper finished faster than past editors and without any hiccups. Well that was a very inaccurate assumption. I experienced the dreaded blue screen of death, late articles, InDesign not working the way I want it, writer’s block, and of course, the almost all-nighter. However, I am not complaining. I quite enjoyed the experience and can’t wait to do it again for the remaining four issues. Now hold on here, did I just say I enjoyed that? What is wrong with me? How could a task that is difficult, time consuming and stressful bring enjoyment to my life? I was texting one of my friends explaining what I was doing and he asked me, “Why do you want to do it?” I thought for a moment and I really didn’t have an answer.
There are many factors which drive us as the human race. There is money, relationships, social acceptance, careers, and the list goes on. But can it just be one of these, or is it a combination of all the above that drives me. It can’t be money, because Editor is a volunteer position, and its definitely not relationships because if anything, this position hinders them with the required time commitment. Well then it must be social acceptance — if I do something difficult, people will like me right? Not necessarily. They will appreciate the work you do, but that doesn’t translate to a need to like you. Then I must be doing this to help improve my project management, teamwork, and communication skills which will lead me to be that successful employee one day. As much as I’d like to say this is the case, how often does the discussion of being the Editor of a paper come up in an interview, and how many times have employers skipped right to your work experience? This is gradually changing and employers are starting to put more weight on extracurricular involvement, but at this stage of my degree it really doesn’t add anything to my resume which I don’t already have. Hmmm, this is quite the conundrum. At this point, I have concluded that I do what I do for no reason at all. Well what is the point in that??
So taking a step back and thinking more big picture, it came to me quite abruptly — I got involved as Editor (as well as things in the past) because of the very same conclusion: the unknown. No one ever knows what life has in store for them, so why close the doors which could potentially change the entire direction of your life. The reason I got involved as Editor is because the door opened for me, and I had the choice to either go through that door, or close it and never see what could have happened. For all I know, I could end up having the worst Iron Warrior term in the history of the paper, but I would know that and experience that. There would no longer be the unknown; the “what if.”
To those of you who are wanting to try something new, or get involved here on campus, go for it! Who knows what could happen, and from my experiences, it will always turn out to be a great experience if you just give it a try. There are hundreds of areas to get involved on campus. The Engineering Society has numerous Directorships you can apply to and help plan events, organize services, and lead teams. If event planning isn’t your thing, try getting involved with a club on campus. The Federation of Students has hundreds of clubs which can tailor to anyone’s interests ranging from cheese to death metal. If you want more of a short term commitment, then why not try being a leader for orientation? It’s a one-week commitment, with a few weekends during the rest of the year. It is a great opportunity, especially for those in 1B to get their foot in the door here on campus. Leader applications will be opening this term for those who are interested, so be sure to keep an eye out for those. If campus involvement isn’t your thing, the City of Waterloo has numerous programs which are always looking for volunteers to help out.
Hopefully with this article I have encouraged a few of you to step out of your comfort zone and give something new a try. Like I mentioned earlier in my article, the best reason to get involved and try something new is the unknown: embrace it, don’t run from it.
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