Many, many changes have taken place in my life recently and I will be sharing them with you over the next several posts. One change is the ending of my position at Patriot Talon upon my graduation in May. I left the school and the newspaper with some final thoughts and I would love to share them with you.
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It’s not that I don’t like change. In fact, change excites me, but letting go of certain experiences in my life can be extraordinarily tough.
I’ve been like this since my childhood, actually. As silly as it may seem, I would get upset when my baseball season would end or my choir play was finished. During the event, though, I was alive. It always felt like the best moment of my life.
I think it’s because I exert every ounce of myself into my current circumstance. This characteristic ensures I truly commit and enjoy circumstances like jobs, college and relationships, but it definitely doesn’t make transitions easier.
In a few days, I’ll be graduating and also completing a two-year run at the Patriot Talon, the last of which I served as Editor in Chief. My time at the Talon has provided some of the toughest challenges I’ve ever faced. I’ve been a part of difficult circumstances I probably can’t accurately express, served on committees to hire a new adviser, built pages well into the early morning and even lost hope in journalism at certain points.
In retrospect I’ve learned irreplaceable skills, like building a newspaper and running the staff — but that’s only the beginning.
There really is nothing greater than the smell of coffee in the newsroom, watching the editors perfect their dart skills and attempting to outwit each other with sassy remarks.
The absolute best part of my time at the Talon was the people I was privileged to meet. It was seeing a writer excited about their first byline. It was the delirious late-night moments in the newsroom. It was knowing the staff inside and out, disappointed and elated, at the point of giving up and thriving.
I’ve met some of my best friends while working at the Talon, and perhaps that is why this goodbye is particularly hard. Despite this sadness, it was completely worth living in the moment.
So, I challenge you to immerse yourself in your current circumstance in order to gain the most character, cultivate the truest friendships and experience blissful interactions. It’s so important to chase after what you’re pursuing with full abandon, even if by doing so it hurts to let it go. I believe this is what it means to live life to its fullest.
French poet, journalist and author Anatole France explained it best when he wrote: “All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.”
I know my journalism professors would advise me to end here, but I can’t finish without saying thank you.
Bonnie Davis, your joy is infectious. Thank you so much for your encouragement and optimism through last year.
To Kevin Dilley, there is not a doubt in my mind that you care about students and want them to succeed. You helped me believe my writing can still change people’s lives. Thank you so much for everything.
Andy “Lieutenant Dandy” Taylor, I can’t believe we got through this past year. I’ll always remember your two a.m. newsroom pep talks. Thank you. I have no doubt that you will do even greater things with the Talon.
To Kamren Thompson, thank you for being my design sensei, but more importantly thank you for being an incredible friend and listening when there was no one else.
To my staff this past year, there honestly aren’t words for me to appropriately thank you. I could not have imagined a more committed and talented group of people to work alongside.
Thank you for letting me be a part of your lives.
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