As a disclaimer, our Operating Policy states that we are limited to only having one page per issue dedicated to satire and parody. The Speculator on the back page of the physical issue took this up. We have not requested any exceptions to this, and everything you are about to read is factual.
Throughout the year, we run weekly meetings for each of our sections. If you want to contribute as a writer, photographer, videographer or have a passing interest in anything we do, our door is usually open and the emails on the “Contact Us” tab on our website are one of our main sources of communication.
This is all simple enough. One of the things new volunteers often state is that they did not realize that it was a possibility or that they were too intimidated by the prospect to write for a publication with a campus-wide reach. We have addressed the first one, but the second one is a bit more complicated.
While nerves and writing with the intent for a large number of people to read it takes time and experience, I am still working on that and some related perfectionist crises myself, one of the more immediate aids is to provide a bit of background of the type of people who you would likely be talking to. You do not need to know any of this, but it may make you more comfortable than receiving answers from a faceless media organization.
The office has a plastic horse with written characters like &, # and ? on it and wears glasses. It tends to wear a rubber dinosaur puppet as a mask, and sits next to a mini Zen garden. There is also a suspiciously high amount of winter holiday memorabilia, and a picture of a hairy-nosed wombat one our former editors adopted for a month over four years ago.
Our “Editors of McMaster’s student newspaper” plaque took around five years to be updated because the experience of being the Editor-in-Chief is considered to be far more important than the recognition. However, it had to be done recently because it would have been odd to update multiple rows at once.
The paper is known for having the most consistently degenerate staff at the yearly Canadian University Press’ conference. We do not have a journalism school, we bring as many staff members as possible and tend to overwhelm due to sheer numbers alone. It also used to be known as the best university publication in the country a few decades ago.
Given that the office has no windows or sunlight and has questionable air ventilation, staff members tend to become neurotic and loopy after a point. This tends to happen if production night, the night before the paper is placed on stands, goes past 8 p.m. Previous Editors-in-Chief attempted to get staff to go for breaks and walks to help out, but often received resistance because interrupting creative work is hard for people.
The Silhouette was also the last university paper in the country to move away from broadsheet size to tabloid, about half the size, and that only happened this decade. Part of that was a sense of pride to stick it to other papers that wimped out and switched earlier. The other part was that working until 3 a.m. in the morning to get the paper out by that afternoon was, apparently, enjoyable enough to keep doing it with staff, colleagues and friends.
There is a constant obsession with karaoke. In particular, anything our in-house DJ plays during the “80s Power Hour” slot, The Killers and most songs that could spur an existentialist crisis are popular choices.
In short, whomever you may want to talk to about contributing, advice or feedback is probably odd in their own way and far less intimidating than your typical TA or professor.
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At the start of the year Amanda and I had no idea what we were doing. We didn't edit well, we couldn't lay out for beans and we were still getting the hang of each other and our volunteers. The week of September 13th, our first full-sized issue, we were pretty sure we didn't have enough content to fill our pages. So we did the only thing we could do: we made shit up. We made up The Friendship Drank.
As it turns out we did have enough content (we'd forgotten about an article (recall we did not know what we were doing)) so The Friendship Drank was placed in its own folder on The Sil's server for later use. There were a few weeks when we thought we'd hit the point of desperation where we needed to call upon The Friendship Drank, but we managed without it week after week. It became an InsideOut legend, a piece of IO lore. Veteran volunteers joked about it at meetings and its legacy was passed on through hushed stories. But it never made it onto the pages of InsideOut.
Until now.
Ingredients
- the required ingredients for your favourite drink
- the required ingredients for your friend’s favourite drink
- JELLO powder
- love
Fun objects to bring:
- a cauldron
- a ladle
- a boom box
- a friend
How to:
1) Begin by calling your friend over and letting him/her know that you will be hosting a super fun party for two. You can choose to do this via telephone, or, get creative and send it via carrier pigeon.
2) Once your friend is over, gather together the various ingredients that will be needed to mix both of your favourite drinks.
3) Consolidate all drink ingredients into a cauldron and use a ladle to mix. A large spoon, fork or hand will also work just fine if you do not have a ladle.
NOTE: It works even better if both you and your friend mix at the same time.
4) As you mix, turn on your boom box and have a little dance party. Nothing says friendship more than semi-choreographed dance routines around a cauldron full of potentially-hazardous liquid.
5) Once you believe your drink is well mixed, throw in a pack of JELLO. This tasty, gelatinous treat is fun for everyone and will give your concoction a gooey and unique texture.
6) Refrigerate. Use this time to bond and create obnoxious inside jokes.
7) Once the JELLO has set, remove from the refrigerator.
8) It is now time to add the most important ingredient of all: love. How you do this is up to you, it all really depends on how close of friends you are.
9) Your drink is now ready to be served!
10) Keep on dancing and enjoy your delicious Friendship Drink!
