Position(s): Senior Arts Editor (2023), Arts Writer (2022-2024), Summer Statement columnist (2022)
Section(s): Arts
Semesters at The Daily: 6
Since the moment I was hired, I’ve been thinking about what I should write in my senior goodbye. It was impossible to not preemptively grieve the ephemerality of the place I had been dreaming of working for since my senior year of high school, impossible to feel like two years would really be enough.
I was hired to Arts in January 2022, one semester after I transferred to the University of Michigan from Michigan State University. Two years earlier, I had written about wanting to major in English and be a student journalist at The Michigan Daily in my college application, and I wrote exactly the same thing one year after. It is embarrassing to admit to wanting the University even after it didn’t initially want me, but it is proof of my steadfast conviction in believing that I would find home here in Ann Arbor and at 420 Maynard St.
It would be a lie to say that I wasn’t terribly intimidated by The Daily at first, but by the end of winter semester, it was the first place on campus that felt like my own. I made my first true college friendships here, I had my first real feelings of pride here and I fought through my first swarm of hate comments here. Most importantly, I found my first home on campus here.
Although I did love The Daily from the very moment I stepped into the Student Publications Building, my feeling of really belonging to The Daily was fully realized when I became an editor. It is an understatement to say that my time as an editor has been transformative in my life. Working with my writers to bring their journalistic vision to light and being in the position to help their creative and journalistic voices grow has been a highlight of my time in college. I am constantly in awe of the intelligent, sentimental, and beautifully written pieces that you all write. My lovely, lovely writers have made this position well worth the midnight editing sessions and extra meetings. Additionally, the late nights at production spent dancing through articles and giggling with fellow editors have always been nights well spent and will be one of the things I miss most as my time as a senior arts editor ends.
Now, two years after being hired, I am at a complete loss for how to say goodbye.
Despite the shimmer that is innate to The Daily, it is the people inside 420 Maynard St. who create magic. The editors, writers, designers and staffers who fill the building with endless life are to thank for the magic, and they are the goodbyes that really matter.
To my co-editor Ava Seaman, there is no one else in this organization I could imagine being a better co-editor than you. I could cry remembering the haze of excitement and nerves that we shared while walking home after our first editor shadowing together. We have grown so much over the past year, and I will miss our little slice of Arts more than anything else. You have such a bright literary future ahead, and you’ve earned it — your St. Martin’s publishing internship at Macmillan is only the beginning! You are truly a gem, and I have been so honored to work and write alongside you.
To my past Arts editors, Emilia, Meera and Julian, thank you for turning me into the writer that I am today. Every compliment and encouragement I’ve received from you has been locked away. Emilia, I am especially grateful for the full year you spent as my senior editor. My favorite pieces are still the sexy, feminine, horror essays I’ve written for your B-Sides. You really just get it, and you have always modeled exactly the type of journalist I want to be.
To the new Books writers I’ve mentored this past year, Kathryn, Alex, Logan, Archisha, Grace and Claire, it’s been an honor to collaborate with you. You’re all so intensely talented in unique, indescribable ways. It is hard to believe that this is just the beginning of your time as journalists when you each consistently write gems.
To the Books beat as a whole — Pauline, Camille, Graciela, you are not forgotten — I adore you all. It has been phenomenal watching you all grow since I first joined in January 2022. There has never been a sliver of doubt that you are truly talented, interesting writers who will continue to do amazing things for the rest of your lives.
The future of Books is so bright with you all in it.
To my fellow editors, it has been nothing short of pure joy to spend so many evenings with you all. Ava S., Annabelle and Emmy, I cannot believe how many times you’ve all made me cry with laughter inside and out of the newsroom. I cannot begin to describe just how much love and joy I have towards you three. Nora, you are so unbelievably cool, stylish and talented. Saarthak, Zach, Hunter and Jack, you have collectively made production nights the funniest, most whimsy nights of the week. Claire, CC, Kaya and Zara, I’m in awe of how attentive, talented and witty you all are. Laine, Erin and Sarah, you have transformed the Arts section into an inclusive, well-bonded community of writers. I adore you all.
All I can think of while wrapping up my goodbye is this Mary Oliver quote: “You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.” My soft animal loves The Daily; it loves writing.