There was a time in my life not too long ago that I considered myself a thespian. No, I did not say lesbian, and no, I’m not writing in advocacy of gay marriage – so stop dreaming. In high school, I played a mean Jet in “A Westside Story” and several characters ranging from peasant farmer to wealthy aristocrat in “Les Miserables.”

One thing I’ve discovered over the last three semesters is that the journalism world is much like the world of theater. Reporters and columnists are the actors on the stage of their publication who play out the day’s news and commentary. You see our mugs on the page in front of you, and you’re free to offer your own opinions when you disagree with the lines we recite.

The production crew, or deputy editors, performs behind the lights and curtains to ensure that the show is presented properly, and that the actors look and sound their best. The directors of the show, or the editors, coach, assist, rehearse and review until it appears that the show, or the paper, is ready for presentation to the public. Next semester I’ll be switching from an actor in the opinions script, to the director of the play: Opinions Editor.

So while this is not “goodbye,” it is “see ya later.” You’ve read about my politics, my social life (sometimes my love life), my family and my vacations. I’ll no longer be sharing this slice-of-life with you, but I’ll be reading and publishing your letters as they come in, and creating the pages to which other columnists will contribute.

I will recede into the darkness, the depths of the journalistic theater, allowing the strings on my fingers to run down to the stage where I will do my best to give you a balanced and interesting opinions page – not as a puppeteer jerks his creations about, but instead as Pinocchio danced on Geppetto’s strings when he came to life.

Now, I offer a challenge. If you have ever disagreed with me to the point of bashing my columns and me on the Facebook, if you have written letters to the editor calling for a column to be retracted or if you can’t stand the people who do, I encourage you to apply for a position as a columnist for next semester.

If there’s one thing I believe I have accomplished in my three semesters as a columnist, it’s that I have sparked controversies that have yielded political dialogue on this campus. Rather than simply keeping you from snoozing in your 9 a.m. class, I may have planted a concept in your head that awoke some passion inside you that stayed with you for the day. If this is, or has been the case, you should consider applying to work on my staff. I’m looking for writers that fit this mold.

While my columns have certainly been slanted in the past, I assure you that the page I produce next semester will be balanced. Some of the best writing to come out of past opinions sections was from people on a different side of the aisle than I, and for some, not on any side of any aisle.

French writer Alain Rene Le Sage once said, “Opinions cannot survive if one has no chance to fight for them.” With the way Republicans are winning elections these days, liberals should seize the opportunity to fight for their opinions as columnists, and conservative ideologies can seek refuge from pervasive liberalism here, too. Maybe, just maybe, we’ll learn something from each other.

As the curtain draws on my final scene as a columnist, I encourage you to audition for a role in my production next semester. It remains untitled, but the plot involves injecting intellectual diversity into a campus requiring some in the worst way.

Thank you for your readership, comments and critiques. Have a great Christmas break.

Chuck Prochaska is a junior in LAS. His column appears every Thursday. He can be reached at [email protected].