I joined The Observer in 2022 for no other reason than because I got COVID-19, and I was bored out of my mind. I saw that a new bus shuttle route started, the Night Link, and I wanted to write about it because buses! To my friends reading this article, my revelation here will not surprise them. But to think that my boredom and wanting to write about buses eventually bestowed upon me the responsibilities that it did is a powerful testament to the impact of journalism and student expression. Even if Case Western Reserve University has a reputation for distrustful and apathetic students, The Observer is a testament to the feisty, rebellious and confrontational nature that is emblematic of our school’s history. 

It’s hard for me to say when it all clicked that I wanted to dedicate two years of my college life to this paper, and I still honestly can’t say what in the world caused me to apply for news editor at the end of my second year. In high school I was a yearbook kid, and I started my collegiate career as a theatre kid. What I do remember are some of the important points where I figured out “hey, I like this whole journalism thing” and that “this Observer thing is pretty fun.” My best guess is that it had to come from a few articles, starting with investigating the Integrated Graduate Studies program or possibly from counting every single laundry machine for “A spin cycle of emotions.” From there, I was successfully bitten, and my content went, low-key, nuts. Some of my personal highlights range from Pierogi Cat, reporting on Cleveland Institute of Music, investigating the closure of a sorority and then this year exposing the new protesting policies. There is something about having a scoop, finding out something that very few people have and then sharing it with the wider community. The challenge of figuring out why something happened, and what its impacts are, is a feeling that I cannot easily describe, but it is incredible. To this day, I look forward to every time I get a text asking for help chasing something down or finding the reason behind a change. It’s exciting, and it’s also the scariest thing I have done. 

And to qualify that further, no conversation about my time on The Observer can be complete without discussing the 2024 Gaza Solidarity Encampment. It is weird to say that this was a highlight of my time on the paper—I think I got eight hours of sleep total that first week, frequently stayed up late at Kelvin Smith Library writing and editing pieces and then came to Thwing Center early in the morning to write more. Being arrested or injured as Observer staff was a genuine concern, but we rose to that challenge immensely. Coordinating the coverage and working with such amazing people really was a highlight that showed our ability to produce many forms of content, from live updates to long form stories and Instagram posts. It is something I am still incredibly proud of. And we did this all during finals week.  

To say it has all been smooth sailing would be wrong. To say that I haven’t struggled, had some important figures at CWRU directly call me out or had a certain director of print ring me on the phone after I got off two flights to scold me for 20 minutes would be a falsehood. After finding out about my various run-ins, my cousin said, and I quote, “How the hell are you still a student there?” And I often wonder the same thing.

But there was something that called me back, time and time again. And it wasn’t being able to drive the UMB Golf Cart. I would look forward to production nights each week for the collaborative energy they would bring and for the jokes that would be made. In that room are some of CWRU’s smartest and brightest people, and to have worked with them is one of the greatest privileges of my college career.

I think it’s important to note the special rules that are placed on the paper because of me. These include, but are not limited to: one article about the Cleveland RTA per semester, one article on The Bachelor per semester, one CWRU history article a semester and one laundry machine article a semester. There is also an overall request to limit articles on the following subjects: public bathrooms in Cleveland, unrelated Amtrak journeys I take or Greyhound stations in Cleveland. Oh, and no 5,000 word articles. Learned that one the hard way…

My biggest takeaways are just the memories I have. While there have been plenty of moments of anxiety and spiked adrenaline, there are also so many sweet spots in my time on The Observer. The ones that bring a smile to my face include: dragging a future news editor to collect documents at Cuyahoga County Court on her birthday, scrapbooking (many times) in the middle of production night and going to Jolly Scholar and then turning around to attend a Student Presidents’ Roundtable meeting during my last production night. There was also that one day my article got picked up in Montana State University’s newspaper about radio chess. That was a fun one. And of course, hands down, the eclipse—probably one of my favorite days ever. 

Everyone whom I have met through The Observer is an absolute joy. Calling out “The Shadow Editorial Board” here … y’all know who you are. I will forever miss our milkshake runs during production night. 

To journalism as a whole, I will miss you. Hopefully we meet again.

And to The Observer, I will miss you more. I am so excited to see what you turn out to be over the next few years and decades.

Even if I’m 4,300 miles away, one thing still holds: I am still observing and still reporting. And I probably will be, for at least a little bit longer. 

Signing off as The Observer’s biggest yapper.