Give me The Daily or give me death

This column marks my emancipation from being editor in chief of The Daily. I've held the position for the last two quarters, trying (but sometimes failing) to produce a newspaper which the campus would find relevant and useful.

Producing a daily newspaper five times a week with a staff of mostly part-timers is a Herculean task -- far greater than I expected when I started back in January. I feel more mentally and physically exhausted than I've ever felt, but I wouldn't trade my experience for anything in the world.

In the last four years, I've literally given my blood, sweat and tears to improving both the paper and my own skills -- but I've gotten back from The Daily. I've had the privilege of bearing witness to WTO and Democratic National Convention protests, the NCAA Sweet 16, anarchists in Eugene (six months before WTO) and a Rose Bowl.

While working for The Daily, I've met some very intelligent and creative people, many of whom are/were my co-workers. The camaraderie of working with them comes foremost to mind when I think about my experience at The Daily.

The following are some of the people who made the paper better than it would have been without them:

Jenny Buchanan, Kathleen Belew, Matt Chernicoff, Chelsea Page, Nathan Fowler, Shaun Tungseth, Mark Santschi, Jeff Wilkson and Jon Reese have all made indispensable contributions to the paper as first-year staff members.

Mark Bergin voiced sage and wise opinions that brought balance to the paper. Jon Saperstein kept the newsroom loose and relaxed with his sarcastic tongue. Jonathan Charnitski gave a focus to the opinion section that it'd lacked for a long time. Randy Trick brought consistency back to the news section. Paul Condra and Kris Kendall guided a young Intermission staff to produce some very good issues.

Shannon Benine grew and nurtured the photo staff back toward the great, fearless machine it was when I started. James Ramsay and Jimmy So brought a passion and commitment to journalism that I wish everyone shared.

Elizabeth Tutmarc made the paper more respectable by purging countless errors with the merciless wrath of her red proofing pen.

Finally, without Kristin Henderson as managing editor, I doubtlessly would have ended this quarter in a mental institution. She cares more about The Daily than anyone I've known in four years here and in the fall she'll get my desk. I look forward to reading the papers that she and her staff will produce.

In closing, The Daily is your newspaper. It belongs not to a group of cliquish journalism-junkies (as we at The Daily can easily and often delude ourselves into believing), but to you, the students. If you don't like what you see or think you can do better, please come in and give it a try.

I'm glad I did.