I started writing for the Phillipian by accident. Alison Murphy cornered me and asked me to write for girls swimming during my lower year, and I was too scared to say no so I accepted. After seeing my article in print that week, I was hooked. Granted, I was not the best writer to grace the pages of the Phillipian. I once wrote about a game that didn’t even happen. (Needless to say, my article was cut that week.) I learned a lot, and despite my occasional tendency for misinformation, I somehow managed to make my way onto the board. Being an associate with Gordon, Katie, and Merit and working under Alison Murphy, Brendan McManus, and Jon Hillman was an adventure. When the board changed over and CXXVII moved on, the newsroom became like a second home. Merit moved on to news, and Gordon, Katie and I were left to take over the wonderful world of sports. Editorship was far more fun than I imagined. There are very few places on campus where you can eat for free every week and get to watch Dan Gabel soar across the room on a rolling chair. We weren’t perfect, and we made mistakes, but we were always able to pick up the pieces and move on. And even though we disagreed, I really enjoyed working with Katie and Gordon. Gordon was a pleasure to work with, even though you didn’t come to a single board meeting this year, and you often disappeared on Tuesday nights. Late on Wednesday nights when I was exhausted he would always let me leave and would fix my pathetic headlines and photo captions. Despite our bickering and my constant reprimanding, I like to think we’re coming out of this as friends. Katie has more athletic talent in her big toe than I do in my entire body. If it weren’t for her I would have printed countless headlines and articles with sports terms that I thought I understood, but clearly didn’t. You were a better sports writer than I was, and I could always count on you to pound out an article late at night if one of our writers fell through. Without the Phillipian, I wouldn’t have gotten to know you as well, and for that I’m glad we’ve spent the past year together. Gabel, Megan, and Sam…I can’t begin to say how much respect I have for you. Your hard work and dedication to this paper are remarkable, and I feel lucky to have worked with you. Merit, Eliza, Dawson, Derek, Cornelia, Anna, Gabe, Badman, Justin, and Touhey…it’s been a wild ride. The Phillipian gave me more than I ever thought it would, and I have you to thank for it. To CXXIX, here’s to you. To Peter, Rush, and Will: good luck. Thanks for being patient with me and putting up with my constant (and I’ll admit, at times unnecessary) nitpicking. I have complete confidence in you, and I can only hope that you find what I did down in that basement. To CXXVIII, it’s been real. See you out there. ’06.
