The new Editor-in-Chief and Deputy Editor of the University Observer enjoyed the company of a very special Presence during their first month in office.
A fresh breeze in this not-so-warm summer accompanies the slow days across the UCD campus before the new term starts. This wind is both literal and metaphorical, as new staff members are settling in their roles for the upcoming term. The wind has carried the incoming University Observer upper-editorial team through the maze of doors that is the Societies’ Corridor in the new student centre: Editor-in-Chief Tessa Ndjonkou and Deputy Editor Ilaria Riccio have taken over the UO office, much to the chagrin of the Ghosts of Editors’ past.
“We can definitely sense a constant presence when we are in the office - not necessarily menacing, but enough to make you feel like you’re being watched constantly”, said Tessa Ndjonkou, asked about whether the Ghosts of Editors’ Past are yet another invention of previous staff to still retain some sort of power over their roles. “I think these Ghosts have been following me since I got the job,” continued Ilaria Riccio, “I sometimes still get lost in the corridor when looking for the office - perhaps it’s the Ghosts of past deputies who don’t want me to sit in their chair.”
And yet the incoming team perseveres. “Preventive measures include keeping the door open at all times, eating spicy food and ensuring the smell engulfs the room, and we always keep a vacuum cleaner at hand,” Ilaria Riccio explains. Still, the Ghosts don’t seem to back down. “Both mine and Ilaria’s computers took a whole week to fully start functioning - and they still fail us from time to time. The physical archive keeps piling up and we have no idea where all these additional papers are coming from.”
“Also,” the new Deputy adds, “an umbrella and some clothes have been laying around in the office since we first came in, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they used the office as their personal spa retreat as soon as our shift ends.” As for how the Presence has affected work, both Editor and Deputy claim that they have yet to experience major disruption, “although it has happened that both of us got sudden bursts of inspiration that gave us enough ideas to cover two issues - but we had to lay down for at least two hours afterwards, thus confirming our suspicion that it was the Ghosts’ doing,” Tessa Ndjonkou states.
Asked about a potential cohabitation with the Ghosts, the two conclude in unison, “As long as our salary remains where it is we see no harm in cohabitating with the undead.”