When I first read NYU Local’s mission statement back in the Spring of ’08, I considered it one of the most laughable and brazenly arrogant things I had ever seen on the internet. Vocally critical of WSN on my blog, I saw Local as nothing but a wannabe Gawker offshoot; I believe my exact phrasing was, “It is, as most things at NYU are, a participatory academic circle-jerk for rich kidz and gayz who want to be known in the media world, but don’t want to write about anything real.” As with most snap judgments, I took one sliver of evidence and wildly extrapolated. I mean, there aren’t that many “gayz” on NYU Local.

Not put off or offended by my overzealous snark, a few members of the core beta team lured me into their inner circle with a succession of well-phrased e-mails. The first NYU Local meeting Josh and I ever attended was at the J School building, and we sat giggling in the corner about all of the self-seriousness. Cody’s voice cracked shyly at the times he was to appear most confident; Lily Q stomped around the room on spiked heels and absolutely scared the shit out of me. They, along with almost everyone else in that original staff meeting, appeared to hate me. And why should they not? I had earnestly mocked their genuinely impressive efforts to transform the journalism community at NYU with one offhand blog post.

Fearing the bloody havoc Lily might wreak upon my body with those sharp heels, I slowly began to drop my guard, and what I saw surprised me. Snark aside, NYU Local seemed like the exact kind of collaborative blogging project I was searching for. While in beta, I covered the DNC from Denver and wrote starkly about feminism. The original Entertainment Editor Joe Coscarelli recruited me to write a media crit column from Paris, and my articles then focused mostly on this hyperconnected world of ours. The internet had made me, the internet had destroyed me, the internet could bring me back to life. I believed that, truly. I still kind of do.

When Joe graduated, I became Entertainment Editor, and then, this semester, Editor-in-chief. In two years I had gone from obnoxious anti-NYU Local critic to one of its most vocal proponents. Unsurprisingly, my life has revolved around this blog these past few years. Almost all of my close friends are in some way connected to NYU Local, and while we’ve tried to cast the net wider this semester with our new hires, that incestuous core of original Localites still consists of some of my favorite people in this world.

I think I learned more at the helm of this publication than I did in any lecture I endured during my tenure at NYU. I learned how to analyze stats and assemble the posting schedule accordingly. I learned that the internet can be an awful place, and that fact has kept me honest and helped me to grow thicker skin. I learned to field 30 e-mails a day from anxious staffers about posts and parties alike. I learned how to be a blogger and how to be an editor and how to be a person, and I learned it from the writers, editors and commenters in this little community I have come to absolutely adore.

I am graduating and moving to California! It’s weird to say. I’ve wanted it for so long, but I’ve also spent so long cultivating this image of Me as a New Yorker that it’s hard to believe I’m going to be shedding that skin. I have watched myself grow in tandem with this site, from an immature, slightly nascent reactionary, to a sometimes silly, sometimes analytical culture machine. This semester, I tried my damnedest to steer us away from the petty infighting with WSN, to encourage the proliferation of original reporting and to assemble a team of savvy multimedia reporters who could provide comprehensive, well-written and well-edited coverage about this campus we call home.

So, I suppose this is all to say one very important thing: thank you for coming along on this ride with me. The talented team of writers both new and old that I leave behind has some awesome things in store for you, including a summer site redesign. As a great media king once said, “I’m a big believer in responsible journalism — responsible to one group: our readers.” I hope I’ve served you well.