The Voice Magazine survey is now concluded, and while we haven’t gone through all the answers yet, with over a thousand respondents, we should come away with a good idea of what the general reader thinks might be some ways to improve this magazine.  Frankly, I’m both excited and, if I’m honest, a little bit scared.   Being judged by an audience is always a bit nerve-wracking, after all.

And I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who feels this way, as I expect there are at least nine other people who are feeling a bit nervous about the judgement being passed this week.

That’s right, the voting is now open to choose which two of the nine candidates for AUSU’s by-election will receive a seat on AUSU Council.  If you still haven’t voted and are wondering what these candidates are about, then don’t forget to take a look at our interviews with the candidates.  Eight of the nine responded to our questions and gave their opinions on what they think both AU and AUSU should be doing in future, as well as a little bit about themselves to help you pick the people who you think will best represent your interests to the university and the various governmental agencies, not to mention create the programs that help you the most for the budget.

Meanwhile, this week, we’ve run out of interviews. So instead, welook at how to handle dealing with your studies (and everything else) if you’re also dealing with a chronic illness.  It’s not an uncommon occurrence here at AU, which you can tell if you read through the interviews we have.  The flexibility of open studies is a boon for those that the world generally isn’t set up to accommodate, so we likely have more than most.

However, I need to pass along a technical note for those who are using Gmail accounts.  Gmail has recently instituted some new security measures to protect you from spam.  Unfortunately, they will currently also protect you from emails from The Voice Magazine.  We’re working on getting it fixed on our end, but until we do, if you’ve written recently from a Gmail account, please consider writing again and provide an alternate address so we can respond.  (Also, someone recently contacted me via our forms with some questions about writing but used an email address that doesn’t exist, so, if that was you, please try again or write me directly at voice@voicemagazine.org as I’d really like to help you out!)

The reason I want to put this out there is because since we don’t have any student interviews on deck right now, that means it’s a great time for you to get your story up in front of the AU audience.  Help build the AU student community and get yourself a bit of fun Voice Magazine swag while you’re at it.  If you’re interested in sharing a bit of who you are, contact mwm@voicemagazine.org and meet a friendly Voice writer who’ll be happy to hear all about you.

So this week, in addition to the above, we’ve got a look at the end of court room TV, advice for living your best life while in the best shape you can be, a tasty looking recipe for stuffed pork loin, some information about the best Mexican tacos (that would be any of them, I believe), advice, events, scholarships, news, music reviews, a look back at the Iraq war 20 years later, and more!   Enjoy the read!