As a senior, I have an opportunity to look back at my years, to see the campus culture from a different lens, and reflect on the change I have experienced while at this university.
I have learned to let go of expectations for what my future will look like. It makes enjoying my present location more difficult. Often the real future surprises us and we end up making mistakes that disappoint our past selves. But just like TV shows, we must continue to chug along and write a new season or a tired sequel.
I am a month away from graduating and concluding the most transformative four years of my life. It fills me with equal feelings of fear, excitement, and deep sorrow.
When I go out somewhere with a group of gays, I know people might laugh at us or give a side-eye. To be fair, we probably look a little bit ridiculous or over-dressed. But at least now, I’m not alone in my experience. We’re in on the joke together.
Even though I do not feel twenty-two, or quite how I expected twenty-two year olds to feel, I think I have a better idea of what being an adult will be like.
For the queer folks who also get scared every now and then that you’ll be unloved: you will always find love from your people.
Maybe after a break, I will have the energy to present myself constantly to the world, and to receive the entirety of the world in my fingertips. But for now, I’ll enjoy the peace.
The nightlife we construct after this pandemic can be different, more inclusive and appreciative of the happiness that socializing brings. It's not just a silver lining, but a necessity in creating communal happiness.
The Covid-19 pandemic has caused an immense amount of pain, fear, and disappointment in the institutions that many of us trusted at one point in our lives. Instead of mocking this fear and skepticism, we need to look at where it comes from. And for members of academic institutions, we need to examine our own failures in creating lasting trust.
