I started working for The Varsity before I had even set foot in a U of T classroom. My first assignment as a cub theatre reporter was to interview veteran director David Gardner about a production of As You Like It at Hart House Theatre. About three hours after doing the interview I attended my first lecture, a poli sci class at Alumni Hall.
In the years since, I’ve been lucky enough to write for many campus publications like the Mike and the Independent, and to be a part of the editor’s collective of The Gargoyle. But my true home on campus has always been here at The Varsity.
Working my way from contributor to staff writer to associate arts editor, I became the editor of this section two years ago. Now after four years, writing literally hundreds of articles, it is time for me to step aside and let someone new take my place.
This job is not an easy one. As anyone who works at The Varsity can attest, the Arts section receives about ten times as much promotional mail and email as the other sections combined. Sifting through it all is like playing Sisyphus. The twice-weekly publishing schedule is journalistic trial-by-fire—amazing experience, but sometimes overwhelming in the face of academic commitments. On that note, I’d like to extend my heartfelt thanks to all my professors, instructors, and TAs who have been sympathetic and supportive of my work here at The Varsity.
But one section does not make a newspaper, and there are many people here at The Varsity who make my work possible. First I’d like to thank our production manager Rogelio Briseño, whose Job-like patience, and artistic eye benefits us all during long production nights. I’d also like to thank my predecessor Tabassum Siddiqui, who first recruited me to write for The Varsity all those years ago. It’s really scary to think where I’d be had we never met!
Finally, I’d also like to thank our EIC Chandler Levack for her help and guidance, my two associate editors, Rob Duffy and Naomi Skwarna, my film team Radheyan Simonpillai and Will Sloan, the entire editorial staff, our yeoman-like general manager David Levine, and my staff writers for making all of this possible. Thanks for a great run, and thank you for reading.— JORDAN BIMM
If anyone wants to keep tabs, my work will continue to appear in NOW Magazine.
