Opinion

This is it.

This is the 27th time I write to you as editor-in-chief and the last. It is now my time to say goodbye.

My term as your editor is now at an end. It has been the honor of my life to be editor of this newspaper. I will continue to be grateful for the opportunity Auburn gave me to serve. I will never hold a position higher or a covenant more sacred than that of editor-in-chief of The Auburn Plainsman.

During a job interview a few weeks ago, a prospective employer asked me about my current hobbies and said I couldn’t count working for The Plainsman as one of them.

I quickly and wittily replied, “Of course not, because it’s not a hobby, it’s a way of life.”

The two interviewers in the room and I laughed because that statement is hilarious in the purest it’s-funny-because-it’s-completely-true kind of way.

When I get older and start looking back on my years at Auburn, I know what I’m going to remember most.

Writing a farewell column should be easy for me. I wrote one for this paper at the end of fall semester in 2006.

It was a difficult thing to write then.

It’s harder now.

In the spring of 2007, this campus learned David Ingram would become The Plainsman’s next editor.

I really did not want to come back, but David offered me my old job as Opinions Editor, and David Ingram is a difficult person to say “no” to.

I am probably the worst decision-maker ever.

When it comes to buying shampoo and conditioner, I stand in the aisle for long periods of time meditating on which brand I should try next.

When it comes to choosing what to wear for important occasions (which does not happen on a daily basis thank goodness), I try on every outfit combination in my closet and my roommates’ closets and then seek their approval.

When Mr. Williams picks up his pen to make his batch of corrections to this issue of The Plainsman, we know there is a very good chance he will mark this column with a big “X.”

That’s how modest this wonderful man is. He would murder us if he knew we had planned to do this.

Ed Williams has been The Plainsman’s faculty adviser for 23 years. He is a big part of why this paper has continued to function week after week, year after year.

Like most students, we at The Plainsman are happy the school year is coming to an end. The break is needed.

But with that relief and happiness comes the sadness of seeing some of our best and brightest staff members go out into the “real world.”

This yearly exodus never gets any easier, and so we use this space to honor those who have made this paper something those who work here can be proud of.

Cliff McCollum was our Opinions Editor this year, and he served this paper well while in this position.

Having been at Auburn four years, I’ve read my share of sappy, resilient, nostalgic and all-around emo “farewell” columns written by graduating Plainsman staffers.

I’ve always laughed at them, and even as I am about to graduate, I feel no different.

There’s no reason to get emo about graduating.

Sure, college was an absolute blast, and it has taught me so many things about life, whether in the classroom or not.  

But life is just starting.

As Bob Dylan once accurately stated: “The times, they are a-changin.”

Replace the word “times” with “budgets” and you’ve got the idea for Alabama’s current woes.

Everyone in this state knows the education budgets are going to be slashed across the board, from K-12 to higher education.

We may soon hear words like “proration” bandied about again, words we haven’t really heard around Alabama since most of us were in middle school.