In which we bid adieu and do something terribly stereotypical like go to grad school on the West Coast to find ourselves, man.
Some 500,000 words after I first signed in as news editor at The Mark, I’m departing from these hallowed (digital) halls at the end of the day. Come September, I’ll be off to the University of Victoria to put myself into much further debt by pursuing some graduate studies, where hopefully I’ll be able to hone my writing and political analysis further still. Lord (or Lady) knows I’ve got a ways to go yet.
Anyhow, it’s been a hell of a year to have covered as news editor, from the Tories’ majority victory to some untimely deaths; from the Satellites of Death I & II to the endlessly fascinating (and infuriating) Republican primary race; from keeping tabs on Ethical Oil to basically anything that has to do with dinosaurs. Through it all, I’ve been lucky enough to have some great editorial oversight from Jonathan Sas, Sara Murphy, Mark Ulster, Dan Tencer, Chris Mitchell, Paula Kulig, and of course, Jeff Anders. And while my work won’t be appearing at themarknews.com/news anymore, I have no doubt you’ll get to hear me prattle on about raptors, the Ottawa Senators (technically Canada’s best hockey team), space travel, and above all else, the strange and twisted world that is Canadian politics in the coming years – either on a barstool or, ideally, in the pages of an as-yet-undecided newspaper once I’ve wrapped up the ol’ thesis (if newspapers still exist at that point, that is.) Till then, keep truckin’.
– Mike Barber
