5th Column: Farewell, 5th Column

Jess Cashin, Page Two Editor
December 2, 2011
Filed under Uncategorized

The time has come, the walrus said, to talk of many things, of shoes and ships and sealing wax…naw I’m just kidding. But the time has indeed come for me to leave the good ol’ U.S. of A. and travel abroad to foreign lands to study, learn, and get into all kinds of crazy hijinks…uh…I mean…become a more well-rounded person. Thus, it means that the time has also come for me to leave Page Two in the very capable hands of my favorite ginger, Amanda Finnell.

I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t even a little nervous to be leaving Page Two and America to go to Granada, Spain for 18 weeks. I’m actually quite terrified. I speak Spanish very well, but there’s still that part of me that’s afraid that some Spaniard is going to come up to me and say, “¡Bienvenidos a España! ¿Cómo te llamas?” and I’ll nervously respond, “Umm…yo…soy…biblioteca…grande…enchilada.” For those of you who don’t know Spanish, I will have just informed this person who welcomed me and asked me my name that I am a large library enchilada. Not the way that I want to start my time in Spain.

Change is scary. I know, newsflash, right? But seriously, doing new things is really nerve-wracking. When I first took over Page Two, I was texting the previous editor, the legendary Sara Toler (see: Bro Bible), non-stop at all hours of the night begging her for help. I’m surprised she didn’t block my phone number or take out a restraining order against me. But as the semester went on, I got more comfortable with writing 5^th column and editing the page in general, and, if I do say so myself, I think that I’ve done an okay job.

I think that that’s what I need to keep in mind. New things are always scary at first, but they always work out in the end. Now, since it’s my last column for a while, I’m gonna end all cheesy-like, with a quote from Legally Blonde (the musical): “There’s still so much to learn, so many dreams to earn, and even if I crash and burn ten times a day, I think I’m here to stay, I’m gonna find my way.” Keep that in mind as you head into next semester, make me proud, and try not to get too addicted to 5 Hour Energy (full circle!).