TRAVIS MARMON
My first issue as a section editor on the Voice was Volume CXXX, Issue VI, which came out on October 15, 2010. If my
calculations are correct, that means I have been a part of 95 issues of this newspaper. Whether or not that’s a record is hard to confirm — the Voice has been in print since 1883 — but if you know anything about me after my four years here, it is that I’m a part of the paper.
It’s been a strange transition to Editor-in-Chief after three years at the Sports desk. Despite the fact that I’ve been on the editorial staff almost as long as I’ve been a student, most readers (at least at the circle tables) probably didn’t know who I was. The only times there were ever letters directed at me were when I called Boise State an entitled football program and when I said that Tim Tebow was an objectively bad quarterback (which I’ve been proven right about since). Now, every compliment or criticism about the Voice comes to me, whether it’s through email or in person. More than a handful of my weekends have featured somebody drunkenly yelling at me about it (not always negatively), which is a bizarre party conversation. I was never aware of just how much of an impact this little weekly newspaper had until I was in charge of it.
The truth is, I was quite ambivalent about becoming an EIC. It always struck me as an overly stressful way to close out a college career. My only previous leadership role was captain of my Junior Varsity soccer team in high school. I’m a man of routine, and I had found a groove in the Sports section (although A&E would have been a nice change of pace). How was I supposed to go from the section that everybody avoided copy-editing to running the whole show?
Thankfully, after some encouragement from last year’s seniors, I applied for the job and got it. For the most part, I’ve enjoyed
being the boss. The perspective shift has really helped me understand everything that goes into publishing the Voice every week. I can’t just whip up a story list from the athletics website, lay out my page and a half on Tuesday and leave. I have to work with every section on developing their stories, manage about a dozen egos and make sure that the product is up to snuff. Some weeks I’m better at this than others, but I feel that I’m just now getting the hang of it.
Of course, I couldn’t get the hang of it at all without the rest of the staff. Although the cover letters I send to prospective employers say that the Voice has increased its in-depth coverage of campus issues under my leadership, the fact of the matter is that this paper has improved due to the abilities of its reporters and section editors. I may have hired them, and I may have the final say in what gets published, but I have little to do with their stories themselves. I feel extremely confident leaving the Voice in their hands.
I also owe a big thank you to my co-editor, Ian Benson, and our Managing Editor, Anya Cohen. Ian has skills with InDesign and PhotoShop that I never really developed despite my experience here, and his vision for what the paper can do is tremendous. Anya may have a lesser title, but don’t get it wrong — she is just as much in charge of the paper as Ian and I. She’s gotten us out of a lot more trouble than you could believe, her insight has been vital and she has truly balanced the leadership in the office in a way that was lacking during the years without her position. It’s been a pleasure serving as part of “the three-headed monster” with you two.
Lastly, I have to thank my old editors: Emily Timmerman, Lee McKinstry, Kris Fronzak, Maggie Donnelly and Maddie Halstead. I wouldn’t be able to do this job if it weren’t for their leadership, advice and encouragement. My transformation from confused, quiet freshman to knowledgeable, sometimes-intimidating editor is a product of their work.
It will be weird not spending every Tuesday in a windowless, dingy basement office with hideous red carpet, reading the same sentences over and over again. It will also be weird not making new friends in that office, which I can proudly say I’ve done every year of college. But most of all, it will be weird walking around on a Friday without seeing people read my work or hearing people discuss it. It’s been an unbelievable ride bringing the news to this campus every week. I can only hope that my writing and editing makes it back to you all as a professional. Thanks for reading.