There are four potential parts of college life: sleep, study, social and, of course, the Daily Bruin
By Constance Dillon
June 8, 2008 9:01 p.m.
I received the best advice of my life from Mr. Stimson my senior year of high school. He told me there are three things possible in college life: sleep, study and social, but I could only choose two of these things.
While my life includes two of those options (Believe me, it’s not long nights of rest and glorious afternoon naps.) I also threw in a random option of my own that trumps the rest: the Daily Bruin.
It’s hard to explain why I thrive in an organization that requires vast amounts of writing and makes me a slave to deadlines. And I can’t remember how many times my dad has yelled at me for going over on cell phone minutes because I was busy having hour-long conversations with sources.
Maybe it’s the rush of adrenaline that sets in when my story was due 45 minutes ago and I’m still frantically typing away. It’s like having a nightmare that you missed your final, only to wake up and find the test actually has started.
Or maybe it’s the awe of rubbing shoulders with journalists from the Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle at the press room of the UC Regents meetings, then seeing them shoot me impressed looks after I jump on a chair to capture the arrest of multiple students on camera.
It might be watching the masses chant on the results night of USAC elections, observing the two different-colored-T-shirt-clad groups fight for space in Meyerhoff Park, then running to interview a candidate who burst into tears because she just lost.
But it could be the sincere thank you I receive from a student group or individual after writing a story about their cause. If it weren’t against the rules, I would consider some of the people I’ve interviewed to be my friends.
It’s also the office conversations that come from the delirium of being holed up in a windowless room, staring at a computer screen for several hours so my eyes begin to blur, often resulting in some incriminating quote being permanently taped to the wall.
What I know for sure is I have spent three years as a news writer and do not regret a single minute. Even now I should be indulging in my senioritis and laying out at Sunset Rec, but I’ve chosen to simply ignore the fact that I’m graduating. Instead I’ll just keep asking, “What’s next?”
Dillon has been a News writer since 2005. She has sold her soul to Hollywood and will be working as an entertainment producer for The KTLA Morning Show.
