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Jan. 21, 1981: The Last Goodbye

The following piece, authored by editorial chairman Elena Kagan ’81 along with editorial editors Dave Hardison ’81 and Sally Swenson ’81, was published on Jan. 21, 1981, the last day of Kagan’s tenure at The Daily Princetonian.

“I had supposed that it was an easy berth, there being nothing to do but write one editorial per day; but I was disappointed in that superstition. I couldn’t find anything to write an article about, the first day. Then it occurred to me that inasmuch as it was the 22nd of April, 1864, the next morning would be the three-hundredth anniversary of Shakespeare’s birthday — and what better thing than that? ... There wasn’t enough of what Shakespeare had done to make an editorial of the necessary length but I filled it out with what he hadn’t done — which in many respects was more important and striking and readable than the handsomest things he had really accomplished.”

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—from The Autobiography of Mark Twain 

“Editorial writing is like wetting your pants in a blue serge suit. It gives you a nice warm feeling all over, and nobody notices.”

—Bill Ringle, Gannett Newspapers

There are days when the three of us have trudged back to The Daily Princetonian edit office, tried futilely to turn off the heat that makes even the furniture sweat, breathed in the cigarette smoke that one of us insists on exhaling, and wondered why we were here. Days like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday.

People don’t edit the ‘Prince’ because of the personal recognition that goes with the job; there isn’t any. And people don’t do it because they believe in the Right of the People to Know; noble ideals die quickly in a newsroom atmosphere. The camaraderie of the newsroom? You only mention that on law school applications. So why bother? Well, as reluctant as we are to admit it, we’ve taken a certain pride in putting out this page over the past year. And we’d like to think that at least a few of you out there were reading.

There’s just one more reason: it’s given us a ready excuse not to start our theses.

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