Gauntlet tradition states that the last editorial of the year is written by the outgoing Editor-in-Chief. I’ve been a student here for four years. Sometimes I feel like I’m not learning anything in my classes, but I’m a different person than the scared 20 year old who walked into the Gauntlet office in September 2010 looking for something to copy edit.
You all know that university is a time to find yourself, to change your mind, to challenge your beliefs. You know that it’s what you make it. You know that it is the people you meet and the people you might just consider friends who truly define your experience.
There’s a lot of things I know but fail to do. Wake up early. Review my notes after every class. Don’t leave assignments to the night before. Ruthlessly prioritize, I was told. Never let that which matters the least come before that which matters the most. I’m not sure who I’m quoting there, but they were quite idealistic. Past Editors-in-Chief talk about things that they didn’t get done. Each May brings endless ideas and schemes. The following April is when those ideas get passed to the next editor. It’s not my problem anymore.
The Gauntlet is defined by the editors who work here every year. We’re a small student paper that used to have a higher readership and more impact on campus. We still cover campus news, but a lot of what we used to do is now covered by social media. Why are there no TLFs in the paper anymore? Because Twitter exists.
I know print media is dying. Yet the news still needs to be reported and there are readers out there who will be engaged in events and problems happening here at the university.
When I was in high school, I said that I would never go to the University of Calgary, having grown up outside of the city only thinking of leaving southern Alberta as quickly as I could.
Yet I’ve come to love this university through understanding it and by spending an ungodly amount of time here. This place has an old familiarity about it, though I hope it has done something to prepare me for the world beyond these walls. If it hasn’t I guess I’ll be the girl who peaked in university.
The year has flown by. I remember this time last year when I was sitting across the desk from Erin, the previous Editor-in-Chief, wondering how would I ever catch as many errors as she did. All we can really hope for is that we’re not the same person that we were last year. Guard your curiosity, don’t let it die. Curiosity leads to learning and experience.
I’ve learned to be obsessive about grammar but to also let small things go. I’ve learned about leadership and about backing up your arguments. I’ve learned the difference between recently single and single. I’ve learned that a childhood home is hard to lose, and so is an old dog who would climb stairs with arthritic hips to sleep by my bed. Thanks for stopping by, dear friends.