Position(s): Senior Arts Editor (2023), Summer Senior Arts Editor (2023)
Section(s): Arts
Semesters at The Daily: 4
It’s terribly hard writing a goodbye to something that you’re not quite leaving yet, which is why I have waited until the literal last minute to do so. The last night of production this semester won’t be my last time inside 420 Maynard St., nor will it be the last time that I see all of the amazing people that inhabit it. Between that and the generally frantic nature of the end of the semester, I haven’t had any sort of finality hit me yet. But I know that sometime after Dec. 6, there will be a quiet moment where the suspension of time will be broken, and I will realize that I’m starting to move away from something that has been an integral part of my life for the last year and a half.
So, in an effort to get ahead of that moment, I’m starting some of my goodbyes and thank yous now.
To everyone on the Digital Culture beat, past and present: You are all some of the most kind, smart and funny people I have met at this university. To read and edit your work has been a damn honor. There have been multiple times this semester that I have texted Saarthak about how happy I am to be on this beat with you all. You have set an incredibly high bar for what it means to work in a collaborative environment, and I will always be searching for a group that gives me the same amount of joy and inspiration as you all do. DC forever.
To Mik and Laine: You two hired a nerdy, awkward kid who was scared shitless by college social life and had no clue what he was doing in Ann Arbor. Parts of that description of me remain today, but I honestly have no idea what my college career would have looked like without The Daily. And you hired Saarthak, which was another decision that has changed my life.
To the 2023 Arts editors: Y’all are awesome. Production nights have been everything I hoped for them to be — two hours of bullshitting and listening to atrocious Bob Dylan songs while trying to figure out what a writer meant by “drank plug.” I’m so happy I’ve gotten to work with you all, and you have each helped to define my time at Arts.
To Saarthak: I’ve been trying to figure out what to say here, but I think my words would be better said while splitting a fifth of whisky and watching “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” For everyone else, here’s this.
To everyone else on Arts: Please, please, please keep doing what you’re doing in some capacity. You are all here because someone saw something in someone else who then saw something in you. Keep looking for that something for yourself, and hold onto it as best you can.
I’m going to turn this in now and wait for that moment to catch up with me.