When students return to campus in the fall, I will be one of the editors-in-chief of the Carletonian. While I am incredibly grateful and honored to be able to serve this role, this transition in the newspaper will mean that our current editors-in-chief will have graduated. The shift in power that is to come will be on the very bitter end of bittersweet, and because they would never stand to let me tell them this in person, I want to detail the crucial role our (not-exactly-yet) outgoing editors have had on my life from the very beginning of my time at Carleton.
I came to Carleton almost entirely alone. There was precisely one student that I had met before moving into 7th Watson on a sweltering September morning. My fresh start was largely intentional, but for those first few days of New Student Week it was hard not to feel isolated. That very first Friday night, I went to New Student Week Shabbat. There, I met both of my future newspaper overlords, and with my first interaction with Bax Meyer was him yelling “Sheket!” (the word for quiet in Hebrew), I was a bit scared of them.
` After my first day of college classes, I received an GIF-peppered email letting me know I was chosen to serve as a beat writer for the Carletonian, and that I should come to a pitch meeting later that night. I found a seat in a room packed with editors and eager new writers, and in a completely different newspaper model than I had seen before, I decided to take a few pitches.
The two pitches I took turned into three, then four, and by the end of the term I had racked up 12 articles. I kept coming back to write more and more and explore new sections because I knew I had the support behind me. Even though I was just a new writer, the editor-in-chief (and the God-emperor of the News section) took me under their wing, letting me stay late after meetings to ask questions and building my confidence in my own writing.
I had planned to continue as a writer the following term, but after a couple of emails over winter break and a conversation over LDC dinner my first night back for the term, I became the new viewpoint editor. This was a key step in my journey with the paper, it meant that I was responsible for a whole section and the Carletonian would become a major part of my life that I had to commit to. I was nervous at first, and I felt lost at times. As Carleton students were grappling with complex political issues at home and abroad, they had a lot of opinions which became viewpoint articles. But, I always had two editors in Becky and Bax to congratulate me on a great section, to help me reason with potential writers and to be an extra set of eyes. My first few terms as a viewpoint editor not only helped to build my confidence as a leader, but showed me that there was a place for me among the ranks of the Carletonian.
While I thoroughly enjoyed my first year at Carleton, I’d be lying if I said it was an easy three terms. Transitioning to college is tough for everyone, and because I had so few prior connections, I was desperate for some role models. Luckily for me, I had the two best role models a person could ask for, and through meals in Sayles, emotional conversations in dorm lounges, stupid memes sent in late-night text messages and a whole lot of strange dance moves, Becky and Bax got me through my freshman year largely unscathed. They were there for me at my lowest, helping me process death, conflict and disappointment, and also at my best, celebrating with me when I started testosterone and was offered a dream fellowship.
This term, I was welcomed into the fold of Carletonian executive editorship when I became managing editor. I knew that this was the big leagues, a heavy burden of responsibility for the newspaper was to be placed upon me, but I also knew that this meant I had more freedom to suggest changes, do recruiting and organize the paper. While it took some getting used to, I realized that apart from learning the skills of what it takes to run a newspaper, my biggest priority should be to form meaningful relationships with my fellow Carletonian staff. I needed to be someone else’s Becky and Bax or at least try to be. I’ve tried my best, which has resulted in some of the section editors calling me the “fun uncle” of the newspaper.
All of this is to say that my role on the Carletonian and in the college at-large would not be possible without our incredible editors-in-chief. Becky and Bax have changed me as a writer, as an editor, as a leader and simply as a man, and they have changed my life for the better. Something I always said to my summer camp kids on the last night of camp is “if even one of you weren’t here, this place would be different, and we would be worse off without you.” This saying is no better exemplified by the presence of our senior editors-in-chief since the day I arrived in Northfield. Becky and Bax, I’m going to miss you guys, and my only hope is that my reign as editor-in-chief of the Carletonian can have even a fraction of a percent of the impact the two of you have had. I thank the both of you from the bottom of my heart for making me into the man I am today. And I’m not crying, you’re crying. No, you shut up.
