Edginess. That's what we wanted this fall, coming in as editors in chief. We wanted exciting news stories and in-depth investigative pieces. Little did we know what we were in for. Collectively, Colby students have had a tumultuous year. From the election to the sit-in to the economic crisis and major endowment losses to the April 12 incident, it's been a confusing, hard and enlightening year for all of us.
As I sit here on Miller Lawn, basking in the unseasonably warm 80 degree weather, I am struggling to find the words for my final opinions piece. Though my official role at the Echo is editing the News section, the opinion page has always held a special place in my heart.
I am looking, of course, at your shoes. What brand-style-color-fabric-country-of- origin, sure, but also how you wear them. What you wear them with. Whether I want to ask if they come in my size (an embarrassingly hard-to-find 5-1/2), or quote that Teen Queen of Mean Girls fame and say that they are the "fugliest" shoes I have ever seen.
It's been four issues since I had a column (and that one only online), so you'd think I'd have no problem coming up with something for my last one. But that itself is a problem: there's so much! Four years of being a student here, three years being pretty involved with this paper, one hell of a semester to be the editor of this section.
It seems our fellow students have realized that we are a valuable source of information regarding Colby's long and often confusing history. We have gotten numerous inquiries about whether various Colby legends are true, exaggerated, or a complete pile of bull-poop.
In the University of Bristol Epigram I read a feature on studying abroad in America-a piece not too unlike the one I needed to write. The article begins with a fictional account of an American college party, "a boozy 20th birthday celebration," gone wrong: campus security bursts into the room and commandeers all drinks before "breathalizing every single party guest.
The past few weeks have seemed a tumultuous time on the Colby campus. But in the midst of student protest and demands on the administration, I urge my fellow students to remember how fortunate we are to be at Colby. Three weeks from now, I will close my notebook and put away my pen for the last time as a student of Colby College.
Here's a theory on why people often de-validate nature as the underlying reason behind human shortcomings. The world, as we know it, is a system of hierarchy, with developed nations, developing nations and underdeveloped nations. The line between rich and poor, powerful and powerless, intelligent and not so, is regrettably mostly impenetrable.
This week's will be the last column from increasingly elderly Bassett for the 2008-09 academic year. Can you hear the stricken members of the Class of '09 softly sobbing while they read Bassett's last list of the Outlandish for the year? Of course the other three classes still rejoice in the certainty that Bassett-never retired-will be back, one hopes, to amuse you all for another Echo year (2009-10!!!!!).
When someone yelled out "Where's Pat Boland?" at the student forum following Easter Sunday, the Student Government Association (SGA) President quietly answered, "I'm right here." And "right here" is where he, along with the rest of the SGA has been since we arrived on campus in September.