Dear Readers,
Since the last issue of Skidmore News came out the week before Spring Break, a lot has changed (to say the least). The pandemic has totally disturbed lives and perhaps changed the meaning of “normal” forever. First, I want to take a moment to say how lucky myself and many of the folks involved with Skidmore News are to be able to worry more about finalizing the last issue or finishing this semester rather than job loss or the health and safety of ourselves, our friends, and our family members. But many members of the community — including students, staff, and faculty — have been displaced and/or intimately affected by this pandemic — we see you and we are here for you.
And yes, you read that right, this is our official last issue. Meaning, it’s time for me to say goodbye. Though I did not anticipate passing off the editor-in-chief baton like this, I wanted to make sure there was still some sense of finality to both this semester, and my time with this paper. Like many of you, I’ve been mentally shut down since Skidmore announced it was closing. When that happened, I lost a lot of things that I cherish — from living with friends from the west coast to coexisting with people who challenged me and gave me a sense of purpose, and, of course, losing the closure that commencement provides. I know Skidmore closing had to happen, and I’m thankful it made the decision it, well, had to. But I’m also thankful for the many people who have reached out to say it’s okay to also feel shitty.
Personally, a big reason why I’ve been feeling melancholic is that I lost Skidmore News in the blink of an eye. I was unable to say goodbye to our gross, sometimes-spider-infested, windowless newsroom that I love oh so much because from the first day I stepped foot on Skidmore’s campus, it greeted me with the promise of what could be, of what we could do as a team. This is why I had been preparing for the final Skidmore News meeting since this semester began. I could already picture the end — me standing in front of our team, sobbing out my thank yous, and passing over the title with fierce confidence to Olivia Berson and Sanjna Selvarajan. But like everyone else, that final goodbye was stripped away. And as a senior, there’s a good chance I’m never going to be able to thank everyone who worked so tirelessly in person.
Getting the newsletter out every week when we were back on campus was equally the most stressful and rewarding thing we had to do. Each Sunday to Wednesday was spent in a full-on panic, thinking this would be the week where we fail to get anything out, the week where one misquote lands us in the dog house. Thursday would roll around and I’d forgo dinner or lectures or performances I had already bought tickets to get the paper out, and then we had Friday and Saturday to relax. Until it all began again.
Even though this “final issue” was put together without stepping foot in that room, but rather through emails, we’ve put something together that we hope you enjoy. I have no idea if this will be the last thing you ever see from us until next semester, so just keep checking your email and always reach out if there’s a story you’d like to cover. Each of us will, of course, continue to have our ears to the ground.
Finally, thank you. Thank you to everyone who read our paper. It’s a whole lot of commitment, this SkidNews thing. You have to really love what you do, really love talking to people and telling their stories, to put together issues every week. On top of all your other classes. On top of having a social life. On top of running other clubs or studying abroad or doing theater. So thank you for supporting my badass staff that continued to astound me day after day, for two years.
Speaking of my staff: Thank you Caitlin Neuhaus for covering the strange and unusual on our campus, from “Pizzagate" to the prescribed burn trip; thank you Emily Chase for covering the Code Blue updates this winter more than local papers were; thank you Alyssa Ramsay for completely reinvigorating our sports section, I don’t know what would have happened without you; thank you Hadia Bakkar for always relentlessly going after the scoop and often being my right-hand woman; thank you Hannah Charity, Dianna Mason, Tiana Nelson and many other poets for sharing your intimate and powerful work with us; thank you Elle Ping for being such a light and continuously looking to make the A&E section better; thank you Olivia Berson for bringing such joy and excitement to the paper, I cannot wait to see what you do next year; thank you Sanjna Selvarajan for reminding us (me) that we can cover those harder news stories and do them justice; thank you Meg Gray and Miriam Harrow for being so consistent and dedicated, you two amaze me with your speediness that never sacrifices performance; thank you Raphael Baum for reintroducing videos to our platform with the Top Play articles; thank you Eamon Witherspoon for making our covers every week; and thank you Nataleigh Noble, Natalie Jew, Clara Psych, Alice Barrett, Samantha Sasenarine, Caroline Shea, Maalik Dunkley, and many other staff members and/or new-comers who hit the ground running with everything from columns to personal essays and hard-hitting campus news.
It has been my honor to be your editor-in-chief.
Happy reading,
Jessica Pavia
Your editor-in-chief
Still missing many faces. I love you all.