Whenever I am complaining about newspaper, if I am not talking to one of my friends in newspaper, I am confronted with the question “Why are you still doing it?” and my answer is always the same: “I can’t leave.” Over my four years I have done a lot of complaining, it’s just part of my nature (though believe me I have had plenty of valid reasons to complain), but the truth of the matter is that even after all this time, I haven’t left. I couldn’t have left, I have an intense pull back to room 701 (and before then the portable behind LBJ) and the memories and people attached to it in the same way I am.
I couldn’t leave because the poster wall behind the couch took multiple of my class periods. Mr. Garica has a large collection of posters he’s acquired from various conventions and such and for some reason it’s our business to make sure they end up on the wall, one of the displays has multiple of them behind the couch. First, I put them up with my first co-editor Susan with the help of Max for the taller posters, and then again and again as the district made us strip the walls to paint or something. This year will be my last year wrestling with these posters, the last time Mr. Garcia tells me it’s not a good idea to stand on furniture and I do it anyways, the last year agonizing over how everything looks together when he has a new poster he wants on the wall.
I couldn’t leave because who would I talk about Flipturn to? So many of my favorite newspaper experiences have revolved around music in some way. My favorite editors’ picks are always the ones about music, my favorite stories to write about relate to the music scene in Austin, and one of my favorite parts of newspaper will forever be SXSW. It all started with Flipturn though, an indie rock band I found freshman year and shared first with LiLi and then everyone else who would listen. My first year LiLi and I got to see them at SXSW and it was an incredible experience crowding close to the intimate stage, and later getting to interview them gave me a new passion for newspaper and covering things like these. Flipturn has remained part of my newspaper experience and this year to tie it all off I got to see them again with LiLi and my co-editor this year, Megan.
Now that I am leaving, it’s surreal to take in all the time I have spent in this metaphorical space, all the specific memories it elicits, and the things that have kept me tied here. It truly is unlike anything else and I couldn’t have done high school without it. Some of my favorite people are here, from LiLi (one of my first close friends my freshman year), to Sarah (one of my favorite people ever who for some reason keeps putting up with me), to Annabel, Sanwi, Asha, and Amelia (amazing people and friends who make this class the positive experience it is), to Megan (my literal rock and the fact that if I didn’t keep doing newspaper I wouldn’t have met her is enough to make me disregard all of the people I’ve had to get mad at). This has been my community for so long, and I’m very sad to leave, but again I can’t really leave (it will always be with me).
