December Letter from the Editor

Writing, at its simplest, is a vessel for memory. Socrates—the famous anti-writer—denounced the written word as an “elixir for reminding,” for fear it would corrode our inner capacity for memory. But regardless of whether our memories are irreparably rotted (finals studying will be the judge of that!), we writers and readers have accessed a kind of magic that only an elixir of reminder could conjure—the possibility of preserving our memories in ink, and letting them wander through time and space, sometimes far beyond us. 

This issue, our writers summon memories in prose. True to form, our Essays embrace the personal: Magda Lena Griffel grapples with perfectionism in the ballet sphere as she re-trains her muscle memory in a return to dancing, while Ava Lattimore recalls timestamped anecdotes from Election Day as a pollworker. 

Other pieces journey into the annals of collective memory. In their investigation into the SWC Union’s contract negotiations, Duda Kovarsky Rotta and Gabriella McBride remind us of Columbia’s complex historical relationship to the student-worker role. Caroline Nieto visits the Maysels Documentary Center in Harlem, a theater dedicated to preserving the historic character of Harlem’s art scene. Jack Bradner traces the lineage of Euripides’ Trojan Women at Columbia following the recent Barnard Theatre staging—which reimagined the titular women in an ICE detention facility. 

Inherent in writing is an archival drive; after all, the elixir’s power is that it lasts. This December, two of our writers find themselves immersed in the WKCR archives, reflecting on what we choose to enshrine in institutional memory. Cecilia Zuniga uncovers a bilingual WKCR show that broadcasted messages to loved ones in immigration detention during the first Trump administration. Iris Eisenman works in WKCR’s archives with Station Manager Ted Schmielder, discussing the legacy of his acclaimed coverage of the spring 2024 encampments. 

If you’ve ever done something for the last time, you are surely familiar with that inescapable impulse to reminisce. As I write this final letter, I find myself in that exact mode—reflecting on this past year at The Blue and White with tremendous pride for every page that I have had the privilege of editing. My most cherished memories, though, are perhaps the ones that never made it to print: The moments between and behind words that breathe life into this magazine. To our readers, I hope the magic of those memories reaches you. 

With that, I pass the torch to the extraordinary Natalie Buttner, BC ’27, who will be taking over as editor-in-chief in January. Hers is a name to remember! 

With gratitude,

Maya Lerman

Editor-in-Chief