- A letter from the editors
If you are a first-year reading this article, you probably have a few questions already. Let us explain. Jeremy is and has been the PhySoc newsletter for many, many years in the past. Until it disappeared between 2015 to 2020. In fact, the full history of PhySoc and the newsletter was previously investigated, when Associate Professor Helen Johnson was interviewed. There were and still are many secrets left unknown to the public.
In 2020, Jeremy made a huge comeback with new and younger PhySoc exec. Oh, it was simply glorious. There were full-length feature articles in hard copy printed issues every second week of the semester. Comedy columns, puzzles, Q and A with lecturers, all the good stuff was covered in every issue! It was a different time.
Of course, like all other good things, it slowly started going downhill for Jeremy when the pandemic hit later that year. Soon after that, the hard copies had to stop due to covid safety and Jeremy moved to posts in blog format on the PhySoc website. With more time passing, the frequency of pieces has dropped. Last year, Jeremy only had 3 writers (5 if you include the editors). Understandably so, we were not able to produce enough content to last the whole semester. We hit a shortage and after only 3 individual pieces last semester, we had to stop posting. Once again, we disappeared for a few months.
So why does this keep happening you ask? (Bear with us while we go on a little rant here.) It could be because our fellow physics students do not want to spread the joy of physics by writing content for us (Obviously, they’re not cool enough). We are trying our best and trying to keep this wondrous initiative alive. We have tried puzzles, riddles, more comedy pieces, and even enticing memes. But with no promising results.
You may think “Maybe there isn’t much interest in writing because no one is interested in reading?” Heck no! That simply isn’t the case. Jeremy’s pieces get about 10^2 views every time within the first week of posting. So we know our content is good, so why not help us create some more?! We would have loved to be some kind of magical quantum ghost, but we cannot simultaneously exist in multiple states at once, as both writers and editors. We can only write so much during the busy semester, so we need your help! Together, we can increase the views to 10^3! (not a factorial, just an exclamation point, hehe)
We understand what you’re thinking - “What are some benefits?” Here is a sweet offer: We will help you write your first article whilst getting real-time mentoring and an amazing opportunity to hone the essential skill of science communication. Who knows, you could end up loving the creative process and next thing you know, you can be like Dr Ben Fulcher. Dr Fulcher was also a writer and editor of Jeremy who went into research, completing multiple research publications and contributing to a few textbooks.
In all seriousness, Jeremy is still looking for writers to take up this amazing opportunity and put their skills to use for the greater good of the physics community at Usyd. We did not want to threaten you to sign up but here we are… Okay, we’re just kidding. I mean, the worst that can happen is that Jeremy disappears yet again. But it doesn’t have to come to that. We can break the cycle and keep the newsletter alive for another decade. Right?
Anyways, we apologise for that huge rant. We’d like to now officially welcome all the firsties to our amazing campus! Check out this quick tour of the physics side of campus to get you familiarised. We know starting uni can be an overwhelming experience so, check out this older post for some good advice for first years. If you need any help or have any questions regarding anything at all, you can always message the PhySoc Facebook page, or email us at jeremy.physoc@gmail.com. We are always more than happy to help. We hope to see you at our Jeremy writers meeting - sign up here - or just around campus!
- Thanvi and Yajnesh