In the spirit of the end of the semester, I'd like to end by tying up some loose ends and recap my experiences this semester as a columnist. Bobby Knight, head basketball coach at Texas Tech, once said, "All of us learn to write in the second grade. Most of us go on to greater things."
He couldn't be further from the truth. This column certainly has been an exceptional learning experience in more ways than this space can afford me to describe.
First, I was gifted with some truly brilliant readers. The readers who replied to my various columns and rantings throughout the semester were as varied and diverse as University admissions purports. Undergraduate and graduate students, even professors, from a variety of disciplines with exquisitely diverse opinions graced my e-mail inbox throughout the semester. This does not take into account the e-mails I received from residents in Chapel Hill and alumni from literally all over the world who keep up through The Daily Tar Heel online.
If my column had one ultimate purpose this semester, it was to get people thinking. Whether that thinking ended up being productive and generated thoughtful internal debate I will never know. But whatever I had to say, readers did not hesitate to e-mail or call to let me know what they thought.
And I must say we certainly have a campus that can both creatively compliment and insult with equal vigor. I've been accused of being too liberal, too conservative, brilliant and moronic by my readers. You've described what you think I do to sheep in my free time, and how you think my columns are written in crayon on construction paper. Those certainly gave me the best laughs.
It was a bit shocking at first to get feedback describing to which bodily function my columns were roughly equivalent. Regardless, I am eternally grateful for the feedback. At the very least it let me know people out there were reading and cared enough to respond.
Many, in fact, questioned where I got the title for my column -- "The Raging Bull." To be honest, it's a shameless and unabashed rip-off (or homage depending on your point of view) to the film by the same name. The movie is two parts Greek tragedy and two parts "Rocky" without Sylvester Stallone's incomprehensible ramblings. Plus, I felt the film's title accurately reflected what this column would do -- present viewpoints in an unabashed manner that many might find rather striking.
This presentation manner, however, would not have been possible without the presence of many of the right people in the right places on the DTH staff. I think the other columnists would agree that Lucas Fenske, our editor, was genuinely concerned with letting each of us have our own voice and view not be stifled by editorial restraint.
With that freedom for all the columnists came great responsibility. I felt, week in and week out, that since we were trusted to write about whatever we wished our columns should at least be a reflection of our respective thoughts and opinions at the time. Fenske, along with the rest of the hard-working DTH staff, certainly has my possible highest praise.
