Writing a column a handful of times over the course of one semester really doesn’t give anyone the right to call herself a columnist, let alone allow that person to write a farewell column to her non-existent readership. But as the title of this “column” indicates, I’ve decided that I’m going to go ahead and do it anyway.
Last week, as I was wrapping up the final Cadenza issue of my newspaper career, I had the sudden realization that with the departure of this senior class, the last people who remember Cadenza as its own beautiful once-a-week publication will graduate, and there will be no one left here to remember the section in all of its glory. To me, this seemed significant, sort of like when the last person who remembered the Civil War passed away, and no one was left to tell firsthand about Honest Abe and the destruction of Atlanta. As a result, this column is a tribute to the Cadenza that once was, so that all of the future Cadenzstars can know what our section was like at its finest.
Cadenza was the brainchild of Student Life staffers in the early 1990s who decided that unlike other college papers, Student Life needed a real arts section, and Cadenza, “an exceptionally brilliant part of an artistic work,” was created as its own entity, separate from its Student Life umbrella. Once the section was formed, the staff devoted themselves to writing primarily about the activities of KWUR, the source of most music-related activity on campus. However, over time, Cadenza branched out and began writing about other topics, including fine arts, movies and theatre and grew into the hip, weekly publication we all knew and loved. Every week, regardless of its content, Cadenza was 12 pages of greatness.
Three years ago, in what some might describe as a misguided yet judicious decision, Cadenza was integrated back into the newspaper, where it was given nine pages a week, which eventually shrank down to our current three to four page max. In these three years, we have witnessed the Cadenza spirit rise up in fury, simmer down to weekly flare-ups and eventually begin to integrate itself into the regular workings of a student newspaper.
Over the past four years, Cadenza readers have consistently accused us of being egotistical, condescending, haughty and conceited, and I am proud that the letters kept rolling in even after we have tamed ourselves under our Student Life parent. (This column is yet another example of our self-aggrandizing nature, and I expect letters in protest.)
Even though I am not nearly as informed or with-it as my amazingly knowledgeable predecessors (Dan Carlin, Travis Petersen, Jess Minnen, and Matt Simonton), I am glad that we are still a forum for people to talk knowledgeably about arts and entertainment without taking it all too seriously. In addition to its serious journalistic aspects (of which there are many), Cadenza is and should always be about writing sarcastic columns, bull-shit features and at least one story each year that calls for excessive drinking as a major aspect of the creative process.
So, on behalf of the Cadenza that once was and will no longer be remembered, let us all take a moment of silence and at least one shot of Jager. Cadenza – here’s to you.