See? I really do know how to write an op-ed piece that doesn't honk off many readers!
This edition of Elon's student newspaper The Pendulum came out right before spring break 1999. I didn't want to be on the cusp of that and deliver something that would be overly provocative. There had been an article for Christmas a few months earlier and this new one needed to be on a happy note too.
So here it is, from two months before the premiere of Star Wars Episode I. Note the special photo we used for the essay: me brandishing a toy lightsaber and wearing the helmet from a Darth Vader mask. Click on the pic to enlarge and read!
I hope you post more of these articles from your time in college. These are terrific! You definitely had talent that far back!
ReplyDeleteThank you! :-) I really wish The Pendulum was still being produced but it seems it has gone defunct. There NEEDS to be a hard-copy weekly newspaper for that school, as well as any other college and university. They are a permanent snapshot of what was happening on campus and throughout the school's community. But I especially appreciated how The Pendulum welcomed perspectives across the ideological spectrum. It was a lively instigator of discussion and debate, and that's not there anymore. It's a real tragedy.
ReplyDeleteLet us guess: your nickname in college was Jedi. Amiright?
ReplyDeleteHey Solomon Grundy, always a pleasure hearing from you :-) Actually, to be absolutely honest it had never occurred to me at all that my nickname could be "Jedi Knight". That one totally went over my head. There was one guy nicknamed "Jedi" at Elon when I got there, he was a fellow student who had learned all about HTML and was the go-to guy if you wanted to learn how to make webpages too. Then he graduated. I think every college campus needs that one geek/dweeb/dork who's a Star Wars nut and when Neil left that sort of became my job. But I didn't make the connection until the April Fools Day edition of The Pendulum that listed me in the credits as "Chris 'Jedi' Knight". I've sort of been that ever since LOL :-D
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