In seven days I – Clancy Tripp, Editor-in-Chief and Founder of The Golden Antlers – will leave Claremont and move to New York in hopes of becoming a real adult. Before I go, I have some words of advice to leave you with:
Have Fun (But Don’t Die)
Twenty years from now are you gonna remember the night you stayed in and did your homework? Or will you remember the night you ran around, pounded shots on the fourth floor of the library, and stripped in Seal Pond? Honestly, you probably won’t remember either night because alcohol and memories do not mix, but the second option makes for a better story.
Have fun! But don’t die. Don’t fuck with Everclear, that shit is straight poison. Make a web diagram of people your friend group has hooked up with. [On second thought, I do not recommend that.] Drink wine that maybe has arsenic in it. Go to Walter’s on a weeknight because they have dope cocktails. Break into the CMC pool and then, once you remember you don’t know how to swim, take all your clothes off and do a naked lap while everyone else jumps in the pool. Kiss a CGU student. Then shout “WAHOO 7C CHALLENGE!” and run away. Go to concerts. Go to Frank dining hall. Make friends so wonderful that at the end of senior year you’re too afraid to go to sleep because it means you’re missing out on time you could be spending with them.
Take Yourself Less Seriously
I get it, you’re thinking about your future career and maybe running for political office is in the cards, but don’t forget to take a little time off to be a kid for the last time in your life. Do I have a folder on my computer labeled “Blackmail” full of photographs of you all doing depraved shit? Maybe. But we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Give yourself space every once in a while to do something your [parents/grandparents/constituents] would be appalled by. Take a preposterous PE course. I took Fly-Fishing. Have I ever gone fishing? No. Have I ever touched a worm? Probably not. Did I learn a lot about how “the Mexicans are systematically destroying this nation” from my teacher? I certainly did. I fully recommend doing weird things. You don’t have to put it on your LinkedIn, it doesn’t have to be a part of your Web Presence. Or, you know, it can. When you google “Clancy Tripp” and “dick-punching” there are multiple results. I’m gonna mark that one down in the Success column.
Use Your Power Wisely
Mainly my recommendation would be that if you’re going to start beef with someone, I wouldn’t go straight for the football team. Not ideal.
And yes, the rumors are true, during my time at The Golden Antlers I recruited exclusively attractive writers in the hopes that they would date me. So far, no luck, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed!
But seriously, I spent most of my Golden Antlers time behind the screen making fun of people I have never met. I always tried not to abuse my power, but, you know, we all make mistakes. If you are a leader on campus (and, based on how many Rose profile photo changes I’ve seen, most of you are) use your power for good not evil. Make friends with underclassmen because they are fresh and new and they get excited when you teach them new drinking games. And they are way, way fucking smarter than you, but they still remind you why you love this place.
Build Something
Do something no one before you has. Throw your whole self into it and, even when people tell you it’s a dumb idea, stick to it. Make mistakes, make enemies (many, many prominent enemies), make 6:01 tanks, make slander, whatever you do, make it your own. Then, when you’ve built something you’re proud of, something that has defined you for so long, realize when it’s time to pass it on to someone new.
This is the end of The Golden Antlers for me. I am hereby entrusting it to you. Take care of my baby, please, and make sure that when I come back in 50 years (with my astronaut space robot husband) The Golden Antlers is still around. It’s been a fantastic run and I’ve loved every minute of it.
So thank you. Thank you for reading, for sharing, for laughing, for expressing outrage, for supporting The Golden Antlers. Thanks to the talented, brilliant, hilarious future Editors-in-Chief: Frank Lyles PO ’17 and Liat Kaplan CMC ’17. If I have to give my baby up, it couldn’t be to a better dynamic duo. Thanks especially to our writers from the CMC Class of 2015 who were there from the very beginning. Thanks to the new writers who have only made us better. The Golden Antlers has been the best thing that has ever happened to me, so thank you for giving me the space to create it.
Stay Golden Claremont,
Clancy out.
– Clancy Tripp CMC ’15
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