Two years as the editor of a campus newspaper is something I wouldn’t have wished upon anyone when I took the job. I must have been a masochist or a glutton for punishment to take the job with barely a staff.
Everything added up to angry e-mails from readers, frustrating errors and the 4 a.m. nights finishing an issue only to wake up at 7 a.m. to fix a technical difficulty. It all piled into a stack of expletives which I will keep out of this article. I think.
Enough complaining, Victor. You did enough of that during those two years.
Okay, so The Minaret has been the best experience of my life so far.
During that first difficult year, Dan Sullivan was the Assistant Editor-in-Chief. There isn’t a better person equipped to put up with my scrambling to rapidly improve the paper and my short temper that got me in trouble. Dan was so good-natured that it covered up my erratic moods and assuaged staff disenchantment.
Dan was different than me and, therefore, the perfect balance for me. He was calming and patient while I was anything but. Regardless, he was always my go-to guy when I buried myself in too much responsibility because I was afraid to trust anyone else. When intuition could only lead me so far, Dan-who knew more about journalism-brought the knowledge and the wisdom to contain my reckless drive.
Even though I’m the editor-in-chief, I’m apparently a lameduck enough that John Phifer is telling me I have a word limit, so I must move on.
My roommate for the past three years probably does not even know how much he helped with the newspaper. Matt Usher probably thinks I just remember that night I told him not to tell me how to do my job. I should have listened more. But all the times I vented my frustrations and bounced ideas off of him over a Guinness should have earned him a salary larger than Dr. Phil. I can’t quantify the whole teaching me to relax enough to laugh at myself and be more comfortable with myself, as he is. Without that, I definitely wouldn’t have been able to relax enough to get the staff to believe in me as much as I think they did in my second year.
The Student Activities Office staff at UT is a phenomenal team whose praises can’t be sung enough. Stephanie Russell Holz, Cheryl Chernoff and Brandon Chong do all the small things that allow organizations like The Minaret to just get down to business.
To the readers who picked up the paper and read it online, thank you for giving me the opportunity to give back to UT every Friday. Remember a great team of students do a thankless job each week to serve you as best they can.
And to the staff that is praying I don’t fail a class so I can definitely graduate. Thank every one of you for stepping up week to week and buying in to me despite the times I’m incredibly incorrigible and can’t explain why you’re wrong but make sure to let you know you are. Thank each of you for making me look so good-I mean better than I deserved good-as an editor and putting me at ease knowing The Minaret is in good hands. There are too many good people on the staff now and over the past two years to thank individually in this article. Just too many.
And then there is Charles McKenzie, 2007 Advisor of the Year-he paid me to mention that, but I would have done it for free-and Minaret adviser for the past three semesters. He is so much more than his title says. He has been a constant supporter, a constructive critic, a visionary and an inspiration. Most importantly he’s been a mentor. No matter the question, he always gave me an honest answer. Even when the staff was angry enough at me, he still found a way to nicely tell me, “Victor, you’ve been a jerk.”
Charles has been telling me to tell everyone about him: “You’re the wind beneath my wings.” Well Charles, I’m still not going to say it. It wouldn’t be fair. As a metaphor it doesn’t get near to encompassing your impact on me. When I considered leaving The Minaret, he put my worries in perspective and foresaw that if I left I would have regretted not being a part of the success The Minaret was about to embark on. He was correct.
Charles McKenzie made UT for me. We’re all lucky to have such a passionate teacher, adviser and friend.
By the way, Steve Knauss, don’t forget to enjoy The Minaret. You’ve got a great group of people around you. If you learn to love them and the newspaper at the same time even while you’re cursing them, then everything else is easy.