November 8th - The Long Goodbye When this blog began roughly four weeks ago, I wrote the following: "With that strike date looming, there are a lot of questions being raised, rumours being spread, and misinformation being given. The neutral stance put forward by the ASU is one that is designed to best facilitate answers to these questions, and clarifications on any rumours or pieces of misinformation provided. And this website is where much of this will be blogged and catalogued to better inform students."
While I won’t attempt to designate myself a soothsayer by any means, I will say this much: I sound as if I really knew what I was getting myself into. In reality, of course, this statement doesn’t even begin to cover the amazing experience that has been the ASU StrikeBlog - nothing could have prepared me for how rewarding this job would really be. Beginnings Born out of the ASU’s pre-strike planning, the idea of a website existed before I officially came on board. I also had my own plans: my own personal blog, The Myles Files, was going to be home to my own strike coverage where I would provide information to students from a neutral perspective and where there could be answers available. Obviously, when I heard the plans for the ASU Strike Information site, they sounded familiar; they also sounded like exactly where I should be. I volunteered to do this blog because I wanted to assist the ASU in justifying their neutral stance. I was at the aborted General Meeting, until the very end, and eventually defended the neutral stance’s ability to disseminate information. I wanted to put my money where my mouth was: I had defended the plan, and I wanted to be a part of ensuring that students were being represented in the best way possible. I had no idea when I made my first post, however, that this blog would become the central hub of information. And, it wouldn’t have been possible without a little bit of help. Thank Yous Thank you to the ASU for this tremendous opportunity, specifically to Kyle, Colin and Erin for their assistance in organizing programming and assisting in answering questions. They’ve been a joy to work with, and I am proud to have them represent me. Thank you to the Acadia University Faculty Association, specifically Andrew Biro, for assisting us in getting information to you, the students, as quickly as possible. Thank you as well to Acadia University, for similarly assisting the ASU in getting information out to students. Thank you to all of the students who read this blog on a regular basis, and weathered my pop culture references in order to get the information available to them. Our initial concern was whether or not people would stick around for daily updates, and you proved our worry needless – this was your site, essentially, and you lived up to your end of the bargain. Thank you to all of the parents, community members, and even faculty and administration who visited the site on occasion. The ASU might directly represent students, but it was our goal to exclude no “stakeholder”. We were proud to have all of you visiting, and thank you for offering your voice to the proceedings. Thank you to everyone who commented on the site over the past three and a half weeks. There’s been some ups and downs, but even through secret talks and flame wars I believe that the comments provided a way for students to have their own voice. This isn’t my website, but your website: those of you who helped reflect that ownership through commenting, including parents and alumni and the unfairly maligned education students, were an integral part of this site’s success. Thank you to every person who has stopped me on the street, sent me a Facebook message, or done any other gesture of thanks towards me. I didn’t really intend to become a pseudo-celebrity through this process, but being consistently humbled by the support and appreciation of the Acadia community is certainly a fantastic feeling. Thank you to John Eustace and Maya Frost, my fellow intrepid bloggers who offered important voices on this conflict, and allowed me to share their voices with you. Also, thank you to Jeremy Novak and ACEAcadia for helping justify this foray into New Media with his fabulous YouTube videos – they were an important glimpse into all sides of this conflict. Thank you, finally, to Milton Veniot for being the awesomest mediator ever. The Future The ASU StrikeBlog, in its daily informative capacity, comes to an end with this post. This is not the end of my blogging career, nor was it the beginning: for those desiring near daily attempts at witty remarks, you can visit my TV Blog, Cultural Learnings, or my personal blog, The Myles Files. And yes, that is my requisite plug of this post, I feel I’ve earned at least one. However, I think there is still a future in this blog. This site will remain at least until the strike’s ramifications, specifically cost relief and exam concerns, are resolved – when news breaks on these subjects, I will jump back on and make sure that the information gets out there. I also think my term as ASU Resident Blogger might not end for a while yet, so stay tuned to see if I pop up elsewhere. [Also, you can continue to send email to
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, as always.] For now, it’s back to normal: I had my first class at 8:30am this morning, and I will soon have my second. I had someone ask if I was going through post-blog withdrawal yesterday, and I don’t think I’ve quite come to terms with it yet. The ASU StrikeBlog has been a challenging and rewarding experience that was worth every second I spent on it, but it has served its purpose: the strike is over, students were kept informed, and a dialogue was held. So, for now, withdrawal will give way to pride: pride in my own efforts, pride in the ASU’s efforts, and pride for every parent, student, or community member from around the globe who took the time to come to this site and gain a better understanding of this faculty strike. I also remain proud of Acadia University: the qualities that make Acadia a fantastic university did not die with this strike, which will be proven later today when the Maclean's rankings are released. But seriously, thanks to each and every one of you. This is your accomplishment just as much as it is the accomplishment of myself or the ASU, so thank you from the bottom of my heart. With Acadia Spirit, Myles McNutt StrikeBlogger
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