If you’ve been in the Communication Department at all over the last five years, you’ve undoubtedly had some sort of run-in with Nathan Carter.

Maybe you talked comic books. Maybe he creeped you out with one of those weird things he says. Maybe he was in your group for a project.

Whatever the case may be, most everyone in the department knows Nathan Carter in some way. That’s not necessarily a testament to his popularity, more a testament to his notoriety, I suppose.

Some would say Carter is a weird dude. I’m one of those people. He is a weird dude. But the fact of the matter is that Carter is more that.

Nathan Carter, to me, is like a little brother. Sure, he’s a pain in the ass from time to time, and you sure as hell don’t want to introduce him to your girlfriend or friends. 

But when nobody else is around, you take him under your wing and teach him life lessons. You have fun. You joke around, but only in the privacy of your bedrooms.

To be clear, Carter and I have never been in each other’s bedrooms. Bedroom, here, is a metaphor for the Chart office.

Nathan Carter is far and away the hardest working person I’ve ever seen in our office, and that includes all three editors-in-chief I’ve seen in my time (myself included).

Nathan’s the type of guy who will run through a brick wall trying to get a story. Sometimes he runs through the wrong brick walls, but he’ll line up and go through another just to make sure he does a good job.

And that’s what I could always count on from Nate: a good job. I wouldn’t call him to bail me out of jail, but I know that in most instances, I can call on Nathan Carter to get things done and done right, even if he’ll talk my ear off about it later.

The fact of the matter is this: I’ve heard it said that what we do in the Chart office is a little bit like a fraternity. Each of the guys (and gals) in the office share things with one another that won’t be shared with anyone else, and that includes the embarrassments and triumphs of our learning processes.

On the long list of people I’ve been associated with in my time with The Chart, I can honestly say that there are very few I’m more proud to call a brother than Nathan Carter.

The bottom line is that everyone in the Chart office loves Nate. We always have, and we always will.

While others on the outside may see him as that goofy guy in class who loves rock music and his Mustang, we see him as the guy who has always been there for all of us in a pinch.

Nathan is the guy we could always count on in the newsroom and out.

Nathan is the guy who, despite the fact that we razzed him when he got his first girlfriend, we always knew would make some girl, albeit with strange taste, very happy. Now he’ll marry that girl.

We’re proud of you, Nate. All of us. Not just the former staff, but the present staff and everyone who has worked with you all these years. And even though it’s weird to say, especially for me, we love you.

I’m still not introducing you to my wife, though. Creepy bastard.