An alumnus’ tribute to the Fink legacy

Note: I graduated in 2009, after taking four Fink classes. I’ve since become a writer at Golfweek magazine. Fink always knew I could be.

Rest in peace, Fink. Thank you for being so charming and demanding and encouraging.

Thank you for sitting down with me in 2004, when I was only a junior in high school, and convincing me that studying at the University of Georgia, under your supervision, was the right thing to do.

Thank you for answering the phone when the managing editor at MLB.com called, my first big break.

Thank you for believing. Thank you for spending hundreds of hours reading every story I wrote, whether it was a dispatch from a Georgia-Florida game or a short write-up on a Cedar Shoals cross-country meet.

You cared, deeply. And I guess that’s the whole point of this.

Looking back on my time in Athens, of course I’ll remember my friends and the football games and meeting my girlfriend. But I’ll also recall fondly your invitations to swing by your office at 3:30 p.m., after teaching three classes.

You pulled up a chair beside me in that windowless room and went line-by-line on my story from the previous night until I got it right.

It became a routine, like flipping through the playbook one last time before that night’s game.

After an hour, that rumpled newspaper had fingerprints all over it. Your fingerprints.

You made every student a better writer, a better editor, a better reporter, a better person. You made every student believe they could be someone great.

There’s no greater legacy than that.

RYAN LAVNER

Alumnus, Orlando

Newspapers

Fake ID commonality does not excuse use

Trey Nordone’s article in the January 12 issue on fake IDs was appalling [“Fake IDs a persevering component of student Life”].

“…The act is essentially a college-aged equivalent of sneaking into an R-rated movie.” What?

R-rated movies don’t get people killed after someone’s had too much, Trey.

Since when has illegally manufacturing a government document EVER been OK?

Trey seems to think it’s no big deal, especially since it’s so common and they’re just doing it to buy booze.

After all, “It’s college, people.”

If I counterfeited some money to buy beer, would that be all right with you, Trey?

Both crimes are felonies, but it’s just to buy alcohol, so no big deal, right?

Furthermore, fraternities absolutely deserve to be held accountable for their actions. They’re SUPPOSED to be pillars of the community.

Integrity. That is what you, Trey, and all the rest of the fake ID crowd lack.  That’s the real problem, not the law.

BERRY McWHORTER

Sophomore, San Antonio

Music Education