Dear Readers,
As I sit here on my last Sunday of production writing my last article for the New University, my brain has failed to provide some witticism or neoidiom to explain who I’ve become after four years at UCI. I won’t leave you with inspirational bullshit – pretending things are better than they are is condescending. I’ll leave you with what you deserve: as much truth as I’ve been able to glean from existing in Irvine.
I didn’t enjoy a lot of my time here, and I spent a lot of it wishing I was somewhere else – somewhere richer in activity and excitement, somewhere less suburban. In retrospect, a lot of this dissatisfaction could’ve been amended by reaching out to one of the many student groups on campus, and I’ve profited most from the friends I’ve made through the New University. To all of my miscreant debutante writer and editor friends: Holla. You guys have kept me sane and entertained. Thanks to Sandy and Traci, my Managing Editors, who have had my back this year and calmed the storm when shit got real. Shout out to Diane Ly, Ashley Soo and Monica Luhar, our Copy Editors: you’re the reason this paper is grammatically immaculate. Thank you beyond words, Layout! And whenever I eat the Chosen Sandwich, our hallowed Double Down, I will think fondly of my New U comrades.
To all you struggling Anteaters who hate it here – be willing to get awkward. In a school of 22,000 undergraduates and 5,000 graduate students, there WILL be someone out there who can stand your neuroses, but it’s gonna take legwork and many, many painful trial friendships before you find the collection of deranged idiots who will love you. If you’re getting on in your years at UCI and think all is lost – stop giving up on yourself, d-bag. This last year has been more rewarding than the three years prior, and it was all due to the people I happened to meet. Your comfort zone is your enemy.
Here, I give my thanks: to my family, for believing in me, always, without fail; to all my editors at the New U – you have been awesome, and I will miss you all as I pass beyond the veil to discover what lies Out There; to Jonathan Alexander, who always opened his door for me, and is living proof that the wonder and imagination of SciFi and Fantasy are just as important as classic lit; to the Anthill Pub, for being the nexus where all students, faculty and staff lay aside their arguments to enjoy brotherhood and amiable exchange; to my friends, who have shared in revelry and probable alcoholism; and lastly, to Hannah, for giving me the tools to make a life worth living.
It’s been a pleasure working for the New University for three years. It’s been a pleasure working for you, our readers, who have, in my tenure, called the New U racist, discriminatory, unintelligent, provocative, liberal, conservative, lazy, hateful and offensive. My greatest hope is that what you have read has been an honest look into the UCI community and its rich diversity of peoples and opinions. We are made stronger by our differences, not by how we seek to forget them, and I have done my best to present a newspaper that expresses the student view and student life. I have the utmost faith in my successor, David Gao, to uphold this tradition of preserving the rollercoaster UCI experience.
There are so many lessons I’d like to impart, but telling you versus your lived experience is the difference between knowing and Knowing. Stay classy, UCI. Shaka, when the walls fell.
Namaste.