There is a distinct possibility that this is the final editorial I will ever write for Arthur. I do so as the only remaining Editor. Indeed, when I was hired back in August 2022 I joined former Editor-in-Chief Bethan Bates following a summer of her being on the job by herself. Now that she has left Arthur for greener pastures, I find myself similarly alone at the helm of this mighty rag.

I’m a real sucker for things coming full circle in a sort of semi-poetic way and so it’s touching that we finish off as we started, albeit in different roles.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Bethan for all of her work over the past year. Her steady hand and patience with my often obscene writing schedule born of a stubborn insistence to attend every council meeting, protest, and press conference in person allowed for a delicate balance between order and chaos within the Arthur office to be upheld.

However, Editors are not the final arbiter of the focus of a paper like Arthur which prizes, above most things, its lack of a uniform or predictable voice in a rare and special way. Throughout my tenure, I’ve only ever tried to ensure journalists were writing about something that interested them, not which served any kind of pressing personal opinion about what constituted a “big story” and God knows I have such opinions.

The beauty of Arthur is the fact that it is a reflection of student voices and community interests from a variety of perspectives. Everyone brings their own interests to the table. I myself took over as Editor as a graduate student - one of three on staff this year - who had spent the better part of four years pouring over Canadian cultural policy and applying it to one of my favourite bands. Our paper employs a further thirteen undergraduate students from first to final year, international, exchange, and domestic, and one soon-to-be Trent undergraduate student.

Because of this, some among the Trent community would do well to remember that when they attack Arthur, they are attacking students, fifty-seven years of alumni, and the very community they themselves live in. 

As I have written elsewhere, a newspaper doesn’t exist to pacify the feelings of a community or those elected to do a certain job. Threatening student jobs and making student journalists feel unsafe on their own campus for doing their job is not equivalent to having an article written about a policy decision you or your friend implemented, protest(s) you failed to execute, or meeting(s) you failed to attend.

Additionally, I feel it should be stated here for the record that we have (miraculously) managed to not get the paper sued during my tenure, nor have we bankrupted this fine outfit - despite what a few consummate nuisances want folks to think, and seemingly worked tirelessly to convince nearly a thousand of them of. Surely, there’s a better use of their time?

Now, I have long held that the most dangerous combination of traits a person can exhibit is that of vast and blissful ignorance spurred only by an abundance of unearned confidence. It’s a sad thing to see people so hopelessly misguided and inept, yet brimming with a dead-eyed self-assuredness in their flailing ideologies at such a young age.  

It is my sincere hope that one day the afflicted parties learn how to read and understand a balance sheet, the Employment Standards Act, or at the very least straight-forward non-profit by-laws if only so they don’t drive themselves into the debt and legal jeopardy they erroneously and maliciously claimed Arthur was in.

But I digress, and despite the best efforts of this pernicious element of the student body and their clueless enablers, Arthur will live on for at least one more volume. I could say a lot more here about the ups and downs of the past eight months I’ve spent as an Editor at Arthur, but suffice it to say the positives significantly outweigh the negatives. All in all, the most rewarding part of this job has been the privilege of being able to watch a team of writers come into their creative elements and explore their interests at this wonderful and weird paper. 

I feel that this final extended edition of Arthur’s Volume 57 is a reflection of the diversity of voices, opinions, topics, and approaches that have made the paper the cultural institution it has been since its founding in 1966. I’m excited by the return of Alfred: Trent University’s Stupid Newspaper as a special insert of irreverent, deeply satirical, fake news, letters, ads, etc. 

As much as I wish that was self-explanatory, recent experience has shown that some of the people reading this might need a reminder. So, remember kids, don’t believe everything you read, especially in this ridiculous little review. But to that, I will add, please - remember what you read.