The Gateway

Vendors are nice and provide hot water for free at the Student Union Building (SUB)!

Although I didn’t attend U of A, I did live on the U of A campus for a while. I spent a month living with one of my sisters who was attending the school. I would read The Gateway to pass some time.
I can’t really complain about The Gateway, it’s a great way to pass time. I got a good sense of what attending the school was like by just reading some of the articles, which is the point of a college newspaper.
I write for my own college’s magazine, and by my standards the writing in The Gateway is decent, although not spectacular. I do find their opinion pieces very entertaining.

The Gateway helps pass so much time when you are at the U of A. It is a a free newspaper offered at the university for students that has stories on issues that students would actually care about.
The stories are very interesting and they aren’t afraid to stir it up. The articles also provide a few laughs. You can always find reviews on new music and local concerts which I always enjoy reading. I don’t know why.

I like reading the Gateway. It is a free student newspaper that covers issues that students would be concerned about. Alright, I’ll admit, I would usually flip to their comics section first. I mean, I’m a student right? Anyways, I like reading their reviews on concerts and new music, as well as about the U of A sports teams. Some of their stances are controversial, but it’s entertaining to read the Opinions section the following issues.
I love their semester-​end Getaway edition, where it looks like the editors just let unleashed all their crazy ideas on to the newsprint. I honestly can’t stop laughing at some of their articles while thinking how they are allowed to get away with the material. My favorite, and perhaps the majority of the students on campus, is the Purity Test in their sex issue they have every year (around Valentine’s day).

Maybe it’s because I never attended University that I really like The Gateway. Whenever I am in the University area, I pick up a copy for myself. I’ve written for MacEwan’s student newspaper, and I hate to say this, but The Gateway is a much better paper. The stories are more indepth, more interesting, and more controversial. Even the layout and the editing is way better.
It seems like the people working on The Gateway really care about putting out a great paper each time; they take it seriously. But not too seriously: the Sex issue is always fun. Every few years I’d do the purity test, but I’m not about to reveal those results.

I confess, I used to write for The Gateway when I was a university student. Some of my contemporaries from way back then have gone on to successful journalism and communications careers (myself included — at least I like to think). I have seen recent copies of the paper and am glad to note the more sophisticated feel it has now, both in terms of the writing and layout. Back in my day, things were very irreverent to the point of being insulting, and in fact, that was a reason I left the paper after only my second year of university. A campus paper should push the edges of controversy, but it is possible to go too far, and student journalists sometimes don’t have the maturity or experience to admit they made a mistake. However, I am glad to see the paper thriving.

The Gateway has been the official student newspaper at the University of Alberta since 1910. Pretty impressive. I like to pick up a copy whenever I’m on campus, as it’s fairly small and makes good browse-​material. They cover topics such as current events, politics, arts and entertainment, and sports.
Maybe it’s just me, but I find reading their online articles more interesting, even if some of them are the same ones. Perhaps it’s just that I don’t have to flap the newspaper pages out of my face, and chances of getting yet another papercut are less likely. It seems a petty reason to take off two stars, I know. But really, I think they put their better stuff online, and save the pc stuff for the print version. I say put some more interesting stuff in the print paper. Students read these as a break from their textbooks, after all. Okay, I’m sorry, that was a bit harsh. But seriously, Gateway, spice it up a bit with your online material!