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April 12, 1984

The N etted Gem

Volume 1, Number 18

Staff

Winding down that’s us. We’re a sorry bunch of tired news- people. But are we sorry we joined this glorious ventur. "3 You be: your sweet potato we’re not!

We are Melanie, Ruth, John, John, and Jon, Howard, Darker. Carolyn, Gus, Karen, Leah, LoriAnne, Ed et al (no we don’t really

know anyone named Al. Do you?)

The Netted Gem is the weekly student newspaper of the University of Prince Edward Island. Views expressed herein are possibly not those of the Student Union or its executive. We reserve the right to edit copy for space, style, legal, or purely arbitrary reasons. Letters

7.. r‘v

to the Editor must be typed, double-spaced, and submitted before noon on Monday. We hate letters exceeding 500 words and do nasty things to them. All letters must be signed, but names can be withheld in consultation with the Editor. Our sanctuary is located on the fourth floor of the Main Building. Our extension is 387, and our staff meetings are at 4:20 on Monday afternoons.

The Netted Gem is a member in adequate sta riding with Canadian University Press, and attempts to uphold that cooperative's Statement of Principles. Write us care of the Student Union, UPEl, Charlottetown, PEl CIA 4P3.

Y’all come back and read us now, y’hear?

fglly realize we

This is the last issue of the first year of the publication of the first typeset student newspaper of the University of Prince Edward Island. There ——' five “of’s” in the first sentence. I always wanted to do that. c But seriously, loyal, readers, the staff ‘wants to thank you all for being so patient with us as we found our feetg'Admittedly, it’s been a rocky, change-swept year. And this may come as a surprise, but wig haven’t at all times been perfect. *2; ,f;:_4;:3 i, - .

We did come close a couple of timhgethgughéj 2“

Ah well .. .

The UPEI Student Union newspaper (SUN) started in September with no editor and no staff, but it did start. For three or four weeks, the executive, led by VP External Kim Gass, made sure your had something to look at every Thursday.

Thanks, guys!

Then Denise Richardson was selected as editor, and realized we needed a major change. She called in the Atlantic field- worker for Canadian University Press, Rick Janson, who actually slept in the office for the couple of weeks it took to create a real newspaper. .

Rich once said jokingly that the SUN, out of the 53 papers then members of CUP, was probably rated 53rd.

For once and for all, no such rating scheme exists. Rick has been involved in CUP for years, and made the call based on his own knowledge of the members.

However, the SUN was pretty bad — so bad as to be called “a Council ragsheet” among other university papers. The newly enthused staff decided to try a different image.

Enter the Netted Gem.

Now, before you animals start growling 'about the name again, “Oh yeah, the Potato Press ...”, let’s throw a couple of quotes at you.

How’s this? “One of the best small newspapers in the region”. Said at an Atlantic region CUP conference in St. John’s in March, and no, not by someone from our own staff.

Or this “the best student newspaper to come out of the Island in recent memory (and for its size one of the country’s best)”. Said in a letter from the staff of the Dalhousie Gazette.

The same letter: “The elation involved in reading real news stories of importance to UPEI students isn’t easy to express.”.

Okay, so it’s underhanded to praise yourself in the last issue of the year, so that noone can write back immediately to take the stuffing out of you. Butlit’s awfully nice to know that we’re not blundering off in the wrong direction.

That’s not to say that ,it didn’t take us a while to find the right direction, or that the task is by any means finished. The first few issues especially contained too many articles of little interest to you, as you were quick to tell us. And the last few issues have suffered as staff members realize that there are papers other than newspapers, and tests on matters other than joiJrnalistic skill and integrity.

But now we think we can start strongly next year with a replenished staff, and a more stable editorial policy and philosophy. There are things happening on this campus that students should know about, and even some they would enjoy knowing about, and we want to hit on them all.

And perhaps best of all, we’ve learned that it can be fun to put out a newspaper, be it Netted or Nutty Gem. and thatit should be fun, for both writer and reader.

Next year will see Carolyn Ryan returning as editor, grateful as usual for the blessed staff. Hopefully, this—will include Joh, John, and Jon, Leah, Lori Anne, and Mickey, Ruth, Sharon, Melanie, and you? 7'

Ask any of us it’s a ball, as well as being good experience, educational, and an ego-booster.

Oh, those golden by-lines ...l