A DAY IN THE LIFE: THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES

When people look back at college, it is often fondly. It becomes easier, with time, to forget all the studying, hard work and research papers that college heaps upon us in great drifts in the name of a well-rounded education.

I owe the Capaha Arrow, the student newspaper at Southeast Missouri State, a debt of gratitude I'll never be able to repay. My years there supplied me with my most fond college memories and trained me to be a somewhat adept newspaper man.

I came to that paper a sophomore in 1993, with high expectations and even higher hopes. I was taking a class called reporting, which, to a large degree, deals with supplying news content for the student paper.

I remember how euphoric I was when the first news story I ever wrote, some arduous piece about how there were no cases of AIDS on campus yet, appeared on the front page.

I finished that semester impressing no one but myself, however. A fellow reporting student of mine, Tamara Zellars, was picked to be editor. And I heard that Dr. Keller, the Arrow adviser, had his eye on a bright young fellow named Michael Davis as managing editor.

Back then all I knew Michael for was sleeping in class. Michael and I were merely acquaintances, but he always seemed like a nice guy.

I remember how guilty I felt about accepting the managing editor position only three months after Michael was killed. Doesn't quite seem fair that those killed him are breathing fresh air with their whole lives to forget while Michael's just as dead this year as he was last.

My watch as managing editor was pretty uneventful to the readers, but I remember the details. That was my job.

I remember a copy editor handing me the phone and someone telling me three of Coach Shumate's basketball players had been caught stealing jackets from Books 'N' Things, the university bookstore. The person suggested that the university might be tempted to look the other way if something wasn't done.

All the news tips didn't pan out. I recall hearing a rumor that former university president Kala Stroup had gotten a DWI and making tons of calls to check that out. You know why the students never read THAT story? It wasn't true.

I thought I did a pretty good job. Not everyone thought I did, though.

One of my co-workers at the Southeast Missourian recently met a girl who used to work with me at the Arrow.

"You know Scott Moyers?"

She acknowledged that she did.

"Nice guy, don't you think?" the reporter asked.

"I wouldn't say that," the girl replied. "He's got a bad temper."

Hmmm.

This girl's always been really nice to my face but it just goes to show you that you never know what people really think about you.

It's not so rare that accusations are made on the other side of the note pad, though.

It was also while on my watch that a former Arrow editor was charged with making long-distance phone calls from the Arrow phone lines. We had to cover that story like any other, though.

I faced charges myself. Many of us at the Arrow had done things like that on a much smaller scale. I had returned a call to my girlfriend in Lexington, Ky. (LONG before Lori came around) and had to pay $5. Maybe I was rationalizing but that seemed to pale in comparison to his $3,500 tab.

But do you know what I remember most about the Arrow? It's not all the great stories, awards, or learning.

It's the people. I made a lot of friends at the Arrow. Many of them are still friends. Amy, Jena, Chuck, Danielle, Andy, and Josh. There were many others. Boy, we had a lot of fun.

Anyway, I could ramble on forever about the good old days of the Arrow. They were the best of times, they were the worst of times.

I wrote my last column for the Arrow last week. I was surprised at how difficult it was and how, for the first time, the words were clumsy and alien. I didn't know what to say.

I ended it by quoting Douglas Adams, an author who fancies himself a comedic writer, much like myself. Difference is, and there are many, he's actually funny.

When I finished, I looked down at the paper and thought that it had ended too soon.

But then, doesn't everything?

Scott Moyers is editor of the Jackson USA Signal.