“College is just an excuse to work at The Daily Tar Heel.”
When The DTH Executive Director Will Lingo redecorated the office this past summer, he added a Daily Tar Heel family crest to the door. It was clearly from a bygone era, depicting a cubic desktop computer, a frothy beer, an enticing couch and a bearded man. My aforementioned quote — by former journalism professor Chuck Stone (who is not the bearded man) — adorns a ribbon underneath these symbols.
When I first saw these words, my coworker beside me scoffed. Fair enough — it’s a bold statement. For many, The DTH becomes this parasite that eats away at what you’re supposed to be doing in college: getting dinner with friends, doing homework, attending club meetings, exercising, sleeping. For others, it’s a supplemental part of their time at UNC. A side quest, even.
I may be one of the few tempted to agree with Chuck Stone.
The Daily Tar Heel has easily become my defining college experience. This was inevitable; I’ve been in the office almost every day since August 2023, when I became an assistant Copy editor. My week is dictated by workflow. I dream about InDesign pages.
It’s easy to fall into the mind frame of, “Oh God, I have to make another paper this week.” I understand my fellow editors who approach every Sunday with a pit in their gut. When I look at my schoolwork and then at The DTH and then back at my schoolwork — I regularly despair. But I return my gaze to The DTH and I say, “Thank God I get to make another paper this week.”
I’ve had this incredible opportunity to be a part of an actual, real-life newspaper. That people read! (Haters will say otherwise, but I’ve seen you lovely people with a DTH in hand, and it always warms my heart.) I’m 21 years old, and I’ve had the privilege of writing headlines, editing stories, designing pages and more for my favorite publication. How many people are lucky enough to say that?
And, on top of having the best job ever, I’ve gotten to do it alongside the best people. Before The DTH, I knew the dictionary definition of what a community is. But “community” is one of those words you can’t really understand until you live it.
It isn’t merely colleagues, although work is sometimes the only thing we have in common. It isn’t a friend group, although I love these people dearly. It isn’t a family, although I see them more than my parents or housemates.
