By Jessica Hickerson
Hickerson’s last stand
This is it. The last full week of the semester; the most stressful week of the semester, for me at least. Between regular classroom tests and finals coming up, along with meetings and rehearsals, my brain is already hurting. However, this will be my last column of the semester in The Louisville Cardinal, which will leave one less thing to worry about.
I have also decided that I will be discontinuing my work as a columnist at the close of the semester; therefore, this column shall serve as a farewell column. Honestly, I have thoroughly enjoyed writing my articles and being a part of this organization. I felt like I could voice my opinions and enjoy working on my writing. I have worked with amazing, fabulous writers and an incredible editor who has been nothing but understanding and helpful to me. As a freshman, this has been an experience that has really helped me get through this rough semester in making the transition to college life.
It’s just not me. I’m not a journalist; I’m not striving to be a journalist. All I wanted to do was find fun and exciting topics to write about and give my own opinions on, but it got to be just too much. I would be overwhelmed with everything going on in my life, procrastinate on my article, and not make it what I knew it could be, which is unfair to the other writers who work on the paper and do excellent jobs.
It also was not fun to me to have my articles critiqued by people I didn’t know who had nothing to do with me and made me feel like all the work I did put in my article was for nothing. Of course, I know, that comes with the territory of writing for an opinion section of a highly public newspaper, but still I don’t like it. No matter how much I like to write, it’s just not worth it. I don’t understand why people make the time from their “busy days” to rant and rave about an article that had nothing to do with them just to make other people feel bad. It just doesn’t seem right.
So I’m throwing in the towel. It’s been a fun ride, but it’s not who I am. Thank you to those of you who have read my columns and enjoyed them, because I know you’re out there. Thank you to my editor, Claire, for giving me this opportunity. I hope everyone does well on their finals and has very happy holidays.
