Letter from the Editor: In Praise of IRS Pranks

It’s been an eventful few days. The not-a-snow-day, upcoming midterms, and the Iron Ring ceremony! But despite it all, including a very unfortunately placed production weekend, we’ve finished the second issue of the Iron Warrior this term. The first draft actually went out for review at 9PM Sunday – a personal record (admittedly with only two data points…)
We have a lot of articles this issue, including Ashlyn’s interview of Dr. Chandramouli R. Madhuranthakam (if you have a prof you’d like to see featured, shoot me an email at iwarrior@uwaterloo.ca!) and Joanna’s recap of her time at the First Year Integration Conference. Kathy has also put together a killer, seasonally-appropriate crossword for this issue. There are also a lot of things going down with the Engineering Society right now: check out the EngSoc exec reports on pages 8-9 and keep an ear out for any news about Infosilem scheduling software and the upcoming E7 Referendum! And a big ol’ CONGRATULATIONS to the Concrete Toboggan team and their MaC1VE TROPHIE5 on the front cover.
My two personal favourite articles of the issue are probably Meagan and Devika’s articles on the effectiveness of Bell’s #Let’sTalk campaign to “raise awareness” for mental health. Is it helpful, just a publicity stunt, or possibly both? Check it out on page 5!
I’d like to thank Nina for coming in and helping with the last bits of copyediting. Also thanks to Jacob Terry for fixing fine formatting issues despite having retired from EIC duties in 2012.
Thanks to Elizabeth and Emmanuel for coming in to copyedit, and Bryan for learning layout and taking care of a tricky page in the Science & Technology section (his page is the one with the picture of an egg!) Also kudos for putting together the Iron Inquisition. The original question was supposed to be “Tell us about your first time on Facebook!” in recognition of Facebook’s tenth anniversary of existence, but it turns out that nobody actually remembers their first time on Facebook. I guess I don’t really either, ha. I joined it in high school to keep up with Debate Team news, and I remember the outrage at all the layout changes, intermittent fits of frustration in which I removed all my Facebook friends and added them all back, cryptic adolescent Facebook Notes alluding to romances that weren’t meant to be… can’t say I miss the Facebook of my youth, actually.
So, what’s that about pranks?
Friday was very festive, if you get my meaning. Did the hallways seem more decorated than normal? Did the lecture halls appear… obstructed? Did legions of strangely clad hooligans make the rounds to prod and provoke your professors?
That would be the Engineering Class of 2015.
Traditionally, before the Iron Ring Ceremony, the graduating class sets up pranks and parades around the engineering buildings. I’m not sure why, except out of tradition. Don’t worry, the profs are consulted before their classes are invaded, and the pranks taken down so that future cohorts can make their own playful (and temporary) mark on the face of campus.
Detractors say that missing class is unhealthy, tradition isn’t a good enough reason to do anything, and that some traditions really should be put down, and that the pranks are dangerous, inconvenient, messy, and altogether unnecessary.
I’m sure these people also say that Edcom is a psychological safety hazard.
First of all, missing class is definitely detrimental to one’s academic career, but frankly if one has made it to 4B, skiving off on class isn’t going to bring 30 months of education screeching to a halt. It’s a much bigger deal in first year where sleeping in one lecture might lead to skipping all of one’s morning classes. One assumes that 4B one can tell the difference between three skipped classes and thirty.
As for tradition: the Iron Ring itself is a tradition. Getting obligated during the ceremony is neither an indication nor a prerequisite to one’s ability to practice as a licenced engineer. If one dispensed with all traditions – well, that leaves one without fireworks on Canada Day, without presents on Christmas, and without FLAMING CAKE on your birthday.
Certainly, not all traditions are worth observing. But I’d say that IRS pranks are some of the less harmful ones. Please refer to Caitlin’s article this issue entitled “More Disgusting Things People Have Done in History” for a frame of reference. IRS pranks may be annoying but cause no irreversible damage, and only happen once a year. In fact my favourite prank this year was when all the chairs and tables in CPH-3607 were turned sideways – incomparably elegant and nondestructive, but so, so annoying.
Finally, to the point that the IRS pranks just aren’t necessary: You know what else is dangerous, inconvenient, messy, and unnecessary from a physiological point of view? Golden retriever puppies (most dog bites are from “family-friendly” breeds like retrievers and labs.) Road trips (a.k.a. operation of a two-ton death machine by a sixteen-year-old.) Chocolate fondue (major safety hazard!) Friends. Love.
All of this is even more important in engineering, where there otherwise isn’t so much to look forward to, except the turning of the world, the endless cycle of school and co-op and school and co-op, where school offers you nothing but an unending stream of assignments and labs, and you’ve landed a co-op placement that you’re somehow not absolutely stoked for despite claiming during the interview that you would love nothing more than to work in X field on Y project.
Sorry, I’m exaggerating a bit there. Waterloo offers possibly the best undergraduate engineering education in Canada, and the prestige of its co-op program is unparalleled.
But, y’know, it’s probably not healthy to just look forward to work and school. Co-op ends, people graduate. You gotta make your source of fun-generation self-sufficient. And sometimes it’s not enough to wait for fun times to fall into your hands, to wait for your friends to make plans for you or without you.
It’s important for each person to set goals for oneself – not just career goals, or school goals, but goals for things you actually enjoy. Try really hard to remember the things you enjoyed before coming to engineering. Book a solo kayak trip on the Grand River. Hell, get your passport renewed and start putting together a graduation trip (I’m going to New Zealand to fulfill my LotR-oriented childhood dreams, by the way. L> fellow travellers?) Book a piano room in the SLC and play covers of crappy pop songs by ear. Plan things beyond your midterm homework and study schedule. Plan things that really make you feel happy rather than just passing the time away. Plan things to look forwards to when you leave the University of Waterloo behind in the dust and you’re wondering where to go next. Plan things that make you feel hopeful that the future is more than death and taxes.
Including planning IRS pranks. It would be a shame if engineering students weren’t allow to joyfully and methodically showcase their cooperation and school spirit in erecting temporary monuments to academic excellence.
Also, we take them down ourselves afterwards.
So, current third years – I beseech you take up the crown of your predecessors and plan pranks so innocently elegant and nondestructive yet so annoying they bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. Everybody else, remember to look forward to things that are more than work and school.
Like the next issue of the Iron Warrior.
Until next time–
Nancy Hui