Editor finishes term, time to focus on future

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After three full years at CM LIFE I
am finally saying goodbye. It’s been a long haul, a tough road and an
experience I am thankful for.
In the fall and spring I will teach freshman composition
as a graduate assistant in the English department and finish up with
a Master of Arts in English Language in Literature in May 2001.
I leave CM LIFE with confidence in the staff, hope
for the future of the paper and a heart filled with thanks.
I also leave knowing I learned more than how to be
the editor of a student-run newspaper. CM LIFE has been my life and
the lessons I learned will serve me well:
First and foremost, I learned that you must be able
to laugh at yourself. When I entered a classroom to give an hour-long
presentation I thought I was wearing a professional, yet modern dress.
I found out – after I stood in front of the class for the full 60 minutes
– that my apparel was nearly see-through. (Thanks LIFE Photographer
Tony Cepak and LIFE News Editor Sarah Leach for waiting until the end
to tell me I looked like a flasher.)
I can finally laugh about the incident, but it took
a little while.
Sometimes you just have to let it go. As editor I
receive a number of letters, e-mails, phone calls and visits from the
public. For the most part, the people who contact me will tell me what
I’ve done wrong. At first, I took everything personal and wanted to
rationalize everything I did. Then, when my life outside of CM LIFE
was suffering, I began taking complaints and looking into suggestions
I thought were reasonable, apologizing when I really had screwed up,
and letting the rest go.
I’m not perfect and that’s OK. Sometimes you just
have to walk away.
That lesson persisted, however, when I realized that
sometimes people contact you because they just want to be heard. You
don’t always have to come up with a solution, you don’t even have to
agree with the complaint. I simply found that listening is sometimes
the best way to end a conflict when a man called about an article and
ended his yelling spree by thanking me. “I only wanted to be heard,
to have someone hear me,” he said. Lesson learned.
I need sleep. That one was simple to learn. After
working a 13-hour day, only to crawl into bed exhausted, I was awakened
by a phone call with the messenger barking instructions about a fire
at one of the residence halls. Three hours later I crawled back into
bed and realized that no matter what I believe, sleep is a necessity
and three years of this stuff has been enough. Exciting, but enough.
Follow your head and, when applicable, your heart.
This was a lesson I learned in dealing with nearly every aspect of the
paper. While I will always regret some of the decisions I made, most
I do not. I used my knowledge to make choices, but when my gut told
me I was doing the wrong thing, I listened.
Use your mistakes to grow. But make sure you do not
repeat them. Enough said.
And always, always thank the people who helped you
along the way. Jim Wojcik, director of Student Publications, has guided
me to a point in my life where I can look comfortably at myself in the
mirror. He saw me through tears, frustration, anger and confusion. He
took late-night phone calls and frantic messages. He let me fall on
my face and then picked me back up to help me find the right path. He
is my mentor and, as soon as he is no longer my adviser, I will think
of him as my friend.
Thanks to Dr. Eric Johnson for letting me write the
story of what “Nazi Terror” meant to you as a person who endured years
of difficult research and stories, emotions and pain, and not simply
as an author giving a summary of your book. You’ve touched my life forever.
Thank you to Charter Schools Development and Performance
Institute Director Mary Kay Shields for letting me write Caroline’s
story. I will never forget that piece.
Much thanks to the professors, staff and administrators
who encouraged me, offered constructive criticism and always told me
the truth, whether I could print it or not.
Thank you to the number of people who allowed me
to intrude on their lives for the sake of CM LIFE. Thank you for trusting
me with your words.
Thank you to my staff members who allowed me to both
teach and learn, live and grow.
And thank you to Gary Friedman for waiting for me.
It’s been a long, tough road and I am almost to the
end. I will look back with fondness, but it’s time to move on. I’m ready.
LIFE Editor Angie Fenton can be contacted via e-mail
at onyx36@hotmail.com.