I can say with confidence, one of my favorite parts of college was being able to write for the Massachusetts Daily Collegian. Even though my time here was relatively short, the Collegian has impacted my life in such a wonderful way. It enabled me to write about topics freely, without the confines of in-class writing prompts and guidelines. This is what I have come to love about the Arts section — people can come to write whatever they’re passionate about.
I initially came to the Collegian with the desire to just freely write about topics I was interested in. Sophomore year I discussed the peyote cactus and Ambien, to probably much surprise. I mean, who writes about that in a college newspaper? If you can’t really think of anyone, that’s precisely why. It wasn’t being discussed and God bless the staff for letting me freely write about that. After those articles, I thought I was done. I didn’t expect to write there again.
To my surprise, I ended up coming back to the Collegian out of pure coincidence. In the fall of my junior year, I happened to be sitting next to the head arts editor, Lauren LaMagna, in a class and was drawn back to the Collegian after talking with her. I will always be thankful for that. From then on, I wrote some of my favorite pieces of writing, although I became known as the Tame Impala-obsessed staff writer. I’ll take it. If you were to tell the freshman year me I would end up talking to Jay Watson and J Mascis, he wouldn’t believe you. I won’t forget that. One aspect I’ve always loved about writing for the Collegian was the act of sharing what I wrote with the people across the world and connecting with them through the same interest.
I will always be grateful to the Collegian for being a place I could write and develop my skills alongside some very talented writers.
At the end of the day, the Collegian gave me a place to explore and write about the things I love. The Collegian gave me a place to develop my writing skills even further.
No way I’m going to end on a cliché. I will say though, the nights and days I spent at the Collegian office, tucked away in the Campus Center, will be some of my fondest. Since COVID-19 prohibited freely meeting in person, I’ve been getting nostalgic over the nights when I’d be at the office ‘til 8 or 9 p.m., get food from Harvest or Blue Wall, make the walk back to my house outside Southwest, walk in through the back door and find my friends and housemates hanging out. I’d just sit in the middle and enjoy my late dinner. It’s weird that these memories stick out so vividly, probably because I was doing it frequently throughout the week. I’m glad that one sticks close.
To wrap this up, I’ll say I met some great people, did some great writing, and had a fantastic time at the Collegian. I leave behind a phenomenal Arts and Living staff and some articles I’m extremely proud of. Thank you Sophie Allen, Molly Hamilton, Astghik Dion and Sophia Larson for making my job easier.
Quinn He and can be reached at [email protected]
