You’ll be missed, roundtable, but not the semester, nor these heart attack drinks.
We knew thee well
Participants: Michael Chmielewski (editor-in-chief), Laura Billett (contributor), Liam Fitz-Gerald (contributor), Lauren Neumann (contributor), Robyn Tocker (a&c editor)
Was your St. Paddy’s day filled with copious amounts of green alcohol (if not what were you doing??)?
MC: A little, but not copious, unfortunately. I was editing the paper and inevitably finishing some homework.
LB: Normally, I love the excuse to dress festive and drink, but this year I was not in the festive mood at all. I actually kept forgetting it was St. Patrick’s Day. So, I spent my evening in the usual, boring student fashion: on the couch pretending to do homework.
LFG: My St. Patrick’s Day was filled with copious amounts of school work, coffee, and later red wine and the latest “Sights and Sounds” EP. I didn’t even wear green on St Paddy’s Day (cue the trendy haters). It’s just another overrated drinking holiday, like New Years, in my opinion.
LN: I swear, I forgot that St. Patrick’s Day was a thing this year. My last-ditch attempt of participating was buying a six-pack and drinking it in my bed. Debated buying green food colouring, but was already five-deep when I thought of that.
RT: I wish. Instead, it was filled with Owl nachos and an editorial board meeting I couldn’t hear over the bagpipes. At least the nachos were decent.
Who were you hoping will take over the show that is URSU?
MC: No comment 😛
LB: I honestly do not know much, if anything, about URSU. Judging from the campaigning, Devon Peters really out-did the other candidates. His name was everywhere, and he has an awesome website that actually explains what he hopes to get done. I can’t judge who will be able to make changes, but his ideas seem reasonable.
LFG: I really liked Annie Dormuth. She showed great enthusiasm and I honestly believed she was sincere about changing URSU culture. I like that she wanted to bring in extra revenue for student clubs. So it’s a little bit of a letdown for me, but that’s democracy.
LN: Daniella Zemlak had my support. Other than that, I’m pretty indifferent, honestly. My political involvement doesn’t really stretch far enough to reach the university campus. Especially when there are candidates whose campaign posters are half-assed shitty memes that my 12-year-old brother would think are cool.
RT: After reading the platforms of the candidates, I was inclined to vote for Devon Peters. He seemed to have the best platform and I actually believed him when he said he wanted to change URSU. So, my heart was happy when I found out he did indeed win. However, I won’t be fully convinced of his platform until I actually see some changes. Hopefully they come soon.
What has been the biggest let-down of the semester?
MC: Personally, not getting the grades I want all the time, but that just motivates me to work harder! For the semester in general, the cheerleaders’ stunt.
LB: Nothing really let me down this semester. I can easily hate on the weather, tough marking professors, or my procrastination-induced stress, but these things are unlikely to change next semester, or the one after…
LFG: I’m very disappointed in how John Gormley was received at the U of R. I don’t care if you agree or disagree with his politics. The man was invited to speak, and was our guest. Universities are (in theory) a place of dialogue and openness, which includes left and right politics.
LN: “This semester, I won’t blow $10 every day on coffee. I’m going to cut back, instead.” – Me, three months ago. Doing the exact opposite was a letdown. Who wants to pay my rent?
RT: The amount of stress I brought on myself by working two jobs and going to Journalism school full time. Try balancing 10 pitches a week and make a radio program at the same time, then come talk to me about stress!
What’s the first thing you’re going to do once finals are over?
MC: Sleep, sleep, sleep, read a bunch of books, have some drinks, and then get to work and to classes!
LB: Ideally it will be warm outside, and I will go for a long, relaxing run to burn off all the exam stress. Realistically, I will bake a batch of cookies for myself and binge-watch House of Cards. It’s taking all of my self-control to wait until exams are over to watch season two.
LFG: Read! I’m going to start with A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole probably followed by all the Gore Vidal novels I picked up from the Buy the Book closing sale earlier this year. I also might re-read The Satanic Verses and Joseph Boyden’s latest novel.
LN: Read all of the books my little heart has been desiring without having the twinge of guilt in my gut that I’m cheating on my textbooks with more exciting lovers. And gardening. Lots of gardening.
RT: Sleep for a week straight, then chip away at a novel I’ve been working on for what seems like (and probably is) years. To make up for having no finals this year, I’m getting my wisdom teeth out in April, so that should be fun…
This is going to sound pretentious, but what was your favourite thing about the A&C section this year?
MC: Destiny Kaus’s articles in general, but especially “Philosophy’s tears.” The hate mail she gets would light up my day every time. Overall, the section has been very enjoyable to read all year, I’ve loved it! Good work Robyn! The Carillon will miss you!
LB: The literary supplement was my favourite feature. I think it is great that students’ creative writing can be acknowledged. I think there is a lot of creative talent that doesn’t have as much of a chance to be developed with our focus on academic writing.
LFG: I really enjoyed the “What can you do with X degree” section. My favorite article was Destiny’s article on “Philosophy” which I think was well written. As a student who minored in philosophy, it’s good to see positive coverage on arts faculties that are really struggling. Keep it up, Carillon.
LN: The section definitely got me spending more time in art galleries, which is pretty rad.
RT: Working on it week after week, honestly. I got to see how my contributors’ writing improved and my section in general just get stronger and stronger. It was very impressive. Thanks everyone for being so awesome and keeping my section going! I couldn’t have done it without you.
[button style=”e.g. solid, border” size=”e.g. small, medium, big” link=”” target=””]Image: Michael Chmielewski[/button]
