Position(s): Digital Culture Beat Editor (2023), Summer Managing Arts Editor (2023), Summer Statement Columnist (2022), MiC Columnist, Daily Arts Writer
Section(s): Arts, Michigan in Color, Statement
Semesters at The Daily: 4
My preferred send-off statement is “Have a good one!” I think the blessing is widely interpretable — that “one” could be any span of time from a moment to the rest of someone’s life, but there’s a condition of return for me to reiterate. I’ve gone through enough life to learn that you don’t always know when your last moments with someone will be. I’m fortunate enough to know how much time is left before things change for all of us forever, so I can make sure to value all of this all the more. I’ve arranged the following letters chronologically and approximately according to when I met you all. It made the most sense to me that way.
This might be the most difficult thing I ever write, not just because it means admitting that it’s my time to do so, but because I feel I will end thinking I will never be able to write enough — and I hope that confession can fill in any gaps. Let’s begin.
To the MiC family,
Thank you for the first rejection email that proved someone had actually read my work and encouraged me to re-apply (shoutout Eliya) until I did get hired (shoutout Jess). Thank you to my editors (shoutout Aya), design collaborators (shoutout Maya, Aditi, Yash) and fellow contributors (shoutout Aman) for all the love, tough and otherwise.
To Mik and Laine,
Thank you for my first acceptance email that proved someone actually read my application — and for working with me through the sloppiest writing of my career. It’s funny — maybe I’ve told y’all this, but starting off with the harshest editors I’ve ever had at The Daily made me grow as a writer to a point where I’m kinda craving someone to rip my writing a new one. I don’t know if that’s masochism or missing your oversight, but regardless, you’re both always setting my standards high for where I want to be as a writer and as a person.
To Lilly and Sabriya,
Thank you for everything you did to make me feel welcome to Arts, even though it might have been counterproductive in retrospect because I was so intimidated any time either of you reached out to me, and that feeling only slightly went away when it became me editing your articles. Whether it’s as far as Paris or as close as the Law School, you both continue to blow me away.
To Maddie and Hannah,
Thank you for leading the charge with Waluigi Supremacy Club and for welcoming your home to me and DC as a whole so many times — now that I have an apartment capable of doing the same, I think I’m always subconsciously comparing my ability to make it feel like a home for others through what I experienced with y’all. Whether you end up as famed writers or witches, know that I will always be there for you, pointing and stage-whispering inquisitively.
To Hunter,
Thank you for the DMs about Spider-Man and Kirby, our yearlong editing partnership between semesters and the summer, the countless calls on Discord and otherwise, the multitude of messages between Slack and our Androids, the articles we’ve shared together between writing and editing, the conversations of our shared brain cell and our comically heightened arguments/bits, the constant check-ins on what alcohols I might be able to try with you and everything else in between. Even though your old apartment might have made me sick as we moved out, you know I still treasure the time we had together there. You are a kind old wizard in the body of a college student and I’m convinced that one day you’ll be able to thoroughly kick Thoreau’s ass.
To Emmy,
Thank you for all the little treat trips and always for making me feel understood. You always work yourself so hard, and I hope that any class of kids lucky enough to be taught by you will make sure to always recognize that.
To Meera, Ava B, Lizzie, Sarah, Rami, Erin, Thejas,
Thank you (respectively) for being my first friendly and familiar face at both UAAO and Arts, letting me go insane on all of your B-Sides and beyond, somehow getting me to run a quarter marathon and a Pokemarathon for the first time, helping show me the MAE ropes and how to live life a little sillier, the philosophical/film/shitpost conversations, the partner discussions/all other conversations in Sci-fi class and the New Yorker recommendations, teaching me what “hegemony” means freshman year and the J-Eazy recognition — and to all of you for the friendships beyond beats.
To my summer Statement team,
Thank you for letting me write my absolute longest articles to date, and for the “Ph.D. in Journalism” paper plate award. Maybe if I get sick of physics I’ll go for that doctorate instead.
To Katelyn, Rebecca, James,
Thank you for knowing my dumbass references to and still digging through the trenches of Tumblr, Tiktok, Twitter and beyond — it has been a privilege being your editor through this year and watching you grow in your writing alongside our friendships.
To the 2023 editors,
Thank you for everything brought to the countless prod nights and editor bondings and for every time you gave me the privilege of writing for you.
To Jack, Zach, Ceci,
Thank you for all the vindication on our hate-reads, the (post-)prod (walk-n-)talks and for giving me so much excitement for the future of Arts with y’all as MAEs. Since these have to be around 1,000 words, please refer back to your endorsements for all the other nice things I would otherwise say here.
To Bela, Lynn, Lin, Ariel, Holly,
Thank you for accepting the job offers we extended you, and — no matter how the brief time I did share editing with you all — for your investigations, chart-toppers, emotional resonance, analyses and innovations. Even as I leave, I know the future of my DC family is in good hands.
To everyone else,
Thank you — whether you let me bare my heart to you in a B-Side or other articles, we worked together on getting something published or held even one conversation, I thank you for being a part of my time at The Daily regardless.
I’d like to end this with one of my favorite and most concise poems embedded in this strangely edited meme that I find non-sensibly sad but simultaneously hopeful — one I mean with full sincerity:
“change da world
my final message. Goodb ye”
Y’all have a good one.