Burglary, Cancun and GaGa

‘I really hope you don’t miss your flight over this, Charlie.’

It was my freshman year and I was a mere five hours away from departing to Cancun for spring break and this was a Daily Free Press editor’s response when I told him I only had two sources for my story about tax cuts being offered to recent graduates in the state of Maine.

At the time, I couldn’t have been more appalled that my peer, albeit my editor, was suggesting that I forgo my trip to Mexico in order to hound a representative from Maine (a state that I am only familiar with as the birthplace of L.L. Bean and Rogues Gallery) to get some quotes about taxes (isn’t that what Quicken is for?).

But looking back, the ridiculousness of his statement is only another testament of the pride that every staff member takes in the paper we fondly call ‘The FreeP.’

While my musings haven’t stretched much further than The Muse (see what I did there?), I couldn’t be more thankful for getting involved with the paper and not some other dirty, propaganda-infused daily email ‘news’ blast from a certain establishment.

My FreeP career began early in my freshman year when I quite literally took a CD to review without permission from The Muse’s mailbox. Once I was scolded and subsequently instructed that I actually needed to get an editor’s approval before reviewing an album, The Muse editor at the time was gracious enough to let me review the disc anyway.

The band was the IV Thieves ‘-‘- I haven’t heard of them again either ‘-‘- and my review was a brief 130 words long. But they were probably the most thought out 130 words I have ever written. I was a freshman at a huge school, dealing with upper classmen at a paper that was going to publish what I had to say.

Suffice it to say, I took about 10 copies the day it printed and sent them home to all my relatives to hang on their refrigerators.

Since that first review, I have occupied pretty much every position within The Muse: editor, managing editor, music editor and columnist. And it was all time well spent.

I have reviewed everything from tacos to Ashley Tisdale albums. I have interviewed some of my favorite artists ‘-‘- Lady GaGa, Miike Snow ‘-‘- and I have spoken with some people whom I have no interest in, but made for a good story to tell.

I may leave The Free Press with higher blood pressure from having Quark shut down on me so many times over the past four years, but I will always be able to tell people about the time I interviewed Lauren Conrad at Estate.

When I spoke with GaGa on the phone last year, at the end of our conversation I thanked her for taking the time to talk to a ‘funny, little college newspaper.’

‘No, thank you for talking to me,’ she told me. ‘I love funny, little college newspapers.’

And she was right in thanking me. Everyone The Free Press covers should be grateful that such an eager group of young adults are making space for what we feel is important.

I ended up finding a third source and I didn’t miss my flight to Cancun my freshman year. But if I’m interviewing GaGa again in 10 years for Rolling Stone, you can be sure they also won’t give a damn if I have a flight to catch and an incomplete story. I will miss my flight.