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opinion:
our view
A final look at
the semester
Ah, another semester
over, and what have we learned?
We learned to never,
ever take three classes back-to-back-to-back, as one of our
editors painfully learned this fall. Fortunately or unfortunately,
most of these things will soon be lost from memory.
But we at the On-line
Forty-Niner have learned and seen things this fall we will
not soon forget.
We were here with
you the entire semester, covering everything from terrorists
attacks on the United States to prepping for finals. We have
had our high points (the Sept. 11 coverage and our in-depth
look into education) and low points (like running the same
article twice in one issue and some questionable opinion pieces).
But remember, we
are students just like most of you. We made mistakes, but
we also put out issues we would be proud to show anybody.
So no matter what you think of the Forty-Niner, take into
account that it wasn't something flippantly thrown into campus
newsstands without any thought; hard work and long hours into
every page.
Obviously, our
defining moment came on Sept. 11. Only three weeks into the
semester, the Forty-Niner staff and reporters were pressed
into action to cover an unprecedented event -- and it almost
didn't happen.
As we entered our
newsroom with glazed looks that Tuesday morning, we had to
decide quickly how to handle the situation. When we heard
the reports of two bomb scares on campus broadcast over the
police scanner, we knew the campus would soon be evacuated.
We evacuated, but
soon regrouped in our SSPA basement office and convened to
put out the most important issue of the semester. Should we
have gone back? Probably not, but it was either that or Kinko's.
And the one good thing about being stuck in the dungeon of
the SSPA was apparently no authority figure felt the need
to check the building's depths.
We produced, what
we would like to think, an issue worthy of praise, filled
with national news and reactions, and local coverage as well.
The issue set the tone for a strong semester of newspapers
produced for your viewing pleasure four days a week (To us,
daily actually means four days a week).
Throughout this
semester, we have received kudos for jobs well done, jabs
for mistakes that shouldn't have been made. We've been called
both conservative and liberal, ignorant and intelligent. We've
taken this all in stride and relished these responses, even
those coming from The Union in the form of the "69er" (of
course, if we could put profanity in our headlines, the guess
is we would be considered "irreverent" and "on the edge" too).
So whatever your
thoughts were about the Forty-Niner this semester -- either
positive or negative -- we're just happy that we could provoke
these thoughts. After all, that is really the goal of any
publication, student or otherwise.
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