Over the last three semesters, I’d like to think that I’ve provided illumination on many of the issues of the day, while splicing in some humor for the dozens of people who actually read my columns/editorials.

However, everything has to end, and I’ve reached that point with the Daily Kent Stater, as I’ll be graduating with a bachelor’s degree in history on May 13. I suppose I should follow the norm and talk about how sad I am to be leaving Kent State, but to be fully honest, the power of nostalgia hasn’t really kicked in enough to gloss over the sloppily constructed dorms, the bizarre late-night noises and the generally gouging attitude that permeates through much of the university. Also, to be honest, with a full fellowship at a master’s program starting in September, I’m looking more at the future than at the past.

Of course, I could have gone the joke column route, especially since one of my close friends (the same I talked about the cat vomit with last semester) offered me a considerable sum to pretend that the whole intellectual shtick was an act and that I’m really a beer-swilling, ass-chasing, MTV-watching jackass. But to be honest, nobody would ever believe that, not to mention the fact that the “considerable sum” was probably really a couple bucks.

Instead I’m going to spend the remaining 300 or so words doing something that I probably don’t do enough while here at Kent. Thanking those who have helped me become the person I am today. Yeah, I know, it’s trite, sappy and perhaps even a bit laundry list-ish of me, but I’m leaving in a couple of weeks, so humor me.

Firstly, I’d like to thank all my close friends who have put up with my often neurotic whining and alternatively boasting about, often times, inconsequential happenings. Stacy, Adrianne, Sean, Chris, Ben and Jim, if you guys ever need an ear for your own complaining or just some help with anything, let me know.

I’d also like to thank all of my professors over the last four years, especially my thesis advisor, for helping to shape me into the scholar that I hope to become in the future. Hopefully, I’ll make each and every one of you proud. And I promise to actually have legible handwriting one of these days.

Also, thank you Mr. Fred Martin for sponsoring me as a Founders Scholar for the last four years. I hope to make that investment worth your while.

Thanks to the editors of the Daily Kent Stater who initially took a chance back in the winter of 2005, allowing me to discover that I can actually write something that isn’t an obscure political or historical tome. In that same vein, thanks to the College Democrats for, however inadvertently, showing me that I should stay in academia rather than going into politics.

Finally, I’d like to thank my family, especially my mother, not just for the last four years but also for the last 22. Without your help and understanding, I would have never come as far as I have.

Well, I suppose this is the end. Take care of yourselves and good luck in the future.

Michael McLaughlin is a senior history major and an editorial writer for the Daily Kent Stater. Contact him at [email protected].