First-year student Paige Smith has decided that this New Year, she will become a totally different person. Along with going to the gym every day, eating no sugar, and studying 10 hours a day, she’s resolved to become an avid reader. However, searching for a new, underground author proved harder than she thought. “I mean, when people ask me my favourite author, I can’t say some bullshit from the syllabus. I need someone that shows how different I am.”
After turning away the much too mainstream Dickens and King, Paige discovered a new author she hadn’t heard of. The so-called “Ibid” has worked with thousands of other authors and has been quoted by tons of scholars discussing extremely different topics. “I couldn’t believe my eyes. Ibid is so versatile. They’ve been cited talking about animals, psychology, even how to be a better lover.” Paige immediately felt a deep emotional connection to Ibid, stating that the moment she saw one book quote them 4 times in a row, she knew they would be her new fave. “Clearly they’ve written some good shit. They have something to say about everything! And that’s what I love about them, they can’t be put in a box like all these other one-hit-wonder academics.”
However, Paige revealed it was actually quite a struggle to find anything Ibid wrote. “People talk about them all the time, but they don’t have any solo works. Maybe they’re all unreleased?” she wondered. She later added, “I hope someone posts links on Reddit or something.” After a week-long deep dive on the internet and the Robarts stacks, Paige feared she might have to give up on her dreams of finding any of Ibid’s work. “I guess I stumbled upon some lost media. Maybe I gotta look for a more popular author.” When asked about her resolution, she explained that she would persevere. “There’s this other author ‘Et al.’ I keep seeing everywhere. I may try to find some of their best works instead.”