Good night, and good luck

[dropcap]M[/dropcap]y whole life, my mum has made me write thank you notes. A bit of, “Dear Nana and Grandad, thank you for my new pyjamas, I love them. Love, Rebecca.” Then some, “Dear Uncle Bob, thanks for the book, it was really great. Love, Rebecca.” Nowadays, more of “Dear Aunt Mabel, thanks so much for the Christmas jumper. Definitely didn’t exchange it for vouchers then buy sexy pants instead, then realise I had no student loan left so exchanged those for two weeks’ worth baked beans. Love, Rebecca.”

And, now, after four years, it’s “Dear Boar readers, writers, and editors, thanks for reading, writing, and editing.” And it feels like the most important thank you note I’ll ever write.

I have been on the Boar for almost four years. I have been in our editorial meeting almost every term-time Wednesday in my university memory, edited over 20 issues of the paper, and haven’t had weekends since 2012. I have lost sleep over horribly tough editorial decisions, lost holidays to my email accounts, and finally lost the fear that the main quote I’ll be remembered by was two winters ago when I declared “I am just SO full of snot!”

But for all that was lost, what gains. I have gained friends, wisdom, (questionable) skills, and a few god-awful articles to my name that I will no doubt try to get removed in years to come.

Above all, I have gained voices: the voices of other Boarites, the voices of readers, the voices of Warwick students.

I want to thank everyone for the voices they have contributed to the Boar. For the times you celebrated us, disagreed with us, encouraged us, reprimanded us, informed us, and shouted with us, I am eternally grateful.

A student newspaper is nothing without the students that fuel it.
In all my time at the Boar, I’ve never heard the voices of students so loud as this year. You should be incredibly proud. From the feedback that said we were more political (tentatively: in a good way) to the friend who said I was “living proof the Boar had had a big year (“look at you! You’re EXHAUSTED!”… er?!), there is a huge amount to think about and be grateful for.

So I go out playing ‘It’s Hard Out Here for a Bitch’ in the office and drinking (always) more coffee, safe in the knowledge that the new exec will storm it. Just as you used us, use them. With no representation for women nor minorities in the sabb team, ever-rising VC pay, and a dire political mess likely in May, it’s going to be a monster year. Your voices are needed far more than our InDesign skills are. Be heard.

Good night, and good luck.

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Photo: flickr/adamthelibrarian