COLUMN: Editor says good-bye to the only world she knows
Kristina Calvird
Issue date: 4/21/09 Section: Perspectives
It's always been tradition that graduating editors write a good-bye column. So here it is, my last article for The Michigan Journal. Just the thought of that sits uncomfortably in my mind. I've been writing articles for the last four years. It's become second nature for me to sit down and just start typing.
I've held the highest position on the newspaper, I've written well over 200 articles, and interviewed several amazing people, and I'm not even a communications major. So why have I stuck around for all this? I've asked myself this question many times and have never been able to come up with an answer.
When people ask me how I got the job, my response is "I sort of fell in the position and never left." While I've had many opportunities to walk-out, I never did. The newspaper is all I know.
I started with the newspaper as a freshman. I actually interviewed for the position the day after my high school prom, up do and all. I was asked if I would be comfortable as a copy editor. I said yes, not knowing what a copy editor was. I figured if I was hired, I would learn later, and that's exactly what happened. In fact, I've been figuring it out as I go for the last four years. I was hired before I even graduated from high school. I don't even know what it's like to go to class and then go home. My days often consist of MJ, class, delivering papers, class, covering an event, homework and more MJ.
While I'm not complaining, there have been times I wish I could just go home after class. I have never once regretted getting involved with the paper. In the last year I have spent more hours in the MJ office than my own home. I feel like I like talk to MJ editors and SAO more than my own parents sometimes. I have spent many hours on campus. Many hours in the production office and countless naps on the office couch.
While this is the part of the column where I tell everyone to make the most of their college experience and get involved to feel more connected to their campus, I'm not going to do all that. If you want to get involved, you're going to. Nothing that I am going to say is going to change your mind. No matter how hard the university tries, in my eyes UM-D will always be a commuter campus. But this doesn't take anything away from students' experiences.
I've held the highest position on the newspaper, I've written well over 200 articles, and interviewed several amazing people, and I'm not even a communications major. So why have I stuck around for all this? I've asked myself this question many times and have never been able to come up with an answer.
When people ask me how I got the job, my response is "I sort of fell in the position and never left." While I've had many opportunities to walk-out, I never did. The newspaper is all I know.
I started with the newspaper as a freshman. I actually interviewed for the position the day after my high school prom, up do and all. I was asked if I would be comfortable as a copy editor. I said yes, not knowing what a copy editor was. I figured if I was hired, I would learn later, and that's exactly what happened. In fact, I've been figuring it out as I go for the last four years. I was hired before I even graduated from high school. I don't even know what it's like to go to class and then go home. My days often consist of MJ, class, delivering papers, class, covering an event, homework and more MJ.
While I'm not complaining, there have been times I wish I could just go home after class. I have never once regretted getting involved with the paper. In the last year I have spent more hours in the MJ office than my own home. I feel like I like talk to MJ editors and SAO more than my own parents sometimes. I have spent many hours on campus. Many hours in the production office and countless naps on the office couch.
While this is the part of the column where I tell everyone to make the most of their college experience and get involved to feel more connected to their campus, I'm not going to do all that. If you want to get involved, you're going to. Nothing that I am going to say is going to change your mind. No matter how hard the university tries, in my eyes UM-D will always be a commuter campus. But this doesn't take anything away from students' experiences.
Be the first to comment on this story