Simeon McMillan | Don't cry for me, Penn

Whoever said the ending is always anticlimactic couldn't have been more right.

With only two weeks until graduation, I look at myself and realize how little has changed over the past four years. In many ways, I'm leaving Penn the same way I entered: broke, single and with a mild case of insomnia.

But writing for the opinion page has been an experience like none other. Every Thursday in 600 words, I underwent a metamorphosis. I went from a mild-mannered Wharton student into a literary assassin, using words as my ammunition to assail my target.

Unlike the slew of baby-faced sophomore editors running The Daily Pennsylvanian, I arrived at the party a bit later than most.

It wasn't until the second semester of my junior year that I signed on with the opinion blog.

I remember it just like it was yesterday. They were looking for a Wharton student to joke about finance. I was looking for a cool new way to meet chicks. From the start it was a match made in heaven.

Whoever said "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" must never have been a student columnist. Little did I know how incredibly demanding it would be to consistently churn out weekly musings on all things Penn. You should know that much blood, sweat, tears and a couple shots of Jack Daniels went into each and every piece I wrote.

This job has taught me to have the utmost respect for any writer bold enough to pour his heart and soul on a page for readers to dissect. Sure, anyone can be critical on an anonymous message board or Web site. But having the fortitude to back up one's thoughts with a name and a beaming two-inch headshot is an ability many an Ivy League student shall never posses. If you have ever, even for a second, picked up The Daily Pennsylvanian and thought you could do a better job, I fully encourage you to apply for my now vacant spot.

Life without my column won't be easy, but fortunately I've found ways to keep myself busy between graduation and the corporate hazing I expect on Wall Street. I've been spending many late nights in the library screening DVDs of every sermon the pastor of my church has given in the past four years.

In the age of YouTube, you never know who in your past you might end up having to repudiate, reject and categorically renounce down the road. I figure it's best I start my research now.

To my closest 800 friends on Facebook - thank you for tolerating my incessant e-mails, phone calls and general requests for a usable quote in a column.

A classmate recently told me that the Wharton e-mail servers have officially classified my messages as junk mail. Some would call such frequent correspondence stalking. I prefer to think of it as sound reporting.

To those who have respectfully disagreed with me over the past year - thank you for your e-mails and anonymous messages. I can assure you I've taken time to read each and every one of them.

But no matter how hard you try, you will never convince me that the cohort system isn't silly, international students deserve U.S. taxpayer-sponsored financial aid and the Penn students aren't responsible for a good chunk of the theft on campus.

And finally, to the thousands of loyal readers of Common $ense, wherever you may be, thank you for supporting my work. All the arduous hours of interviewing, editing, researching, editing and then editing some more, were truly a labor of love.

While my immediate future lies in finance, it is my dream to one day return to a printed page near you. And when that glorious day does come, hopefully it will be for an exorbitant fee.

In the meantime, try not to miss me too much.

Simeon McMillan is a Wharton senior from Baldwin, N.Y. His e-mail is mcmillan@dailypennsylvanian.com.

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