I remember the first time I heard about The Cigar’s long production nights, nobody ever had anything good to say about them.
I was just a freshman at the time. I had just finished an internship during my senior year of high school working for the Warwick Beacon, and I thought that I was going to be a journalist. So, I joined The Cigar in my first week on campus.
I took the very first pitch I heard: student senate. I had no clue what it entailed, but a week and a half later, I found myself sitting in the student senate chambers for my first meeting. After almost three hours, I ran to the Cigar office to write my article, printed in the next day’s paper. That first meeting was the longest one I reported on, and it almost made me quit The Cigar on the spot. I was tired, frustrated, and unsure of what I was doing.
I told myself to stick with it, though, and kept writing the Senate reports. I got to know Jason Phillips ‘22 and his e-board, and they convinced me to run for web editor the next semester. I was told the position would be light. I got the position with no web design experience, and was immediately asked to redesign the website. I didn’t have to spend my Wednesdays in the office with the team for the position, but I was there anyway. In my first semester, we were in the office past midnight regularly.
By this point, I had realized that I was much more of a photographer than a journalist, and took over the photo editor role for three semesters, and gained a larger role on Wednesdays. My photo team during this time was incredible. They made my job so much easier than it could have been, and I am endlessly thankful for the work they did.
To Nora Kelley, who took over the role after me, thank you for elevating the photo department to levels that I couldn’t. To Emma Roberts, who is taking our position in the fall: I know you’ll keep doing great things with your photography and with The Cigar.
When I first joined The Cigar, I always wanted to eventually become editor-in-chief, so naturally, my next position after photo editor was delivering the papers. By my junior year, The Cigar was composed of a mostly new cast of writers from when I joined, and I realized that I would not have been a good fit in charge. I still came to meetings and occasionally wrote, but was mostly a bridge between old and new.
As much as I loved walking around campus every week to deliver and having some extra time during the week, I missed the ending every Wednesday at the monolithic production meetings. Nothing replaces hearing “Pages are out!” after hours and hours in the office. Nothing replaces the walk up from the office to the Emporium for dinner after headlines were written. Nothing beats the wave of goofiness that would hit about ninety minutes before we finished every single week.
Nothing will beat the pride I have, still, every single Thursday, knowing the sheer amount of work everyone involved puts into having the newspaper out weekly.
I want to thank all five editors-in-chief that I had the opportunity to work under: Jason Phillips, Juliana Lepore ‘24, Lauren Drapeau ‘24, Ellie Sennhenn and Sadie Brandt. You each found ways to keep The Cigar fresh and inviting, for newcomers and returners.
Thank you to Maddie Bataille ‘23 for igniting my initial spark for news photography.
Thank you to Alexa Potamianos ‘24 for convincing me to start “Aidan On Location” for the newscast.
Thank you to Nils Fimmers ‘25 and Sully Cummins ‘25 for your random comments from the side office during production, which always seemed to come at the exact right moment.
Casey Chan-Smutko, thank you for being the last member left from our first meeting, where we both sat on the same couch in the corner, having no clue where the next four years would take us.
During my time at The Cigar, I have worked with far too many editors to thank you all individually. I could probably spend thousands of words just doing that, but I am endlessly thankful for what you’ve all taught me and allowed me to experience.
I want to thank every single member of The Cigar who made this newspaper what it is during my time here. I wouldn’t trade it, nor those Wednesdays, for the world.
