On navigating the upcoming year and looking to the Vic community for guidance
As you take your first steps onto campus this fall, remember: no one knows what they’re doing. They’re going to tell you that many times, but it will often feel like everyone’s lying. Like there’s this secret club of people saying “I don’t know,” when really, they do know. This club of knowers is probably sitting down in the Northrop Frye McDonald’s, eating their fries and giggling at all the wayfinding they’re not doing. But here’s something we at The Strand do know: if you’re sitting in the Northrop Frye McDonald’s eating fries and laughing at everyone else, you’re not. We see you, and you’re more lost than the rest of us.
Welcome to Volume 65 of The Strand. We invite you to not know with us. This is the (Dis)Orientation Issue, where if you do know, you probably actually don’t.
One thing we do know over here at The Strand is the power of voices. In Arts and Culture, Luca Carnegie shares the best cheap ways to access Toronto’s art scene. In Features, Sooyeon Lee shares her frosh story. In Stranded, you can read the most comprehensive ranking of UofT websites to date (for free!). And to share our voices in more ways than before, we have reintroduced—and reimagined—our Poetry section and Strandcast.
As we sat down to write this editorial, we realised that, although we’re going into our third-year and should supposedly “have everything figured out,” we’re feeling more lost than ever. To help shoulder some of our not-knowing, we decided to ask some student groups we hope you’ll connect with during your journey at UofT for their snippets of advice.
The Muslim Students’ Association’s advice is “to always explore the different groups on campus to create beneficial connections throughout your degree.”
VOICES, Vic’s branch of the PEARS Project, shares an important reminder: “we recommend that all students familiarize themselves with what is often referred to as the “four D’s” of bystander intervention: direct, distract, delegate, delay.”
VicPride advises that “you don’t need to have it all figured out; there is beauty in just letting yourself do what feels good without feeling the need to analyze it. University is a place full of change—with that can be change you see in yourself. Go at your own pace, and lean into understanding yourself better.”
Our trusty folks at VUSAC encourage everyone to “try new things and don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone! You’ll meet some great people and experience lots of amazing things that way, and, if not, you’ve learned something new about yourself!”
Though we hope these words of wisdom will help set you on your journey to not-knowing here at Vic and at UofT as a whole, we wanted to send you off with a reminder from the very first volume of The Strand: “Victoria, you are unique! You are matchless!” Never forget it.
