To our outgoing Publisher: thank you for leaving a positive, indelible mark on this blog and beyond.

Name, School, Major, Hometown: Charlotte; Barnard College; Anthropology & Human Rights; San Fernando Valley, CA 

Claim to fame: Publisher of this wonderful site, helping popularize the term Barnumbia (if this upsets you please do some internal reflection), screening a lot of movies for Columbia, talking about the apocalypse with anyone who will listen 

Where are you going? Home and then ideally a newsroom. 

What are 3 things you learned at Columbia and would like to share with the Class of 2027? 

  1. Initiate!! You have good ideas and no matter how long you think about it, no one else is going to take action but you. Make that study group, plan that day trip, ask them out, organize that protest, go to that book talk, email that professor about their research, schedule that coffee chat, host that movie screening (in a Kent classroom late at night, accessing the building through the ID Center). Once you start others will follow. 
  2. Take the time to recognize your accomplishments and be proud of yourself. This school (and this world) moves at an ungodly pace and will never recognize all the work you do on a daily basis. Slow down and reflect on all that you have already done. It doesn’t matter what it is, there is no accomplishment too small. Take pride in YOU and everything you do. 
  3. It will make sense in retrospect. Lean into feeling lost and follow what moves you.

“Back in my day…” We would sit leisurely on Futter Field, DUO Security didn’t control our lives, Bwog played a lot of Quiplash, The Mill Korean was still around, Ferris had a giant bowl of dates in the corner 

Favorite Columbia controversy? Those kids who wanted to make their As visible after everything became P/D/F during the spring of 2020. 

What was your favorite class at Columbia? Ecocriticism for the End Times with Professor Marilyn Ivy. This class changed my life forever. If you’ve ever thought about temporality, imagining alternative futures, and/or our relationship with the natural world, this is the class for you. 

Whom would you like to thank? Friends, family, everyone who saw my mind as beautiful. WhatsApp group chats. My grandma for calling me a scholar, for taking me to dance shows and gallery openings in the city, for making me a better cook, for talking with me until I was nearly falling asleep at the dinner table. Bwog, obviously. Thank you for making me feel valued and being my community for the last four years. 

One thing to do before graduating: Open every door on campus. I mean this in the most literal way possible. Just see what’s there. There are a lot of weird and forgotten corners on this campus. Go find them. 

Any regrets? Realizing I had full access to Kanopy three weeks before graduating. Not taking a dance class. Refusing to go in the Uris library for three years for absolutely no reason. I should have gone to more CCCCT and Heyman Center events, they are always amazing.

Charlotte via Jane Mok