It’s hard to imagine that my journey here at Long Beach is really at an end. I have worked for the Daily Forty-Niner and Dig Magazine for two-and-a-half-years, worked under five different editor in chiefs, and written more than 75 stories. If I stay here any longer, they should just set up a bed for me in the SSPA Building so I’ll never have to leave.
I entered this campus in the fall of 2003, a young freshman who knew no one except my own twin sister and had no clue what I was going to major in.
After meeting some amazing people in the dorms, I met a young Bradley Zint. He told me that I should get involved with the Forty-Niner and promised it would be fun, because I enjoyed writing.
So he dragged me into the newsroom, where I met my first Editor in Chief, Jamie Rowe. After the last diversions editor graduated, she gave me the position, even though I had no real experience writing or running a page. I guess she thought, because I was a hardcore tattooed punker, I would do fine. I did.
Over the years, I have interviewed some of my favorite musicians and saw a side of the music industry that few get to see. My most favorite interviews had to be with Dustin Kensrue, Haste the Day, Norma Jean, Emile Hirsch and Underoath.
My first interview was nerve-racking, and I know I tend to mumble, but after pounding my head against the keyboard, I believe my voice finally came through in my work.
The Daily Forty-Niner has made me a loudmouth – well, OK – (we all know) I already was one.
If I could do it all over again, I would change nothing. I guess were to do anything differently, I would’ve tried harder to piss off the Union Weekly because they pretty much left me alone until they used the cartoon that Julio Salgado drew of me and Photoshopped it, so now I am a green praying mantis with huge knockers. Bravo.
Even though the journalism department is in a drafty basement, which I like to call the “taker of souls,” I will miss this place. I will miss visiting with adviser Barb Kingsley-Wilson in her office, taking naps on the various couches and giving all of the new writers a hard time. I think you will all miss my dirty mouth and my big laugh, which echoes off the walls, making me sound like a mass murderer.
So this is my farewell to you all. Thanks for reading and, if this is the first time you’ve even noticed my name, well goodbye to you, too, or just until I run into you at The Red Room. Remember that life is too short, so just go and do what you want, and fuck the rest.
Brigid McGuire is a senior journalism major and the managing editor of Dig Magazine.
Even as I write this, it still hasn’t sunk in. I’m finally leaving Cal State Long Beach after five-and-a-half years, but I’m still in the frame of mind where I’m ready to start classes again and get back to work at the Daily Forty-Niner by the time late January rolls around.
Come 2008, however, I won’t be buying $90 textbooks I’ll probably open only three times or worrying about what classes I need to take in order to graduate. Instead, I’ll be shaking hands with the real world while hoping that it doesn’t completely crush my spirit. Yes, I’m that optimistic.
Then again, it’s not like I didn’t see any of this coming. I actually graduated last spring and received my diploma, yet I decided to extend my tour of duty with the Forty-Niner army through the rest of this year (Extension Services is a wonderful thing).
Although I decided to stay because I figured it was the perfect way to put off my grand entrance into the real world while getting extra experience in order to have a better chance at scoring that cushy $30,000-a-year job (journalism fever: catch it!), it helps that I’ve met a lot of wonderful and intelligent people at the Forty-Niner. As someone who has always looked for a sense of belonging, this was invaluable.
I remember being absolutely intimidated the first time I walked through the door of the Forty-Niner newsroom when I was an 18-year-old freshman with dreams of taking the journalism world by storm (of course, by “18-year-old freshman with dreams of taking the journalism world by storm” I really mean “21-year-old senior with no idea of what I wanted to do with my life other than that I hoped writing would be involved”).
However, everyone on the staff was supportive and not disdainful of me for trying to get experience so late in my college career. To everyone on that fall 2005 staff, you’re the main reason why I’m writing this right now.
I admit that I’m still not sure what I want to do with my life, but I’ve had a lot of unforgettable experiences thanks to the Forty-Niner, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world.
And I know this sounds cheesy, but I have a bit of advice for everyone still in school: Be fearless, whether it’s in your career pursuits or your social life. In my time here, there was so much more I could have done because I wasn’t fearless enough and I still regret it.
Still, I’m glad I was fearless enough to walk through the door of that newsroom.
Adam Pringle is a senior journalism major and the diversions editor for the Daily Forty-Niner.
Telephone calls warm the ear on cold days, but are a nuisance on hot ones. Paper cuts sting. Strangers yell at you trying to force in their ideas. This might not sound pleasant, but the inconvenience can’t compare to the proud feeling from seeing your name in print and knowing you contributed to the world. This was my life at the Daily Forty-Niner.
I am the only one in my family to go to college, and for some people it might not be a big deal to work on the campus newspaper, but for my family, and me, it was huge.
What can I possibly say about working at the Daily Forty-Niner? I’m glad I worked with such a crazy and dedicated group of people despite my lack of experience. I’ve learned a lot about news writing and communicating with people, which I know is going to help me in the future. Reporting also cures shyness, and thank goodness for that.
It was exciting writing last-minute articles under a heavy-ticking clock. It doesn’t sound so pleasant, but it’s a rush. There’s nothing like a little rush to get your morning started, as Investigations Editor Lauren Williams once said.
It’s been a difficult road for me because I had only decided to take up a journalism minor early this year, so I had to put a lot of effort into my writing skills while being surrounded by journalism majors. During this year, in my venture through journalism, I also learned that journalists mean business. Their passion started to grow on me.
Working for the Forty-Niner is for those who are truly dedicated. Otherwise, don’t bother. Most of the staff juggles multiple jobs (forgetting to give me a discount for Disneyland), school, the Forty-Niner and who knows what else. I respect them for that.
I remember how weird it seemed the first time I saw the funny quotations the staff posts on the wall, which were taken from others in the newsroom. I even had the chance to contribute to one the first time I did an article as assistant city editor. Those Daily Forty-Niner staffers are a crazy bunch, but I know I will never forget them.
Roxanne Moreno is a senior English major and the assistant city editor for the Daily Forty-Niner.
