I am honoured and, I must admit, somewhat surprised to be writing my first Letter from the Editor as Editor-in-Chief of The Iron Warrior. I have many plans and aspiration for the next four months, and I will get to them later in this letter. Firstly, however, I want to make a couple notes on how it feels to be EIC, and I want to extend thanks to those who have allowed me this opportunity. Also, for all first years reading this, feel free to skip to paragraph 6 if this looks TLDR, but please do not skip this article entirely.
I am honoured to be Editor in Chief for some obvious reasons, that I will nonetheless state. The Iron Warrior has been the voice of the Undergraduate Engineering community at this University for 34 years, and has done an outstanding job in educating, opining, reporting, photographing and presenting content focused on not only the University, but the world. To be in charge of this process is not only an invaluable experience, but also a very flattering one. To include myself in the list of esteemed students who have ran this paper in the past is both humbling and somewhat intimidating. I plan, with the help of those around me, to continue to uphold the quality and reputation of The Iron Warrior. I am also thrilled to be Editor-in-Chief because I consider myself to be a passionate writer. I hope that, as I have done for years as a ski instructor, I am able to pass on my passion for a skill to other students at the University. I will have more on how I hope I can attract other passionate writers later on in this later.
Now I have to explain why I am surprised to have obtained this position. I have written for this newspaper since my 1A term in Mechanical Engineering, and I am currently working on my 3B term. Besides the staple Nanos of this group, I think I may be the most tenured member of The Iron Warrior staff. I also believe I may have been the most troublesome one. I am a firm believer in the value of free speech, I think that the quest for political correctness is leading us down a dangerous path to where expressing one’s own opinion cannot be done without fear of insulting somebody else. This core principle of mine has in previous terms gotten this newspaper into some trouble, and I also believe it may have tarnished my name somewhat to the eyes of some of The Iron Warrior staff. I have never really apologized for these escapades that have insulted others, but now I will. I concede that now, perhaps more than ever, opinionated writing straddles a line between honest and hard hitting, and offensive. In the past, without meaning any offense, I have crossed this line. I apologize to those that I offended and to those that had to deal with it. It is this past writing style that led me to believe that my chances of obtaining a higher position with the newspaper to be low. For giving me a chance to run this newspaper after these missteps, I want to thank former Editor in Chiefs Farzi Yusufali, Jacob Terry, Roy Lee, and in particular Lucas Hudson, who first approached me with this opportunity. It is Farzi and Roy, after all, who had to be constantly weary of my writing and approach me when things seemed dangerous. I also want to note that all three of these editors did an incredible job running this paper, and I hope that I can come close to their achievements on their respective terms.
On the note of political correctness, I do want to be clear that my writing has softened up in the last two terms, and I have had no run ins of significance since my 2A term. I am confident that I now have a filter for the offensive and the “this-goes-too-far” kind of articles. On the note of political correctness, however, I want to state that I am still going to strongly promote opinionated pieces in this newspaper. Getting people talking about global and on campus issues is important because it encourages participation in a system that is based upon it. When it comes to straddling the so called line I mentioned above, I can only say that instances of me rejecting an opinion article will be extremely rare unless it is untrue or contains prejudice, vulgarity or extremely sensitive topics (ie. religion). For those former editors who may be sweating after reading this, don’t worry, you will be consulted before release.
The issue of opinion provides a segue to my next topic, and this is passion for writing. My passion for writing is deepest when I get to express my opinion, but others are different, and I STRONGLY encourage any of you who like to write to join The Iron Warrior staff, or at least attend a meeting (TUESDAYS 5:30 PM). As engineering students, in co-op and school, we contribute to society in very important ways. However, our contributions often come through displays of logic, mathematics, and problem solving, things that, for most people anyways, do not stir the soul. I think it is important that all humans find a way to express themselves, and I want The Iron Warrior to provide an avenue of expression to those of you who seek it. Also, when we have impassioned writers our product becomes stronger because the content is created by people who care about it. I also want to stress that I am open to any suggestions in terms of what you may want to write, whether it be creative, opinionated, technology related, informative or comedic. ALL CONTRIBUTIONS ARE WELCOME.
I also want to make an appeal to ALL FIRST YEAR STUDENTS, we want you! Our staff is overwhelmingly composed of more senior students, and if The Iron Warrior is to continue we will need you to carry the torch in the future. Creating this paper may be challenging, and often stressful, but it is also a lot of fun. You will meet people with similar passions and interests that are welcoming, unpretentious, funny (or at least try to be), and passionate. Also, one of the most satisfying aspects of my entire university career has been picking up The Iron Warrior on every second Wednesday and proudly admiring my own work, neatly inserted for all students to read. I hope that some of you first years will decide to give yourself the opportunity to understand what I mean. Also, I want to stress that if you feel too overwhelmed to regularly contribute, that is okay, just come to meetings and write when you please. One of the greatest advantages of being a contributor to The Iron Warrior over other extracurricular activities is that you can largely participate when you feel you have the time. Just come to a meeting and see where it goes from there, this is all I ask.
Moving on, I want to elaborate on the improvements to the paper I want to see made this term. I want to stress that unlike Lucas and other past editors, my technical skills are somewhat lacking. So in terms of modifications to the website or improving how we produce the newspaper electronically, I will likely stay with status quo, barring any contributions from other staff. My main project will be improving The Iron Warrior office. For such a storied newspaper, the office is in pitiful shape. Thanks to Michael Laanvere, Andrew McMahon, Krishna Iyer, Farzi Yusufali, and my sister, Kinsey, we have already reorganized and cleaned the office to a state that looks much better than it did. There is much work to be done, however. I am hoping to gather some alumni memorabilia and use it to improve the aesthetics of the room, as well as organize the wealth of junk we have in the office so that we are a more welcoming place to strangers and passers by. Beyond this, I hope to create checklists to streamline the editing and production process to limit mistakes in the future. These are my goals, but I would also love to hear your thoughts, feel free to email me at iwarrior@uwaterloo.ca with questions, words or advice.
Before I sign off, however, I have a couple more things to say. In the next four issues, I plan for my letters to be much less about this newspaper and much more about life related things. I plan to dedicate one to someone who I care about and is now gone. I plan to write one about Canada, and why it truly is the greatest country in the world. In another I will focus on how worrying can be both the most important tool in your life (if controlled correctly) and also the most damaging, a topic that those close to me know I am very familiar with. In my final issue, I will talk about why, even as the last of the veterans pass on, we can never forget the lessons that mankind learned from the Second World War. I hope you will read these letters and let me know your thoughts. While I define opinionated writing as straddling a line between offensive and honest, I define writing these letters as straddling a line between relatable and self indulgent. I hope that my first letter, and my future ones, will be standing firmly on the right side of that line. If not, make sure to tell me I sound like a pompous ass, because I do appreciate free speech, after all. Also, a quick word on what will be my sign off note: HOLD FAST. My father is a former heart attack and marathon survivor (even more impressively, in that order), and he wears an identity tag when he runs that says in bold capital letters: HOLD FAST. A statement also featured in Master and Commander starring Russel Crowe. I think to my Dad, and definitely to myself, it means to never give up, a message so clichéd but also so important. Anyways, thanks to my staff for their support, and to you the reader, enjoy this first issue of The Iron Warrior and HOLD FAST!
Leave a Reply