Final Word

It’s hard for me to imagine that there was once a point in my fledgling Boston University existence when I had no idea where The Daily Free Press’ office was. I remember unsuccessfully trying to call my College of Communication peer adviser for directions as I frantically paced between Barnes & Noble and UBurger. I forget how I eventually found my way into the open house, but two-and-a-half years later, I don’t know how I’m supposed to get out.

As I lord over The Free Press for one last night from my wheeled leather throne, I’m thinking about how many unpleasant things are in this office. The most coveted piece of furniture is affectionately called “scratchy couch” (there are unconfirmed reports a small animal was once found dead inside), opening the sports fridge is more dangerous than breathing in asbestos and almost everyone has had a terrible chair-with-one-missing-wheel accident. Then there’s that giant purple frog…

But in the end, these things are just things. And myself and countless other editors have thrown our GPAs and whatever social lives we had to the wind, not for the bylines and bolded names in the masthead, but for the unforgettable FreeP experience. Boston is a media hub teeming with writing internships – I know that was a major attraction for many of us as prospective students. But what kind of internship lets you attend a Jack Parker press conference, interview Mayor Menino, take pictures of President Barack Obama or unleash 800 words of what you think about the new Harry Potter movie on the entire campus? And where else do you get to recognize the excitement in a new writer’s eyes when undertaking the daunting but thrilling task of being responsible for updating 16,000 of their classmates on the latest news?

I suppose as editor-in-chief of BU’s only newspaper for a semester, I might reasonably be expected to offer some sweeping pronouncements about the state of journalism or the secret to making the content in your paper more popular than your crossword and Sudoku. I’m not sure if that mystery will ever be solved.
But I do know what it’s like to be colleagues with the hardest-working people on campus. And while I’m going to miss that office and this paper, most of all, I will miss those people who I know are going to add to The Free Press’ proud legacy.

Keep on FreePin’ on.

-Neal J. Riley

Fall ’10 Editor-in-Chief