Having been deputy editor for a couple of editions now, I know the drill when it comes to editor’s notes. Have a stressful week in the office, working long days with the same playlist repeating four times over, and then bash out the note as everything starts to reach a crescendo and the ‘theme’ of the week becomes evident.
This note follows the dream recipe, as I sit with square eyes after our 11pm pizza sesh, on day six of the infamous ‘prod week’.
As the different teams popped in and out of the office throughout the week to lay up their sections, I began to realise the beauty of having different people around us. Whether it was a chat about where the photo should go on the page, or deeper questions about whether we support Valentine’s Day (a debate that is covered in our clash of comments on page 14) my days holed up in our little Vanburgh office are punctuated by the people who were there and the chats we had. Ed and I have even started a nice little empty beer bottle collection on one of the shelves…. An iconic sign of how stressful the prod week might have been.
These memories are not made special by the changing of fonts and running photos through Photoshop. I enjoy my time editing Nouse because of the huge variety of people I run into. Diversity makes our world so vibrant and this edition just proves this with the scope it brings.
Our Science team have done a brilliant job writing some very high quality articles on topics even the most humanities-minded students will be interested in, like Ethan Attwood’s piece looking at the likelihood of a real life ‘Don’t Look Up’ situation.
Similarly, Politics have taken an extended look at the aftermath of Brexit, collaborating with NUMBER writers to create a varied look, getting plenty of new writers into the section.
An article that particularly stands out is Lizzie’s incredibly emotive Comment article around ableism and the prevalence of it at university. Disabled students are too often left in the lurch at university, with arrangements and plans made with able bodied students in mind, and Lizzie articulates this perfectly. It’s seen in our front page story too, where Ed Halford and I uncover how YUSU showed a lack of awareness over a symbol originally used in YUSU Election branding that could be seen as offensive to disabled students. The former YUSU Disabled Students’ Officers brought the issue up and were able to fix it and stand up for disabled students’ interests, showing just how essential it is to include multiple people around the table when making important decisions. Once again, diversity prevails.
Perhaps the most prevalent buzz on campus at the moment is the upcoming YUSU Elections. Nouse are exclusively revealing the candidates running for all positions, and you can read their manifestos in our included Elections Supplement. I have spent the past week working away on the election content, and it has been incredible to see so many different people running for so many positions. There’s a diverse range of candidates, and not a role remains unfilled. In fact, I’ve been ribbed in the office for getting emotional at the fact not *everyone* can win.
If there is one thing that this edition should prove, it is that diversity at the top of a system is key, and when looking towards the YUSU Elections at the end of this month, I feel confident that the team of officers will help make that a reality. It’s a theme which is even more prominent in my mind this month, as people up and down the country recognise LGBTQ+ history month. In our news section we cover some of the university’s key events to celebrate the month. It is truly important to remember the struggles minorities have faced before us, and to learn from the experiences of the past. Our society is so much richer for having different people around us, and we should not forget the difficulties that allowed that to happen.
I am lucky to be surrounded by such an assorted group of editors and writers within Nouse, and can only thank them all for managing to put together such a great edition. Sure, our sleep patterns might be screwed, and our brains frazzled, but I’d say we’ve done a pretty good job. And of course, thanks especially to Ed, who has burst into the office every morning full of energy, supplying the team with oat milk lattes, san pelligrino and positive vibes. Thanks team.
