Talking to the Editors

## Joe

Editor-In-Chief

Wow, well it certainly has been a year!

I started this job in October, with a small amount of training and the dusty cobwebs of my previous years of section editorship skulking miserably in the corners of my mind. Summer, as I’m sure you all know, is quite potent at clearing the mind of useful memories.

I set out to redesign and expand the paper, and to some extent succeeded, I brought in new sections and recruited new Editors and writers, undergrads and postgrads alike.

Over the course of the year the paper has tackled several important stories, including following the issues surrounding the halls cleaning contracts, the Union’s successful lobbying and many more that I can’t remember (this week’s has been a tiring issue).

Along with the printed words you see before you, this year’s Felix, as every year, involves the sweat, occasionally tears (but hopefully no blood) of the students who volunteered their time to edit the sections we have and I can only be grateful for their help. Without them and without you the paper wouldn’t happen.

Over the last few years, and the last few Editors, we’ve tried to make ourselves more transparent and friendly to people who aren’t already involved – a task that has proven to be harder than one anticipates. However it is good to see that Philippa is also a keen proponent of change and improvement, something that will bode well for next year’s paper.

Most importantly – and it is sometime hard to convey this, Felix is always the your paper. We value your feedback (seriously please do send in letters) and we try to give you the content we think you’d appreciate the most.

Looking back over my Felix career, I remember submitting my first article in first year, proudly presenting it to my hall senior, who at the time was a Technology editor. Since then, from moving on to editing Politics during the reign of two Editors to finally achieving my dream of editing the whole paper, I’m amazed at how much I’ve learned along the way, as well as the fantastic people I’ve met. It’s not something I would have ever imagined doing when I joined Imperial, and yet I couldn’t see my College journey ending any other way.

Wanting to go out with a bang, this week we’ve brought you Felix as a tabloid, it had to be done. After all we are a tabloid-sized newspaper, definitely not a broadsheet. This has been challenging in itself, however I’ve realised that I’ve learned so much over the last year – it look a day to redesign rather than the significantly longer time it took at the start of the year.

Thanks for reading and thanks for a great year, I hope you’ve enjoyed the paper!

## Philippa

Editor-Elect

It’s pretty terrifying to think that the next issue will be edited by yours truly. Am I ready? Right now? Literally, right now, as I sit in the safety of Imperial’s tiny humanities department, downing caffeine after about four hours of sleep last night? Nah, I’m far from it.

But I have time, and hoping that in that time I will learn a large number of things hopefully very quickly. These, you will be glad to know, will include learning how to write editorials that won’t sound like the beginning of an adolescent, self-absorbed MySpace profile “about me” entry.

It was over two years ago now that I was hounding Tim to be a section editor for the paper. I had previously written a few articles, my first being so atrocious I was surprised it was printed. I was pretty hopeless at InDesign at the beginning, had no idea how to write a science article and was completely overwhelmed by the Felix crowd of students that all seemed more student-media savvy than myself.

However, I’m glad I did take the time to go down to the office, see what the fuss was all about and try and hack my way into the Felix clique. We, the Felix team, love people, and offer a great refuge to students who simply want to hide away during Sport’s night if nothing else. We love writers, we love photographers, we love editors and grammar enthusiasts, and we love designers, coders, and artists alike.

Next year, the newspaper will be, counterintuitively, less about the news and more about the final form Felix hopes to take before my tenure comes to a close. We, of course, are aiming to deliver stories that will kick up a storm; we plan to put The Tab out of business and ensure no topic is too taboo to print. However we are also moving with the times and planning a website overhaul, a redesign of the paper and also a complete shift in the structure of the team itself.

Felix is being rebuilt from scratch, and we need people to help. If you want to be part of the new wave of student media, get in touch. If you want to meet new people, learn new skills, get in touch. If you simply want unlimited free tea and coffee, get in touch but do give a bit of notice so we can get some top quality brew in.

I hope you all have a good summer, and will see you all again in Fresher’s Week. I’ll be the 22 year old sipping straight gin in the corner, muttering “youths” under my breath. Please come and say hi, or drop by the office!