Carolyn Popper Senior Column — Three editors and our coffee orders

I’ve worked alongside Caroline and Lila on this newspaper staff since freshman year. My co-editors were there when we learned the difference between serif and sans-serif fonts in J-1 and remain by my side as we lead a staff of 60. The personalities of these girls are so ingrained in my psyche, I’ve nearly morphed into a combination of the two. 

Instead of detailing our identities in an overly-heartfelt, emotional mess of a way, I’ll put this in terms that journalists relate to so well: coffee.  

Lila, design prodigy, announces the following coffee order — usually to an underclassman who will fetch her beverage: venti nonfat skinny vanilla sweet cream cold brew with light ice and extra cream. I know, right? If anything is an indication of her personality, it’s that coffee order. 

The five-foot-one-inch authoritarian gets what she wants, when she wants it. First-year page designers tremble as they ask the InDesign mogul for a quick look at their page. A master manipulator, I found myself completing tasks for Lila because she asked ever-so-sweetly, with a hint of threat behind her soprano, valley girl tone.  

But like the sweetness of vanilla shots in her low-fat cup of joe, Lila is comforting and soothing in a world of bitter. When I’m sitting at writers’ deadline in near panic because I barely have a draft up for a story, Lila assures me that it’ll all work out — and reminds me I always pull it together in the end, with promises of coffee in the morning. It’s her love language.  

And for Caroline, not so precise. In the winter, she prefers hot coffee. In the warmer months, iced — usually with a pump or two of chai. Just like her pragmatic coffee order, Caroline is a practical and efficient leader, demanding order when Lila and I have abandoned work during Wednesday deadlines. She has leadership in her veins, from Student Council Vice President to editor status.   

Unwavering when laying down the law, Caroline detects a staffer lagging behind on deadlines and wastes no time pulling them aside for a stern talking-to. She owes this to her younger-sister status — needing to assert herself all while growing up. Common strew of words from this one: “Guys, stop. We need to get sh*t done.” 

But like the fun, extra pumps of chai, Caroline is just as goofy as her co’s when she lowers her walls. She falls into fits of laughter at the lightest of jokes, slaps your shoulder out of excitement, and always, always claims her ideas are so good. The practicality and hard front disappears when a tornado alarm sounds — a once-composed general transforms into a blubbering fool. Unlike Lila and me, Caroline is unafraid to wear every emotion on her face, honest as can be.  

Lastly, my specific coffee order: nonexistent. I drink whatever Lila orders for me, or even (grossly) what’s been sitting on the J-room computer desks for who knows how long. Whether it’s an iced vanilla latte or a caramel macchiato, I’ll drink it. Just like when a staffer comes to me with a not-so-solid idea, instead of shooting it down and starting over, I’d rather be flexible and encourage them to build on that idea. When Lila and Caroline fight over a concept issue or who needs an attitude adjustment, I’m the go-with-the-flow mediator and peacemaker. 

The more rule-oriented aspects of Harbinger, such as PDFing and grading the staff, I shrug to my focused and systematic counterparts. And where flexibility exists: brainstorms and copy editing, I’m in charge. For me, rules are unenforced and creativity flows. Just like my coffee order — unpredictable. 

I’ve shared close to four years and countless cups of coffee with my co-editors, despite our differing flavors. But whether or not next year’s heads are espresso, cappuccino or glorified milk people, I hope their nuanced personalities complement each others’ as well as the 2020 print editors.