 Farewell and Thanks for all the Fan Mail
Followers of this column might have noticed that I tried to refrain from referring to events or people in my personal life and keep it strictly personality free and objective, with no success. I don't believe in blogging in public space, though I extensively rant. I tried to make the column a platform to convey information, ideas and -in a very amateur way- international news. Whether I succeeded in getting the message across I will never know, for I received little praise about my writing except for the kind comments of my friends and teachers. It is a wonderful feeling being published. The satisfaction and stimulation is even further enhanced when you find out people barely know that the paper you write for even exists. "Oh you write at that bullet-in board?" was a very frequent comment. I did receive "fan mail" on several occasions and it makes me proud. The first one ever was on that piece about California wildfires I did last semester, and its relation to muscular politics. Another came from a reader who was apparently forced to conduct studies on my article and required some clarification. Both of these pieces of very precious feedback from my loyal readers were met with unfortunate and unintended indifference on my part. But I was glad to see that some people read my pseudo-academic ramblings either by choice or force.
As all humans do after their endeavors, I asked myself if I had gained anything at all from writing articles every two weeks for a newspaper that people around me (not an accurate representation of the whole public mind you) only picked up to do the crossword at the back or use as an effective self defense weapon by rolling several together into a stick. Were all the hours spent at the library conducting research and countless rewrites and revisions for the articles in vain? The job neither failed to provide any international recognition nor even local celebrity status. It also did not give insight into solving the mystery of the meaning of life. What it did provide me, however, was a set of skills including, but not limited to increased competency at meeting deadlines, producing short essays at almost spontaneous speeds, learning how to apply self-censorship, increased tolerance to stress and lack of sleep, insight on the nature of inspiration, improvement in my previously almost non-existing skill of brainstorming and last, but most importantly, increased fighting skills against possibly Martian, rebellious-hormonal teenagers with anarchistic tendencies.
For this most marvelous of experiences I have to thank Erica Hughes, a person to whom no adjective in my limited vocabulary can do justice, for the support and encouragement she gave on this matter. I would also like to thank my English 102 teacher for literally forcing me to apply for the columnist position, and my middle school English teacher for... well... teaching me English!
To sum it all up, I'm gone y'all. I won't be here to greet you people at the beginning of the fall semester. I'll be on the road, trying to scratch that urge called wanderlust. Nonetheless, I would like to wish all Bilkenters (including faculty members and the "you-may-not-smoke-beyond-this-line" sign) best of luck and generosity from the randomness of life in all ordeals, but I won't. Dependence on luck is like dependence on oil - it'll run out one day. Find something sustainable, whatever it may be.
P.S.: I apologize for any horrendous grammar mistakes that may have eluded the careful eye or avoided the fierce determination of the editors.
Onur Çelik (AMER/II)
o_celik@ug.bcc.bilkent.edu.tr
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