First of all, I have to rant. Let me say what I’ve been wanting to say for two and a half years, and then I’ll get sappy. It’s been a policy at Technician for as long as I’ve been here that anyone currently working at Technician can’t reply to comments on any articles. 

Some of you commenters are horrible, though.

Some of you seem to forget that we are college students doing this by choice to contribute to the well-being of our campus community. Many of us don’t even want to go into journalism. We are genuinely doing this as a fun hobby that maybe we could add to our résumé one day. It’s a thankless job, and the comments don’t make it any better. It says more about you taking the time out of your day to harass a college student writing about a wrestling match than it does about me.

But maybe you do know that we’re just college students, and it makes you feel good to demean a student for a simple mistake or a differing opinion when you graduated 20 years ago.

Maybe take 10 seconds out of your day to compliment an article for once. Maybe take 10 extra seconds to think, “Is it really worth it to attack someone who I don’t know who made a measly $10 to write this piece for the community?” Please, just give us a break for once. Anyway… look out for me in the comments after I graduate.

With that being said, I also had a lot of good times at Technician. I can’t imagine getting through these past few years without the friends I’ve made along the way. These friends have made me thankful for the long nights and the stressful times.

I want to thank Dan Gilliam and Rachael Davis for being great leaders, Antonio Dinkens for setting me up for this year, Sarah Newton for catching most of my errors before they get ripped apart in the comments (and dealing with my article summaries always coming in late), and Alicia Thomas, Jaylan Harrington and Abbie Davies-Cutting for supporting me through this tough year. I also want to thank them, and everyone else at Technician, for being my friends.

I’m going to shout-out Rachael, Sarah, Alicia, Abbie, Ryan Farischon, Rachel Amponsah, Vasanth Ramdas, Camden Speight, Ali Hurst and Joey Rivenbark for getting through a rough senior year together. I look forward to seeing you all grow and do good in the future. 

Also… shoutout to Lauren Greene and Laura Mooney. I don’t know why, but they deserve it.

And I want to say good luck to Culture Editor Sam Overton and Assistant Culture Editor Myra Bari. I know sometimes I make this job sound rough, but I wouldn’t change it for anything. The Culture section is on an upswing right now, and I can’t wait to see you take it higher than I ever could. If you ever need anything, you’ve got my number.

I make a point to say CULTURE editors because, with the name change, I’m not technically being replaced. I’m the Arts & Culture Editor until further notice. Fitzgerald said something about God’s eyes looking down and judging the world as a moral wasteland. That’ll be me. 

I’m returning to NC State for my Master’s Degree in international studies. I look forward to being able to keep up with Technician in my last few years at the University. And mayyyybe I’ll find some time to read an article or two, find an error and harass a writer for it.

Long live the Oxford comma!