Praise the Lord, the time has come to finally say goodbye to The Panther. It has been a long four years of interaction with writing and volunteering long hours on Tuesday nights.
Shout out to my predecessor Otis Clayborne II for originally introducing me to the newspaper staff and training me to take his position. But even before I became aware of newswriting and the business of advertising, my first experience with the newspaper thrust me into a position that has lasted even until now.
My elder brother set the campus on fire with a short and sweet explanation about why he chose to denounce his Greek letters which he was on the verge of gaining. This raised blood pressure to unsafe levels among young and old alike, as people were forced to finally look at themselves from the seat of the Bible.
Most current students weren’t even here during that little bit of controversy, but even Mr. PV of that year decided to leave his organization after examining himself. But because people were so desperately connected to the organizations, they went through so much to become a part of, the message went widely unheard.
Ever since then I was afraid to voice my opinion on certain matters because I didn’t want to offend anyone beyond the point of the readers being able to clearly read the message.
But after a while I began to see that new information is always going to offend somebody no matter the subject. So as long as I put the facts out there, those who are meant to understand will understand.
I don’t know how much of my writing actually poured into the student population but I hope it has at least lead students or any other readers to look at their lives through the changing power of God’s holy word.
To the three different staffs that I have been a part of over the years, thanks for doing your jobs well. I do miss the times when we used to get out of the office at 1 a.m. I know now that isn’t even late. But the news staff shows promise for next year.
To Whitney Harris, the current editor in chief, it’s been a very interesting year by far. We bumped heads a little bit in the beginning but I think we can agree that it’s finally over, amen.
To Ronald Smith, you definitely made the office exciting to be in on those long nights. I had to check you sometimes when you stepped in my zone, but after those first couple of times you learned better. Only kidding.
To Rudd, make sure you keep the reins pulled tight on the staff. Better to be a tyrant than a pacifist. Make sure you keep the office entertaining and fun, but no one wants to spend the night in an office when they could be elsewhere.
To Jeremy, it’s only been a semester but you have gotten the job down well. Good luck in the future, but never get so confident that you can’t take critiques from other people.
To Robert, it’s been good having a person more knowledgeable about graphic design then me around. Less pressure to be a jack-of-all-trades for me. I encourage you to take The Panther as far as you can media wise.
To the students of Prairie View A&M University, goodbye forever. I will not have any further publications in The Panther unless invited back somehow. I don’t see that happening.
It’s been real but now I must leave you all to get out there and become somebody. I need and like money, so I plan on doing whatever legally to get as much wealth as possible.
I plan on going on to author a few books, which Lord willing, will become transposed into full feature films. But here’s one more word of advice for the road.
“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and He shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.” (Proverbs 3: 5-10) I think that sounds pretty good to me.
I will leave you with this. Mark 9:3 states “Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.”
Aaron Jacobs
Business Manager 2009-2010