When I applied for edit board (as The Daily Tar Heel staff affectionately calls it) around this time last year, I thought I wanted to be a journalist, covering everything from systemic racism and poverty, to politics in the age of President Barack Obama, to the most recent Kanye West or Allen Stone concert.
But by the time we had our first meeting in August, I had effectively dismissed my journalistic aspirations.
After a seven-week stint at my local newspaper back home, although it was a lot of fun and a great learning experience, I realized a career in journalism wasn’t for me.
Although I no longer desired to spend my college days studying in Carroll Hall and my post-grad life making my way through the city chasing a story, I still had a voice — a very opinionated voice, at that.
I still desired to find an outlet to speak my mind and share my perspective of the world: the perspective of a young, black male from North Carolina constantly trying to make sense of the world he inhabits, in this black body. I think I accomplished that this year and then some.
I have thoroughly enjoyed working with this group of people over these past months.
Through it all I gained the opportunity to meet people I probably wouldn’t have ever crossed paths with otherwise, hone my voice as a writer and simply engage with others about the climate of UNC, this town, the state and the greater world.
This readership didn’t always agree with everything I, or my fellow board members, had to say.
That’s perfectly fine.
