issue forty-seven
i’m 18 and i’m a member of the inaugural class of the New York Times Corps!!!!
Hello friends! I apologize for the delay/sliding into your inbox at this ungodly hour, but it has been a very busy 48 hours for me since our regularly scheduled airtime. On Monday the 29th, my 18th birthday came and went! Today, the 30th, I got to announce an extremely exciting new commitment for my career, which I’ll discuss later. Back to me being an old hag.
Half of the sentimental things I could say to you, I said two weeks ago in our one year anniversary issue, but nevertheless, I’ll continue. The last year of my life has been consumed by so many entities, primarily school and work. I’ve had rare opportunities to celebrate myself and take stock of my accomplishments. I’ve mentioned the importance of bragging on yourself and relishing in doing so before, but actually putting it into practice has been a challenge. Do as I say, not as I do!
Something that I didn’t anticipate, in my naivete and anxieties a year ago, was the burnout that would occur when essentially commodifying my deepest goals and most passionate pursuits by choosing them as a career path. Regardless of the complaints and comparisons that come with the territory of being a penniless and pretentious humanities major, I love what I do and that is why spending the majority of my day doing it hasn’t completely exhausted me yet. I have a laundry list of things that occupy my time and energy, but not a single one of them is one I would exchange for anything else, or let go of for that matter. In my years so far, I have generated work to be proud of and at times let it consume me in the process. My goal for the years to come is to do more of the former and less of the latter.
For someone living under the brunt of adultification for a myriad of reasons, adulthood as a concept has seemed very distant and cold to me for a number of years. In the time it has taken me to actually reach it, I’ve gathered a more comprehensive conceptualization of adulthood through some of my worst moments. Moments of isolation, loneliness and to be quite honest, despair, have required me to face myself as one accountable island of a person unless I fancy myself otherwise. In the same way, I know that youth and its view of the future are dismally short-sighted, and I know to remind myself that looking forward to the gift of more life is paramount and exciting. I’m very glad to be here, and hope to keep being here for many many more than 18 short years.
With that sappiness in mind, let’s get back to business! I mentioned a few weeks ago that I would be gradually incorporating my identity in this space with that of my identity outside of it, and today happens to be that day! A Leah hard launch, or whatever.
The reason for this merger of equals is that I am thrilled to announce that I am a member of the inaugural class of the New York Times Corps! I have been sitting on this all summer and feel so joyous to finally say it. I’m absolutely ecstatic that programs like these exist, and that I have the chance to be a part of them. This is another thing on my plate that doesn’t even feel like a weight because the access to furthering my education through avenues like these is so precious to me. I also doubt that without the support and encouragement and beautiful work we’ve been able to share on this newsletter in the last year, I would even be here in the first place. Thank you and thank you again.
Anyway. Here’s my Instagram where I posted the announcement, and you can follow me and see pictures of my face and friends and whatever I’m listening to on Spotify this week. I love you all, and I’ll see you next week!