Listen HereColumn By Dylan Frazier
@dylanfrazier44
As I sit here in my guest room in my house for the eighth straight day because I got coronavirus, it got me thinking about life after getting out of this guest room.
When will it end? Will I be the same? Will I feel the same?
I can answer one of those questions definitively and for better or worse I can leave this back room on Friday and I will re-enter society like a new man. Am I ready for that, as I type that I will say no but I truly don’t know until I get into my car and head to work for the first time since before Thanksgiving. Am I nervous, of course, I am because even though my 2-ish weeks of quarantine will pass and my symptoms are getting better each day, how will I know if I am ready for it? That answer is I won’t know until I give it a try.
In a sense, this was a lot like college for me. In my first two years, I was introverted, shy, and didn’t want to step out of my comfort zone. I would rather just go to class then go home because that’s what I already knew, and I was afraid to find out what there is for me in life.
Then comes the Pulse. We’ll get back to that in a second.
I came to college intending to be a TV star but little did I know I hate being in front of the camera more than anything on this Earth. So, I just kind of sat on my hands for my first two years thinking that I wanted to leave Findlay and change my major because why would I want to be a writer as a career?
Writing has always been a passion of mine, whether it be writing stupid comic books in my high school when I should have been paying attention to what the hell y= mx+b meant or writing some meaningless 5-page paper about the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. What was that about again?
But I always thought about writing as a backup plan.
But then in the fall of 2019, my friend Cory asked me to start writing for the Pulse on campus. I started by writing movie reviews once a week and that was a great segue into what became my life for the last year and a half. I began to write more and more each week for the Pulse, and I loved being a part of the student paper. Then Cory decided he was done being the editor and they asked me to do it. I was very apprehensive about it because I was afraid of what that brought like I was when I almost up and quit college altogether. But I knew that to get the most out of college, I had to take that step, albeit a scary one. And that step was the best step I’ve taken in my life so far.
The Pulse has been my baby for the last year-and-a-half here at UF. It gave me a voice, helped me find my passion, and made me realize how important storytelling can truly be when you have wonderful people around you. Sure, there were times where I just wanted to stop and take a week off from it but that’s not how the world works. So many times, I would wait on people like Cory to send me their stories until midnight the night they had to be done but it was all a part of the job. It taught me responsibility, it taught me time-management, and it taught me that nothing ever, ever goes as planned and you need a backup plan for your backup plan.
I want to thank AJ du Fresne, Megan Adams, Kit Medjesky, and Diana Montague for helping me become the man I am today. They have helped me so much over the last four years. They’ve been nothing but supportive of me and they are so much of the reason as to why I stayed at Findlay. They are more than professors to me, they’re friends and just because I won’t be in class anymore making sarcastic comments, it doesn’t mean I won’t be around anymore.
I also want to thank Tim Illiev, my design editor for my time as the Pulse managing editor. Naturally, we had our differences and sometimes we butted heads but that’s a good thing. Tim pushed me to be the best version of the editor I could be. He wanted the best paper possible and without out him, the paper is nowhere close to where it is today. I may be the “Editor” so to speak, but Tim did so much for the paper, and he should be getting all the love. I mean look at the paper and website we’ve put out, they’re outstanding. He is the reason the paper looks as good as it does, and he is the reason the website is so easy to navigate. Tim is a godsend and should be treated as such. I wish him nothing but the best as he is staying on the team for another semester. Oh and Tim, I know you thought everyone loves root beer when you first got here and I still think that’s funny.
But more than anyone, I want to thank Amy Rogan. She is the one who helped me find my voice, my passion, and my love for writing. I know The Pulse will be in good hands as long as she’s the brains behind the operation. She pushed me to be the best I could be with the Pulse and I can’t thank her enough for this opportunity. All the people I’ve met on campus, all the stories I’ve written, all the movies I’ve reviewed, and all the articles I’ve edited… that isn’t possible without her giving me a chance.
So take that chance, make that step, and live out your passions in college. As hard as it was for me to get going, once I got started, I never looked back.
Love you all
Dylan
