See ya later, EC
Ashley Daniels
Editor-in-Chief
West Chester, Pennsylvania
Communications Major
I have never liked the letter Q.
It started in second grade when my teacher, Ms. Quigley told me, “Now, Ashley,” pointing at me but really at the ground because of the crooked bend she had in her index finger. “What am I supposed to do with this type of work?”
She was referring to a paper I had handed in on a subject that I forced myself to forget. Honestly, the only thing I remember writing, or learning about in second grade was dinosaurs. Every night, I had nightmares.
A mere three years later, Ms. Quale asked the same question. But this time instead of an index finger distracting me, it was her rat-tail peaking around her neck.
Back then, math was my subject, so being a poor writer didn’t really affect me until Ms. Quale enrolled me in a special reading class that took me away from my classmates and into a room the size of the old Current office, a shoebox. The worst part? I was the only girl.
After a few weeks of the “special class” I started to become embarrassed, thinking something must be wrong with me. I remember saying to myself, “my writing must be that bad.” Let’s just say that class didn’t help.
Throughout middle school and high school I worked on my writing but never really got it. Even during my senior year, my English teacher told me that my weakness was writing. I had all these great ideas; I just could not get them to translate on paper, oh, and my grammar was terrible.
Why am I telling you all this? I’m not really sure other than it’s a part of the journey of how I got here, editor-in-chief. Believe me, I’m as shocked as you are.
The Current has allowed me the chance to finally “get it.” Journalism is my style of writing. It’s a style that gives you structure, yet the ability to be yourself. Journalism, or should I say, Tracy Crow during Journalism I, taught me to never fear the blank page. Some days you just need the inverted pyramid.
Over the past three years, we have built a quality newspaper that questions everything, tests us and pushes the limits. A newspaper I’m so proud to have been a part of.
Graduation, moving on, it’s a bittersweet feeling. The unknown is exciting, but I’m not ready to say goodbye to The Current, to my editors, to my writers, to my adviser. I’m not ready to say goodbye to an organization that has been the best experience of my life. Yes, even with the stress, early mornings, misunderstandings and debates. I’m not ready to say goodbye. So I won’t. I will say thank you and I’ll see ya later, Current.
A negligible farewell
Max Martinez
Managing Editor
Wilmington, Delaware
Communications Major
Two weekends ago, fellow seniors Alec Ogg and Lila Lupetin stood on stage in Miller Auditorium and said their solemn goodbyes at Another Man’s Trash’s final show of the school year.
But not a word they spoke could be heard over the crowd’s cheers. As Ogg and Lupetin read off scripts, the rest of AMT paraded across stage with large poster-board signs, introducing the newest members of our beloved improv comedy group.
The fact that I use “beloved” and “improv comedy” in the same sentence is notable; it’s not a medium I typically find enjoyable, a sentiment many share in regards to print media and newspapers. But AMT has made a fan out of me with their incredible on-stage chemistry and uncensored, R-rated humor. If I could print here what they say there, I’d be the happiest editor on earth.
As the newest AMT jokesters were shown off to the so-packed-even-the-floor-was-crowded audience, the decibel level rose and fell like a Zeta Beach tide. Ogg and Lupetin continued their drowned-out goodbyes at the forefront of the stage.
I sat in the second to last row, a cup of coffee spiked with Kahlua resting in my lap, and all I could think about was how in a few days I’d be forced to say my own goodbye, and how I had no idea what I would say, and how no matter what I said, my words would be lost in a matter of hours after publication, filed into our archives amongst thousands of other anecdotes from our 54-year history.
It’s then that I realized how Ogg and Lupetin had already figured it all out; maybe not consciously, but they figured it out nonetheless. Their silent goodbye, covered up by the roar of excitement for another generation of AMT, was all a departing senior could do. We shout at the top of our lungs, squeezing out every last breath of appreciation, nostalgia and sheer joy before May 20, only to be outdone by those with more time left.
Ogg and Lupetin, for as long as I’ve been here (and in my goodbye column, that’s all the time that counts), have been the face and lifeblood of AMT. I haven’t been to a show where they didn’t perform.
But in three years, maybe less, their time at the helm of AMT will be an afterthought, as will be my time with The Current. Such is life for any Eckerd student, destined to anonymity within a couple years of graduation unless you a) pay for a new building on campus or b) get a job with Campus Activities.
The significance of my goodbye is negligible, my legacy nameless. The Current is The Current, and while I’ll always think of her as my baby, she belongs to Eckerd now. Please, take good care of her, and she’ll take good care of you.
Words to live by: “let’s go”
Johnny Jones
Web Editor
Seattle, Washington
Theater Major
“Let’s go.” My high school English teacher Tom Doelger always uttered this phrase on the first and last days of his Modernism classes. As I have grown, the significance of these two words has changed. In middle school, it meant “get out of bed, Johnny, you’re going to make carpool late…again.” Mr. Doelger’s class made me ponder its philosophical importance.
During my freshman year at Eckerd, “LET’S GOOOOO!” became the trademark greeting my friends and I howled across campus to get each other riled up.
When people ask me if I’m a senior, I usually respond, “unfortunately.” My experience at Eckerd has been so enjoyable, fulfilling and all around amazing that I don’t want to leave this magical little bubble. Yet entering the “real world” is unavoidable.
All good things must come to an end, and as my final term at this school fades into history, I often feel like I’m sinking in quicksand. I’m stuck on a slow descent into a daunting unknown, so it’s better to simply enjoy my remaining time than to struggle against the inevitable.
Sometimes I fantasize about not graduating. I imagine a utopian paradise of continuous charge-free winter term classes. They say you should be careful what you wish for, but I almost wish I could allow myself to fail. Almost.
In an attempt to impart the knowledge I have gained to future Tritons, I really only have one piece of advice: don’t complain. I’ll say it again so you know I mean it. Don’t complain.
This might seem like an absurd request to some, but I’m serious. Too often, Eckerd kids grumble about minor inconveniences. Our campus has a flawless white sand beach, free community bikes, a diverse assortment of wildlife, a flexible faculty and a couple of incredibly understanding deans. Most of the world is not so lucky.
Complaining is certainly a human condition (I have to acknowledge a certain degree of hypocrisy here), but it shouldn’t be an excuse to adopt a negative outlook on life.
I lost my friend Nate Mosby this year. Facing that loss was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. But being the eternal optimist that I am, I tried to take something positive away from the experience. Nate squeezed more out of his short life than most people ever do. Now, I feel like “let’s go” encapsulates the essence of Nate’s bouncing vitality.
So the next time you open your mouth to whine about the Internet being a little slow or your order at the Pub taking a few extra minutes, remember the less fortunate.
Appreciate what you have when you have it because it’s going to be gone before you know it. “Let’s go.”
Here’s the first thing you need to know about me. When I’m intimidated by a situation, my first instinct is to make sure absolutely no one knows I’m intimidated. So what did I do? Instead of following my original plan of sitting quietly, taking a few notes and getting a feel for the environment, I volunteered to write an article. I couldn’t even make it easy on myself and do a fluffy movie review piece. No, I volunteered for a news article about banking and the current economic situation.
I know just enough about banking to set up an account and cash a check, and I know even less about the economic situation of any time period. But being the shameless over-achiever that I am, I dove in head first. For that little 500-word piece, I interviewed three professors and five students, surveyed my entire finance class and read several issues of The Wall Street Journal. After all that work, there really was no way I was turning back.
Almost three years later, I’ve become editor of my beloved entertainment section. I’ve worked with some of the finest people who can make me laugh no matter the situation. I’ve learned not to fear the blank page and publishing is now one of the most exciting aspects of my future anthropological career. And 50 years from now, when I’m looking back on my time at Eckerd, there is not a doubt in my mind that my strongest and most precious memories will be about my time with The Current.
Chocolate and giggles
Lincoln Andres-Beck
Sports Editor
Grants Pass, Oregon
Communications Major
During my time at Eckerd College, I have run the gauntlet of the sporting world for the Tritons. I started out as a member of the Tritons as both a soccer goalie and a tennis player before a meniscus tear ended my athletic aspirations.
I moved on to doing commentary for both soccer teams, color commentary for volleyball and doing commentary for basketball, first just women’s then moving on to both men’s and women’s my junior year before being replaced on basketball this year by Eckerd Alumnus Nick Agress.
The Current has been a part of my time at Eckerd College whether I wanted it to be or not. Starting freshman year, my roommate Max Martinez was involved so I heard all about the troubles of the Triton and as we moved on, I became involved right after the shift to The Current as a sports writer who turned assistant sports editor who, by default, became the sports editor in this, my senior year, after returning from a semester abroad in London.
To me, Eckerd has become a family that surrounds school in the last four years, what we have done together, gone through together, experienced together, creates a bond that being classmates and fellow alumni of an academic institution does not cover.
My teammates on the soccer team and I bonded to the point of being brothers. The people I have lived with have a bond that is greater than just being forced to listen to one another’s taste in music through the thin walls and ventilation systems of traditional dorms.
Finally, The Current editors, who have gone through more than any other group with me in the last two years (aside from my girlfriend Rachel) I would be proud to call them family. The bond runs as deep as those with any friends I will ever have.
The late nights of layouts with chocolate, inappropriate jokes and giggles have become the norm every other Monday. Our trip to Orlando for the ACP convention cemented the bond between us more fully than I could have imagined.
Our wonderful adviser Tracy Crow has become like a parent to me in the journey of being an editor.
Together, our team is as strong as I could imagine any college newspaper editorial staff being, as creative as any group of students as I have seen at Eckerd and as strong a group as I have ever had the pleasure of being a part.
If I had to sum up the feeling of coming to Eckerd in one sentence I would do it simply.
Once a Triton, always a Triton. Period!
Committed to commitment
Shawn Craine
Web Master
Port Orange, Florida
Computer Science Major
The culmination of three years working with The Current as web master has provided me the opportunity to contribute to a team of dedicated and extraordinarily enthusiastic colleagues. When I was recruited freshman year, Tracy Crow presented me with the idea of constructing an online version of Eckerd College’s rapidly emergening student newspaper.
With the help of our entire staff and specifically our web team, including Johnny Jones, Max Martinez, Seth Ravid, Mike Geibel and I we were able to develop not only an online presence for our print edition but also a medium of extensibility. Through this extension of the newspaper, we were able to offer students, alums, family and friends a place to connect and receive important and interesting breaking news through theonlinecurrent.com. Having a committed online team allowed us to capture the exponentially growing audiences of Facebook and Twitter by regularly dispatching engaging material to all of our followers.
After an award worthy effort spread among the shoulders of our entire team, we prevailed to become nationally recognized as an ACP Online Pacemaker finalist; during this time we were invited as a group to attend the ACP/CMA National College Media Convention in Orlando, Fla., where I became considerably closer with the inner workings of the newspaper and those who participate continually to guarantee its success.
The experience given to me by partaking in this “club” is irrevocably the most pertinent real-word experience I gained while at Eckerd College. I was rewarded with praise of worthy work and was criticized when my work was not up to par; but whether compliment or suggestion, the entire time I was supported by my peers to recognize my weaknesses and excel through my strengths.
My most precious memories at Eckerd
Shelby Howell
Entertainment Editor
Roberts, Wisconsin
Anthropology Major
Life is full of choices. A choice that seems insignificant at the time can end up evolving into something far greater than you could ever imagine.
You can probably see where I’m going with this. Short version of this story, I made a random choice to check out the school newspaper and it ended up completely changing the direction my life was headed.
But I’ve been told I need to make this 450 words, so I’ll give you the long version. I actually first came to The Current without any previous journalistic experience. I never watched the news, and I was a business major with a bit of a stigma against writing. Actually, as I remember all this, I’m not sure why my past self thought it would be a good idea to check out The Current. I’m sure I had some reason.
I arrived to my first staff meeting just wanting to check out the situation and was utterly terrified by what I found. I didn’t know anybody and they kept using terminology that I didn’t recognise like “layout” and “InDesign.” To make matters worse, people kept asking my opinion or my ideas, like they bizarrely thought I might have something worthwhile to contribute to the conversation.
This persistent backing was my motivation in further developing a foothold in the strategic planning of features to implement in future releases of The Current’s related online media website. Democratically and very openly I was given the chance to propose my thoughts and help make decisions and manage the addition of website features and appearance.
Many times, I found myself unexplainably committed to a certain task or project; I found myself committed to the commitment shown by others and I was fueled by the ability to support a vision that encompassed the dreams of an entire unit.
I am beyond proud to have contributed to The Current staff’s vision of dominance among other nationally recognized college newspapers. I only ask that all future staffers commit themselves even more than I have, as now when I reflect upon these past years…the return has been amazing.
