I would just like to start by acknowledging that I had no idea what I was doing this entire time. 

As a freshman student, I began in the digital journalism program with the hope of being a hard news investigative journalist. During my sophomore year (after several panic attacks) I realized this wasn’t what I wanted at all. 

To emphasize my point, here’s a list of career paths I have considered instead of journalism: death doula, secondary education teacher, interdenominational chaplain, florist, private investigator and park ranger. 

However, I continued to contribute to The Globe by submitting opinion pieces. 

The criticism and judgement expressed towards myself and the opinions subsect of journalism has only made me more passionate about the need for opinion journalism in the modern media. This is doubly so when factoring in my identity.

As a disabled neurodivergent queer trans journalist, what is my life if not existing out of spite? 

I would like to thank every acquaintance, colleague, friend, staff member and therapist I have ever taken advice from during my time at Point Park; you made this column as much as I did. 

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read and share my published work throughout these past four years. I have cried as much as I have laughed while writing these pieces, and they have truly gotten me through some difficult mental health periods in my life. 

I hope The Globe prospers and continues its legacy of being a community space for the newspaper-admiring, weird students of the university. The Globe has generations of students behind it and such an imprint of the university deserves to be respected. I am grateful for the space this newspaper has offered me to grow into the person I am today. 

I would not be the human I am without the Point Park University community. 

Through this outlet I have written about university issues, online trends, social justice topics– and even the seldom concert or movie review. I’m grateful for the access I’ve had the past for years to do what I enjoy most in life: direct and impactful storytelling. 

As with most of my articles, there is a theme to my last piece in The Globe: Liberate yourself to liberate others. None of us are liberated unless all of us are liberated. 

In a time where the world does seem like it is ending, keep going. We need to grieve and learn the importance of community initiatives at the same time. Take care of yourself, however you can when or if the world is against you. 

I do not write for the mainstream media. I write for the kids in the closet, the people with medical trauma, students navigating higher education and realistically people who need to read someone give good advice sometimes. Thank you once again.