EIC says bye— by the numbers

Three years dedicated to words, I will break down my time at Cardinal Points with numbers:

67: The number of issues of Cardinal Points to which I contributed.

66: The number of Wednesday nights and Thursday afternoons that I spent in the office in my three years of college, having become an associate editor in my second week.

Five: The number of positions I have held since joining the staff three years ago.

1,550: The number of dollars I earned in those positions in three years.

Four: The number of journalism conferences I went to, three of which were outside of New York state.

76: The number of stories and opinion pieces I have written, including this one.

And finally — 0: My number of regrets.

There is a time in every Cardinal Points editor’s career when she is ready to give up, when she wants her life back. I had those moments — two, that I can remember, when I really felt that I couldn’t go on. But it is in those moments that your fellow editors — your family — listen. They support you in your frustration and your sadness, and then they kick you in the ass and remind you what you knew all along:

Cardinal Points is why you miss wing night at the Monopole every Wednesday. It’s why you sit in a small room on the third floor of the Angell College Center until four in the morning on your birthday. It’s the satisfaction of accomplishment and the regret of mistakes that keep you from screwing up again. It’s the rush of an exciting story and the reverence of a poignant one. It’s the excitement of experiencing college as a student and as a journalist simultaneously. It’s sacrificing screaming “Yes, we can” while running with a crowd of Obama-crazed college students, so you can interview them, photograph them, document them in history as the night Plattsburgh State celebrated the first black president’s victory. It’s interviewing the father and the girlfriend of a student only a year younger than yourself who has died, so he can have a beautiful, meaningful memorial. It’s sitting next to your best friend every day while you try to figure out layout and heartbreak at the same time. It is absolutely the fondest and richest experience you will remember from college. It is college.

That’s what Cardinal Points is for me, and that’s why it is with tears in my eyes and a smile on my face I leave the newspaper that made me who I am — with the help of a few special people along the way:

Michelle, Colleen, Hutch and Hayner are ones who came before me, “made” me, “birthed” me, as they like to point out. They took a very naive 17-year-old girl and pushed me, pissed me off and made me fight for respect in the newsroom. They made me build my own self-confidence as a leader.

For those who are with me now, Mr. Murphy: I would absolutely not have survived being editor in chief of this newspaper without our weekly venting sessions. You are the most caring and endearing presence I have encountered in my college career. I thank you infinitely.

Matt: This is an intense learning experience and a vehicle for personal growth that you can never know until you experience it, and once you’re comfortable, it’ll be time to move on. There is a long journey ahead, so, my words of inspiration: Though you will face great challenges, I am confident that with your dedication and passion for Cardinal Points, you will be an efficient and thoughtful leader. Good luck. (And e-mail me!)

 Jen: You are such a special person, full of enthusiasm and talent. I have enjoyed all our time working together professionally, even some of the creepy assignments! I can’t wait to see your photos in The New York Times or National Geographic.