So Much to Say at Semester's End

It just hit me last week that I really spent an entire semester writing for the DTH, which is something I always secretly dreamt of doing, yet something I thought would never happen. So, I would like to thank my editors for allowing me this voyage of discovery.

When I first told my family and friends that I'd be writing for the DTH, they had a few suggestions that went something like this: "Don't talk about drugs; don't talk about sex; don't talk about race or religion; don't curse; don't be controversial," etc. But really, how much fun would that have been?

As for my column this semester - I don't take life too seriously. If I can be appalling or funny while making a point at the same time, then I feel like I've accomplished something. My initial goal was not to bore you to death, but then I realized I wanted to do more than just wisecrack every week. And here I am with so much I still want to say. Here goes .

Music is my passion, and always will be.

I continue to support the legalization of marijuana.

I think women can be intelligent and sexy, while being respected at the same time. Sexuality doesn't have to compromise intellect.

I am a proud Southerner who respects other cultures and only asks that ours be respected as well.

I give money to homeless people because as long I have anything to give, I will. (And no amount of rationalization ever will convince me that generosity is a societal problem.)

For the most part, people who protest waste a lot of paper and usually accomplish nothing. Sometimes, the time could be better spent directly helping people.

I support Artists Against Piracy. Creative control and freedom from censorship are two of the most important things an artist can have.

And concerning abortion, there would be no choice for me: I'm glad that every woman has a choice. I believe that motherhood is the most beautiful, selfless act that a woman can choose. (And if feminists truly want to empower all women, they should be big enough to allow every woman to speak for herself. Women, like me, might actually believe in a more "radical notion" than you might imagine.)

More importantly, if I'd spent a semester writing something that would make everyone happy, how could I ever have made you think? Or did I at all?

If we fester in our own ideologies to the point that we are so blind and deaf to anything or anyone else, how enlightened are we? If we are so afraid to face our own insecurities, then how are we ever supposed to change or liberate anyone or anything?

If I have pissed you off, if I have touched your heart, if I have made you laugh, if I have made you think, then I have done my job as a journalist. This isn't a popularity contest. I'm just one person, like you, who decided to share her thoughts, opinions, frustrations, angst and confusion with the world.

Some of you have glorified me to semi-celebrity status for it, and some of you probably would've thrown the first stone. I didn't expect you to agree with everything I had to say. What I did desire was for you to appreciate the courage that this job requires. How many of you will have the passion or the interest in others and the world around you to take over this position as I leave it vacant?

If there is anything that you should know about me it is that I value my integrity wildly. And for me, integrity means standing beside what you do and what you say.

I will always question and regard with skepticism my elders, civilization and anything that could have the word "mediocre" attached. I wish more than anything there were more passionate idealists instead of the masses who are so caught up in taking the road most traveled.

But above all, life is simply not worth living if you don't have dreams and dare to go all out for them. I can only hope that you will chase your dreams like a fire raging through a forest, because the greatest risk in life is never taking one.

On a final note, I would really like to see our generation achieve more than the status quo or the lining of our pockets. I would like to see people let their actions speak louder than their words, or, at the very least, make those words matter. You don't have to write a column to do it, but you are important and what you have to say to your government, your peers and to the person you wake up and see in the mirror is important also.

Passion is like air to breathe. It's what continues development, incites change and what breeds innovation. Goodness flows to you only when it flows from you, that's the circle of the universe.

Go out and change the world - for the better.

"I shall pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer of neglect it for I shall not pass this way again."

- EX LIBRIS

Signing off .

Anne Marie

Anne Marie Teague is a senior business administration major from Lumberton

who is thankful for her parents' health, encouragement and love. E-mail her for

the last time at teague@email.unc.edu.