Turns Out You Can Shitpost For 23 Issues
I can’t believe I am sitting down to write my final editorial. Making 23 issues of content seemed like an unfathomable job at the beginning of this year. Now that this is my last issue as Editor I can’t help but wanting to keep throwing words at the page. I have so much more nonsense to give to the publication, but alas, my time as Editor has come to an end.
It’s no secret that my direction for the magazine this year has been to just take the piss. Uni is stressful and at times isolating, so sometimes it’s nice to sit down and have a laugh at jokes that are uniquely UOA. If you take yourself too seriously you end up a (very, very) low-budget imitation of The Listener. Sometimes you need a giggle at a shitty listicle to get you through a lecture. My aim for this year was to put the ‘student’ back into student magazine and it’s something that I am proud to say I think I have achieved. From reporting on the best swag from clubs expo to rating the best spots on campus to cry, Craccum is the one place you can actually content unique to the University of Auckland.
But in between it all there is room for actual issues, and student press is a pretty good way to stay informed. In some years Craccum has been a very politically active magazine, often trying to take on the issues of the world. It’s not that I disagree with this mentality, and I think as students we should be thinking about the world around us, but I also think we should give room to what is happening to us as a student body. At the University of Auckland, it is sometimes hard to find the student voice when there is little in our campus culture that unifies us. However, I have found what has unified us as a community this year is ideas and actions that have a greater impact on just ourselves. This year we have talked a lot about discrimination, the role of free speech, and values that we should represent as an academic community. Drawing attention to these issues that matter to students has been some of the most rewarding stuff we have done this year. Just because we are students who talk shit every now and then (or in our case, constantly) doesn’t mean we don’t care about things. Multiple stories this year have shown us that we need to keep holding UOA to account, and channelling our collective energy for positive change.
I genuinely think that being the Editor of Craccum has been – and will be, one of the best experiences of my life. We’ve done some great work, some shit work, and shit yarns and I would like to thank our readers for sticking through it (all five of you). I hope you have gotten as much joy from reading Craccum as I have leading it this year. I would also like to thank my amazing editorial team and the army of Craccum volunteers that have made this year one of the strongest in years. Though I get the little column on the inside page, the magazine has really been down to a lot of wonderful people.