[5:30 a.m. Send-to-printer day. Schapiro Residence Hall.]
DOMINY
We should do the letter from the editor together. To honor our last issue.
[8:40 a.m. Hamilton Hall. Carl Hart’s Drugs and Behavior lecture.]
LYLA
Are you going to sleep or waking up right now. I’m confused about the timing of this text.
DOMINY
Irrelevant.
LYLA
Rude. What should we say about the issue?
DOMINY
That’s the easy part—the issue speaks for itself. The hard part is figuring out how to start. Sam did that n+1 thing last year, so I had to do those funky art metaphors to make me look cultured last term. Then the jig was sort of up—what was I gonna do next, FILM? I did a welcome-back letter, a coming-back letter, but now, I’ve hit a dead end. I can’t write a good-bye letter. I’m too distraught at leaving. I just don’t know what to say.
LYLA
We are many things, Dominy, but n+1 interns are not one of them. What if we just talked about how good the crossword is? Sarah “word wizard” Shapiro really outdid herself.
DOMINY
Okay, speaking of, we have three other new staffers published in this issue. We have to shout them out. Cole “youth governor” Cahill did some extraordinary reporting on tenants’ organizations in Morningside. Leah Overstreet profiled photographer Amira Nazer, and Anouk Jouffret opens this issue with a lovely meditation on teacher-student bonds. All three of them, newbies!
LYLA
Don’t forget the Blue and White veterans, though. Kat “queen of this magazine” Chen wrote a profound essay, “On the Masthead.” Sam “n+1” Needleman’s conversation with Cornel West is a real tear-jerker. And in many, very different ways, Chloë Gottlieb and Hart “hot twin brother” Hallos’s ATSL is, as well.
DOMINY
Crazy that Chloë wrote that and a Measure for Measure this issue. Victor Omojola also outdid himself with a feature on the ongoing conflict to rename a TC building. Emily Bach wrote a Blue Note on waste. And Cy “crossword czar” Gilman has a byline this time, since Sarah supplanted him; he profiled a composer, Forrest Eimold. I’m just so proud of them all.
LYLA
This serious reportage is only heightened by the fact that I might have done ketamine (I didn’t) with New York Magazine’s Brock Colyar (writer of the infamous “Partying at a Columbia University Frat House”) on a night out.
DOMINY
I’m so jealous of you.
LYLA
I’m jealous of us. To have worked with a staff so talented, so good-looking, so witty and caring—Jesus wasn’t so lucky! Abraham wasn’t so lucky! Biblical references aside, it’s a wonderful issue made by the most wonderful of people. I’m so proud to have been a part of it.
DOMINY
Me, too. And heartbroken that this is our last. But we’re leaving the magazine in good hands! Claire Shang will be an extraordinary Editor-in-Chief next year. I want to congratulate her a thousand times.
LYLA
Yes, a huge congratulations to Claire “shroomami bowl” Shang.
DOMINY
Truly, serving in this role has been the greatest joy of my college life. I don’t know how I’ll ever write this last letter.
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