This may be the last article I ever write for a newspaper. My impending graduation means graduate school, and that graduate school program is not in journalism.
Hopeful as I am about freelance writing, this may very well be the last time I sit at my computer, mere minutes before deadline, searching for words that mean anything.
My time at The Signal (a meager one-and-a-half years, nothing compared to the lifers who have spent every waking moment of college in the student center basement) has been exceptional, not because of the work but because of the experience.
I have learned more about delegation, responsibility, ambition and limitation from working on formatting a movie review at 3 a.m. than I ever did from a job or a class.
I have worked with people who get no sleep and little pay, who care about nothing but making a respectable newspaper, who are heartbroken when that dream falls short.
If I have left this office with nothing else, I know now that the Signal staff, I imagine like most other campus organizations, takes pride in what they do right. And takes responsibility for what they do wrong.
I wanted this position because I felt it had potential. Now I know that with that potential comes a great deal of limitation. In the immortal words of the Rolling Stones, you can't always get what you want.
I wanted the A&E section under my leadership to be the best it has ever been. I don't think I've reached that goal.
But know that I have tried to do this subject some justice. The attempt to keep you interested was heartfelt.
To my writers, you have been a pleasure. I've been in that position, trying to meet a deadline, dodging calls and e-mails from your editor because you haven't got quotes or a lede and you are already two hours over. I appreciate all the hard work you've done.
To my friends, the staff I've worked with so closely since I was just a wise-ass entertainment assistant, thank you. You have believed in me more than I did. I never would have joined staff had it not been for the encouragement of my first news editor.
I never would have been an all-important news editor myself if you did not ask me to. And I never would have felt comfortable making the changes in the A&E section if you were not behind me. I will miss you all, and carry you with me.
To the campus, those of you who read this paper and my section, thank you. Although sometimes we may lose sight in the blur of layout and corrections, we do this for you.
