Memories - the greatest gifts The Michigan Daily has given me

"Done.

Only a few more hours and we get to do it all over again."

Laurie Mayk She Says So

And ever since 4:30 a.m. on Feb. 2, 1998, I've lived every day with the assurance that those words were true.

In the beginning, they often seemed more threatening than comforting. The next day's empty pages loomed, waiting for us to fill them with news (which sometimes happened at the most inconvenient times), photos (which sometimes looked better on our production screen than on newsprint), letters (which were sometimes critical of what we had put on those pages the day before) and insight. As we settled into our roles and responsibilities on this paper and this campus, those words became casual truth: The paper would come out and we would all return - a little wiser and a little more determined - to do it again the next day.

But now, it is not empty pages that loom, but empty days and nights without the institution that has kept me awake at night and gotten me out of bed in the morning for the past 3 1/2 years. For me and my group of outgoing editors at The Michigan Daily, those words expire this week with the end of our terms. And we find ourselves wishing them back again.

Along with quite a few amazing and dedicated student journalists, I have been proud to call 420 Maynard St. home for the past few years. I have spent more time there than in any other building in Ann Arbor, and it represents for me the best that this University has to offer.

It is filled with history. Daily staffers treasure the stories of Daily alums as if they were relatives, and they borrow much of their passion and idealism from a tradition of classic journalism that has earned the Daily respect nationwide.

It is filled with knowledge. This knowledge comes second-hand, from the students, faculty and community members whose diversity of experiences and perspectives make this campus vibrant and stimulating.

It is filled with people who care. They care about each other with a genuine affection that doesn't seem to be daunted by the tensions of a daily paper. And they care about the University community with an unabashed desire to make things better by disseminating information and presenting viewpoints.

And until recently, it was filled with the momentos and clutter of the Daily's 108th editor. This past week, with a few boxes and a sentimental eye, I moved out.

Through three semesters as a reporter, two as a news editor and two more as editor in chief (plus a spring/summer term), I've managed to drape the Student Publications Building with an eclectic mix of newspapers, faxes, clothes, photos, books (some racking up hefty library fines, I must admit) ...

the complete Unabomber manifesto from the whirlwind week when we found out Unabomber suspect Ted Kaczynski was a University alumnus ...

an Associated Press style guide given to me my freshman year by an outgoing editor who was getting nostalgic in her last few days at the Daily ...

a clipping of another paper's interview with my father, whose class and journalistic integrity continues to affect me, even after he's left the business ...

a copy of "When MBAs Rule the Newsroom," a book that made me angry and grateful to be in such a business ...

daily itineraries from the 1996 Democratic National Convention in Chicago where another reporter and I flagged down former Daily editor of Chicago Seven and SDS infamy Tom Hayden for an interview ...

glossy press passes from President Clinton's second inauguration in January 1997, where I phoned in quotes from an inaugural ball while the band Chicago sang (loudly) a few feet away ...

And try as I might to collect it all and take it with me, I couldn't. There were some things I just had to leave behind.

Perhaps that's one of the most powerful and unique parts about the Daily experience: You can't take it all with you; you're not supposed to. You leave behind advice, stories, examples, firsts and a few more years of editorial freedom. You leave behind friends and colleagues who are lucky enough to still have years of nightsides and deadlines ahead of them. And you hope that they have just as many momentos and memories to pack up as you did.

The memories? Oh, you get to take those with you.

Done. Someone else gets to do it all again tomorrow ...

- L

- This is Laurie Mayk's last column as editor in chief of The Michigan Daily. She can be reached over e-mail at ljmayk@umich.edu

01-28-99