Just over a year ago, I wrote my first editorial for Arthur. I was flushed with excitement, surprise, and a certain apprehension of what was to come.

It’s been one hell of a ride. In that first editorial, I wrote about how I often fantasized about being Rory Gilmore as young person.

For those who aren’t familiar with who I’m talking about, Rory Gilmore is the young female protagonist looking to fulfill her dreams as a journalist in the show Gilmore Girls.

*Spoiler Alert * I reflected upon Rory becoming editor of the Yale Daily News and how in some way, this is a sort of magical full circle situation, a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy.

Dreams do come true!

One year later, I’d like to say that Arthur Newspaper is not the Yale Daily News. You’re probably thinking, obviously, so what?

The cinematic romanticism of the Yale Daily News office is what I’m going off of here, but even looking at their actual website, it is staggering how large the team is involved in creating this paper.

Now, using this publication as a contrast to Arthur, I can make some learned observations. Yale Daily News was established in 1878. That’s 138 years of print publication.

I recall learning that Arthur was hitting its 50th year in our editorship and marvelling at the half century this paper has existed. Over the year I have come to realize just how young this paper is, and in turn, how young Trent University is.

We do not have a bustling news room with editors for each section of the paper. There are only two of us, and at the end of the day, it all falls on the editors to make sure the paper comes together.

Equipped with a small staff, one copy editor, and ourselves, and with a readership of thousands, Arthur is an expansive paper with little resources.

With what we have, Arthur has managed to cover major news stories from the time of the Cold War, spanning feminism through the later 20th century, travelling through the October Crisis, until the present day, with the most recent political headlines such as the Paris Attacks and the Canadian elections.

That’s right, This is Arthur’s second time seeing a Trudeau in power.

We are the main source of news for campus affairs and the medium for open dialogue between students and administration, and always have been.

Mary Norris, copy-editor of The New Yorker, recently stated in a Ted Talk, “Copy-editing ...is like playing shortstop for a Major League Baseball team: every little movement gets picked over by the critics -- God forbid you should commit an error.”

This statement is apt.

Every publication has a house style, and Arthur’s has evolved over the years.

With little continuity, Arthur has managed to create a certain image for itself, despite the constant shift in editorships. Not everyone will agree with these choices, but taste is subjective.

As Morris’ Ted Talk indicates, even the most prestigious of publications fall to common human error.

Thus, I am proud with what we have done with this little rag. Zara and I have really discovered how we perceive the paper, and this vision is only going to solidify itself next year.

We love this newspaper so damn much we are here for another year. We love sleep, but we love Arthur more, so sleep can wait.

It’s been said before that this job is overwhelming, but the outcomes of this paper, the relationships built and the visions manifested are all worth the struggle.

Why climb the damn mountain if you have to descend it, over and over? Because for that one peaceful moment, you get to gaze out onto everything and bask in all its glory.

Arthur is the mountain that we climb every week, only to start at the bottom again. We love this mountain.

We are Sisyphus, but like, happier.

Although, if there was a purgatory, and that purgatory was Arthur, we’d be okay with it.