'Goodbye, but not farewell:' Working with the OFP

When Editor-in-Chief Aidan Cornue reminded me at the start of December about writing this piece, I had no idea what I would say or talk about.

Even still, as I write and you read, I am improvising.

Even when this internship started, I did a lot of improvising.. Of course, I say this in a serious and reflective tone – not one meant to cast doubt or negativity on me or the paper. Instead, I’m looking back and realizing how much I thought I knew what I was doing, when I really didn’t.

Don’t get me wrong, I have reported before, but if you drop anyone into a historic and architectural preservation commission meeting in the middle of September when they weren’t previously in the loop about the goings-on of the group, they’d be a little lost too.

So I should give myself some grace, while acknowledging that even if I know more than I did then, that doesn’t make me an expert now. 

I still have a lot to learn.

Being a reporter for a newspaper in a town small enough where I can run into a city employee or commission member in the grocery store when I’ve had on the same pair of sweatpants for two days and haven’t washed my hair for three has definitely been an adjustment

Some of you may already know me by name because of the previous stories I have written, or maybe you know my writing voice if you happen to subscribe to our Friday or Monday newsletter.

Yes, that was me who made the references to “Mad Men” and “History of the World, Part I.” 

As I got more comfortable writing the newsletters, I slowly started to throw in some of my humor here and there. However, a fair amount of jokes and plays on words never made it to your inbox, fortunately (if you ask Aidan), or unfortunately (if you ask me).

Some of my humor has also weaseled its way into headlines on occasion – for better or worse.

In all seriousness, however, this internship has been hard, yet rewarding, work. 

Almost all of my reporting was for city meetings, and as someone who previously didn’t have any interest in local politics, or even understood why these meetings were covered in the first place, I honestly don’t know what I was thinking.

Those meetings directly shape Oxford, and if they aren’t covered, many won’t have easy access to the goings-on in their own community.

Understanding this as the internship continued, I have become increasingly invested in local politics, and although I haven’t written nearly as much as my co-workers on those topics or others, I have done a tremendous amount of editing since I started at the paper. 

This editing has made me realize, in a way, the paper itself is a co-worker of sorts, with its own style, image, and public presentation. But physical paper aside, closely working with Aidan, Katelyn Aluise and Emily Siderits has been wonderful.

I have learned an immense amount about journalism in just the last few months, like how to thoroughly cover local elections, the ways in which to properly and professionally deal with ethical dilemmas, the importance of maintaining a work-life balance and setting your own deadlines for long-term projects.

I have enjoyed my time with them so much that I asked if I could stay on in some capacity, and they said yes – for better or worse. 

So to you – dear reader, who has so courageously made it to the end of this piece – I bid you goodbye, but not farewell.