It’s good to be back. I can’t even begin to tell you how much you learn to appreciate something when you don’t have it anymore.

Near the tail end of last semester, I made the decision to venture off into radio with a fellow colleague of mine. It was a great experience, don’t get me wrong. I needed radio experience and that is exactly what I got there.

Yet, as the weeks went by there was something missing. It was you, my fellow NIU students, those of you who have grown with me and supported me the past four semesters.

One of the highlights of my NIU experience has been writing for you and then reading your responses. I missed that a great deal during my time doing radio.

Yet, I will not lie. Constructing weekly Northern Star columns for you has been grueling, time-consuming work. Northern Star readers see the final product, yet I feel as though they are unaware of the sacrifices and effort put into creating that final product.

We as columnists must wake up at 4 a.m. each morning to begin our training for the day. Each columnist has a different training preference. Mine consists of 68 laps around the Chick Evans Field House track. After that, I build up my typing muscles by vigorously maintaining my Facebook profile.

A two-hour session of intensive weightlifting is followed by a date with the darkroom studying speeches given by conservative politicians.

Starting off a semester of columns is always a tricky thing to do. However, as the semester rolls along, thoughts and ideas begin to make a smoother transition from our brains to the computer monitors.

“You know how basketball players get into a zone, right?” said journalism major Rich Hopkins. “There’s definitely a journalism zone. It’s when the fingers, the mind, the thought process are all in perfect harmony.”

Sports players keep track of their stats; it’s a known fact. Well, here is a confession. So do columnists. Notoriety comes with the job. When we get feedback through e-mail and winks, we secretly high-five each other deep in the bowels of the Campus Life building.

While bringing our readers the best possible columns possible requires a team effort, we still like the fact that people know who we are.

At the last social gathering I attended, I decided to use my columnist status to my advantage. I spotted an attractive girl and walked up to her.

“Excuse me miss. I’m Nathan Meno, a columnist for the Northern Star,” I said with a swagger. “How about you and I get together to do Wal-Mart and a movie?”

The attractive girl looked over, apparently not realizing who I was.

“Yeah, well I haven’t heard of you before,” said Samara Badat, corporate communications major. “I actually don’t know where you came from all of a sudden or why we are talking, but that’s cool that you write for the paper I guess.”

I held my head up high and stuck my chest out proudly, wearing a broad smile across my face. Yep, it’s great to be back.

Columns reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily that of the Northern Star staff.