The Weekly Ringer

The University of Mary Washington Student Newspaper

An Entertainment Editor's Final Rant

2 min read

BY AARON RICHARDSON

After two and a half years of cutting out pictures of singers, rappers, actors and just about anything else under the sun, I’m leaving the Entertainment section behind. I’ll still be working for the Bullet but from now on I’ll be focusing my energies on the new and improved Bullet website.
In the time since I began working under Will Copps as assistant Entertainment editor freshman year, I’ve had the opportunity to cover some pretty cool stuff. Last year I had the opportunity to interview the Plain White T’s and Eve 6 on the eve (heyo!) of their reunion for homecoming last year.
I got turned down for a few interviews too, including with Ben Folds and Lupe Fiasco. I guess college journalism only gets you as far as C-list musicians whose popularity is far beyond waning. Just kidding! The Plain White T’s were definitely solid B-listers then.
Joking aside, I’ve had a blast running this section for the Bullet. For one thing, I get to spend a couple afternoons every week hanging out with the raddest group of people on campus. For another, I actually create something tangible that I can finagle into a job after college.
That, dear readers, is all from the heart. All of it except the finagling part. Everyone knows there aren’t any jobs left in America, stupid.
Last semester I had the distinct honor of being the only section of the Bullet to consistently bring hard-hitting up-to-the-minute reviews of all the latest video games to hit the streets. From “Little Big Planet” to “Fallout 3,” my section had video game coverage unmatched by any Bullet section before or since.
So prolific was our coverage of the electronic arts that fellow Bullet staffers gave us the dubious title “Gamertainment.” Easy though it may have been to jest about, video games provided us with some of the best content we’ve had during my tenure. Not only that, we were the only section that gave a voice to the voiceless and in turn, gave gamers everywhere an alternative to the Internet as a source of gaming news.
The best thing by far about working for the Bullet, though, is the camaraderie of the staff. No matter what section I’m working for or what I’m writing about, I’m having fun.
In that respect, the only thing that gets left behind for me is the Entertainment section itself. I still get to come to the office one or two days a week and put stories and pages together, just this time I’m working in a different medium.
My new position brings with it much more responsibility than did Entertainment. For one, I’m responsible for publishing the stories of every single staff writer on the Bullet. I don’t just have five stories to swear about anymore, but an entire paper’s worth of work.