Three years is an oddly indefinable period of time. Some days, my stint at UCLA seemed interminable.
Some days, it seemed all too transitory. And now, as I sit here typing up the text that will bear my very last byline in the Daily Bruin, I can’t help but realize that both sentiments, opposing as they may be, are incongruously true.
Three years ago, I walked through the daunting double doors at Kerckhoff Hall for my Daily Bruin interview, an anxious freshman with frizzy hair and a fervent hope. Fingers crossed! I was going to be a reporter at a big-time college newspaper.
Of course, I tanked the interview. Things were going relatively well until then-opinion editor Neil Paik asked me the fateful question: “If you could ask Gene Block one thing, what would it be?” New to UCLA and generally ignorant, I had to uncomfortably admit that I didn’t know who Gene Block was.
Neil winced, and I cringed upon hearing that Block was none other than the chancellor of UCLA. I was mortified, and the interview ended shortly thereafter.
But I was determined not to let my chances die with my dignity. The next day, I marched back through those double doors and met a surprised Neil at the entrance.
“Your interview was yesterday,” he said, with a puzzled look on his face.
“I know, but I didn’t like how I answered the Gene Block question, so here’s a list of things I would ask him given the chance,” I replied, handing him a folded piece of paper on which my last hopes resided.
A week later, I walked through those double doors for what very well could have been the last time. I entered Student Media, nervously wondering if I’d leave as a member of the Daily Bruin team, or just a reader.
I jumped for joy, took a picture of my name under the heading of accepted applicants and did the typical freshman thing – called my mom.
Since then, I’m happy to report that I’ve been a news writer, opinion editor and staff columnist at the Bruin – and I’ve met with Chancellor Block on three separate occasions to interview him as a member of the editorial board. All three times, I was prepared with questions and a full foreknowledge of who he was.
I don’t know if Neil even remembers my interview. I doubt people will remember me at the Bruin in a few years. The paper has always been something bigger than myself – than even the team that puts it together.
But, I know for certain that I will never forget the three sunless, carpal tunnel-inducing, Nutella-fueled years where I was sheltered behind those unassuming double doors. Thank you, Daily Bruin, for everything.
Polatoglu was an opinion columnist from 2012-2013, opinion editor from 2011-2012 and a news reporter from 2010-2011.