Out of the box

It is 1 a.m. as I start this column, and I’ve just returned from six hours of rehearsal for Julius Caesar. Two years ago at this same hour, I would have been on my first set of front page printouts in the Spectator production office.

A lot has changed since then. The 12 to 16 hours I spent each week in the production office during my first and sophomore years are now a distant memory, and it’s been about a year since I last stepped foot into the Spec office. My time at Spectator has left me with a number of weird tendencies, including excessive PDF-ing of word documents and an instinct to head towards sirens rather than away from them. I’ve been involved in Spec in many capacities over the course of three years: news, production, editorial board, the Eye, and business (though I’ve always considered production my true home). However, it is time I come clean—I was never the hardcore journalist, the talented photographer, or the graphic design whiz, nor did I aspire to be.

The truth is that I’m a dabbler (a committed dabbler, if you will) and proud of it. It’s in my nature. I like knowing something about everything, a curiosity that made journalism naturally appealing to me as a first-year (along with Quiz Bowl, the other activity I actively sought out during New Student Orientation Program). As the news facilities beat chief, I learned far more than I will ever need to know on the art of lawn maintenance, sidewalk drainage, and dormitory plumbing. I learned to wield InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator as an associate production editor, and to handle expensive cameras without breaking them as a Spec photographer. As a business board member, I saw the newspaper from yet another side—the behind-the-scenes ad sales and careful budgeting that kept the newspaper afloat.

But there was one more side. My semester with the editorial board in junior year marked a turning point in my involvement with Spec. Though it was one of my most formative college experiences, it also made me realize I wanted to be in a position to act rather than to editorialize or report. In my senior year, I ran for and was elected as vice president of the Activities Board at Columbia, effectively ending my involvement with Spectator.

I often like to bring up the false consensus bias, a psychology term that refers to people’s tendency to assume that the collective opinion of their own group reflects that of the larger population. I mention it now because my break from Spectator after a little over two years influenced me as much as my entire time on the paper did. I had, against my better judgment, fallen into the mind-set that Spectator was everything—perhaps inevitable given the commitment it demanded. After I left, I came to realize how much more was out there. My piece of advice to underclassmen, therefore, is to branch out—even to those who have legitimately discovered their life passion and know exactly what they’ll be doing for the rest of their life. The perspectives we gain and the people we meet in each setting are all invaluable and keep us mindful of a larger world going on.

And it is never too late to try something new (take it from a second-semester senior who is acting for the first time). If there is a crowd of people gathering on Low Plaza, go find out what’s going on. Check out the Formula SAE car in the basement of Mudd or the three-foot-long airplane in the room next door—or better yet, stay a while and help build it. Attend a cultural showcase, take free lessons from Bhangra, watch a play in Black Box, or argue a resolution at a Parliamentary Debate or Philolexian Society meeting, depending on whether your mood is serious or quirky. Just about everyone at Columbia can point to an activity that means the world to them, and for me, discovering what that has been for others has comprised some of my most memorable experiences here.

For the past three years, I have covered Class Day for the Spectator in some capacity, even as my other involvements dwindled. (I still consider one of my crowning achievements to be the time I blurted out “Mr. Mayor! Photo for the Spectator?” as I dashed into the press pen after credential troubles, catching him right before he entered the Barnard procession. He consented.) It will be strange indeed this year not to be at the foot of the stage, scrambling to get the best possible shots of Matthew Fox or University President Lee Bollinger. But I suppose taking my place in the procession will be yet another perspective for me.

The author is a Columbia College senior majoring in economics. She is the outgoing vice president of the Columbia Activities Board. She was a Spectator staff photographer, associate production editor on the 130th associate board, and a deputy publisher of the Eye on the 131st managing board.

Tags: Opinion, Grace Chan, Spectator