And now the last hurrah of 2001...

Nikie Johnson

Late one night last week, as I was leaving the newspaper office to walk back to my dorm room, I stopped and looked at the gaping hole that
the University Center Satellite has become.

After getting deluged in June by a freak of nature named Allison, the Satellite was put out of commission. As I looked through the fog that
had settled that night, I remembered the place I had spent so many hours eating, studying and just hanging out with friends.

I also remembered taking pictures of the Satellite the morning after the flood, seeing the water totally covering what had been very nice
concrete tables, looking inside and seeing all tables and chairs completely submerged. It was truly awful, in the full sense of the word.

For the first time since June, I walked down the sidewalk to where the front doors had been, and then walked inside. As I looked around
remembering where all the restaurants and tables had been, I felt sorry for this year's freshmen who had never known the Satellite, and for
all the seniors who will graduate before that stomping ground is reopened.

I started my position as the editor in chief of The Daily Cougar in June, thinking summer would be an easy time to get used to the job. Boy,
was I wrong. But I did learn a lot about working under pressure and getting things done that would have seemed impossible.

When summer ended and the fall semester began, it seemed the flood and all its ramifications would be the biggest news going on. Yet
again, we could not have been more wrong. 

Now I've had the job for more than six months, with one more semester ahead of me (but just one more — I promise!). I've never had more
responsibility as I've had in this job, but I've never had as much fun, either.

In this last issue of the semester, the editor in chief usually says his or her thanks to the people who have helped to get the newspaper out,
so I'll take a few paragraphs to do that now. Non-Cougar people, feel free to skip ahead.

Audrey Warren, Ed De La Garza, Ellen Simonson and Ken Fountain deserve more thanks than could fit on this page for all the late nights
they've put in and hard work they've been happy to do for the sake of this newspaper. 

Tom Carpenter, probably one of the best-loved writers in Daily Cougar history, will be graduating this semester, and certainly deserves
recognition for being a fantastic writer, editor and person in general. Look for his name on The New York Times bestseller list sometime
soon.

The rest of the section editors, writers, photographers, copy editors and cartoonists have been great, too, but they can hear me sing their
praises in a less public forum.

Fall 2001 will live forever in my memory. Watching UH recover after Allison has been impressive. Seeing the Twin Towers of the World
Trade Centers collapse was burned indelibly in my mind. For the first time in my life, my country is at war for a personal reason.

Seeing and hearing what is going on in the United States and in Afghanistan has been a true test of my convictions. The way the nation is
rebuilding itself, like UH did after the summer's devastation, has been amazing.

All the time I've spent at the newspaper with such a talented and fun group of people will also be near the top of my list of good memories.
Dancing on desks when deadlines were met, hearing the whole newsroom randomly break out in song, learning just how weird Photoshop
can make people look and finally learning how to throw a football have made all the stress, headaches and lack of sleep more than worth it.

If this sounds like a fun job to you, go get your head examined. Then come by and fill out an application. We're always looking for talented
writers, photographers and editors to come join the Cougar family. It really can be a great experience.

For all you communication majors out there who want to go into journalism, I would especially encourage you to give it a shot. With the
changes being made in the School of Communication, it's getting harder and harder to really learn journalism. The Daily Cougar is a way to
get hands-on experience.

Good luck on your finals, everyone, and may you have a wonderful holiday season. Read Breaking News on our Web site
(www.uh.edu/campus/cougar) every Wednesday over the break. See you in January.

Johnson, a senior communication major who is so glad it 
doesn't snow in Houston, can be reached at dcougar@mail.uh.edu.