I always wondered what it’d be like to write one of these columns. Most people tend to write about their sentimental moments on the paper, but as someone who hasn’t attended a deadline night in over a year, there isn’t much to say. To set the record straight, I enjoyed my time on the paper and felt like I got the opportunity to talk to people who I didn’t know existed. But that aside, this year has been one of the most tumultuous and confusing years of them all. 

For context, the current graduating seniors have had the very, very pleasant time of switching journalism advisors year-to-year, from Douglas List (2021) to Connie Chen (2022) and now current advisor Michael Miller (2023). 

During List’s time, we were given one of the best advisors possible in the form of a strict, grumpy former Los Angeles Times editor. Once his time was up, under the guidance of Ms. Chen (who had prior experience as an advisor), we were led by seniors who had the pleasure of working under List’s system for years; those who had the experience and knowledge to run the paper similar to pre-COVID times. When they graduated, we lost a majority of that and I think we’re starting to see the effects of List’s departure on the Journalism program this year. 

From what I remember, Journalism I was austere and unforgiving. Current events quizzes were miserable, List regularly massacred our essays and work was all-round held to a higher standard. The lack of anything in Journalism I last year and this year have resulted in an overall weaker publication; you can tell by just reading some of the articles we publish now. 

Underclassmen used to have to actually compete to get their works published and weren’t just gifted those opportunities because they were in the program. It’s especially irresponsible to increase the workload of Journalism II students by having them edit those articles; it shouldn’t be expected of editors, all of which are in their junior or senior year, to care about those articles when they already have enough on their plate.

 I don’t feel that I’ve earned the right to complain too much, especially given my relatively lax role as a staff writer. And before I end this portion, I’d just like to thank all of my editors over the years for putting up with my articles and procrastination. 

Pivoting to something positive, I think my favorite time in the Journalism program was either my time in J1 or when I was writing lengthy reviews for shows and movies (much to the dismay of my editors). I remember multiple times sitting with Reyna and trying to cut word count for my reviews but somehow seeing the counter go up. 

And of those I regularly talked to in J1, there was camaraderie among us in the sense that we were all terrible at journalism. We’d chat during lectures, beg Charles to help on current events, freak out last minute about unwritten articles and all of that. Despite it ending early, it was fun in hindsight. 

As for the future, I don’t think I’ll be doing too much journalism, it’s just not for me; it’s not entirely out of the equation in college so who knows. List occasionally sends me email reminders of new movie reviews he writes, so I’ll be following in his footsteps and shoot back some of my own. 

A final thank you to the staff over the years, List, Chen, Miller and those I’ve interviewed (especially the sports coaches that actually reply). Writing for The Bull’s Eye was truly a pleasure.