By Draven Copeland, Editor-in-Chief
As the winter season starts to chill the air and the nights get ever longer, there is a lot more time for both personal introspection and choosing who to spend your time out with… after all, it’s cold as fuck at night and who wants to go out into that freezing air when you can just stay home?
I started both of these things early this year. I got my wisdom teeth removed – finally, at the old age of 23 – right at the end of the fall season, and was either too high or too tired to go out for a week and a half. I spent that time thinking about the things and the people that are important to me and, now that the warmth of my room is growing more appealing than the outside air with every passing day, I’ve continued to take the opportunity now that the painkillers have worn off and I can put my thoughts together more clearly.
The truth is, it’s been a hard semester. The world around us feels unfamiliar. For many of us, loved ones we have held close and people we looked up to have shown their true colors in the midst of this uncertainty, and we’ve been forced to make difficult choices as to how we will keep our own integrity. Sometimes, this has meant losing friends, family, and community, even while they’re still alive and well.
As a result, the attraction of our vices has never been stronger. Whether it might be the alluring glow of the television/phone screen, the never-ending trough of social media rants/posts/reels, the substances that we’ll “put down later,” or even just the tried-and-true combo of detachment, dissociation, and forced apathy, we each have something we’re doing our best to defend ourselves against. In a world that seems to only be heading in the direction of degrading morals, normalized attacks, and shifting blame, it’s often easiest not to care.
And, in the midst of all of this, we’ve had to go to classes every week and perform for the good of our own future; the same future that grows increasingly uncertain every time the White House makes a social media post. It’s exhausting. It’s unfair. There are days, weeks, and months when it feels like too much to handle. I’m not here to offer the answers, but I am here to tell you that you aren’t alone – sometimes, that’s the most powerful answer you can have.
I can honestly say that I don’t know where I would be without the team at Imaginary Gardens. I’ve made new friends in a time where I’ve had to let old ones go. I’ve found a community after leaving one that did not sustain me. I’ve found like-minded people outside of the journal after looking for, chasing, and achieving goals that I always had for myself but never had the confidence to pursue on my own. Truthfully, my personal life and mental health is demonstrably better because of the journal.
Speaking of mental health, this is my last edition as Editor-in-Chief at the journal. “Oh no, don’t go,” I hear you say. Don’t worry: I’ll still be around as Managing Editor, backing up the amazing and fully capable Emma Harrison, who will be taking the highest position next semester. If I’ve learned anything from non-chalant kings and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s that it’s better to leave the spotlight before people start to ask how much longer you’ll be around.
While I wrote a letter of farewell to departing staff last year, I write one now as a farewell of my own. I’ve enjoyed every minute leading the incredibly talented minds I’ve been blessed to have on our staff. Every weekly meeting, every last-minute issue grind, every interview, and every debrief has been a pleasure to be an integral part of. Resurrecting this journal for the current generation was a task I thought I’d never be ready for, but here we are, steadily producing content that I know students care about because students are creating it.
I said in our last staff meeting this semester that the job has been easy because the staff has made it easy, and I want to expand on that here. Everyone needed edits. Everyone needed help crafting the vision for their story. I didn’t mean at all that I could relax and check off every single thing that came my way with no effort on my end.
What I meant was that everyone came in with something to say and a desire to say it. In my three semesters as Editor-in-Chief and co-founder of this recreated version of the journal, I rarely had to push stories onto people and have had very little struggle in having enough story ideas to fill each week’s edition, and that goes for all the semesters we’ve been publishing. What the staff has shown me is that trusting in an individual’s vision leads to something so much more beautiful than forcing one onto them. It creates a space where people can truly come as they are; not only in dress and personality, but in creative desire and unique thoughts and feelings about their own interests.
Through the semesters we have collectively maintained this culture, I’ve seen everyone on staff do things they once told me they couldn’t do or had very little faith in themselves to accomplish. I could not be prouder of them all. After all, I truly couldn’t have done it without them trusting in themselves to do these things, even if that trust came after they did it and succeeded on the first try (like I knew they would).
Before I thank those leaving us this semester individually, let me first give the biggest thanks to our Faculty Mentor, Heather Schroeder, without whom this entire endeavor would not have been possible. She joins Dennis Perkins (my theater director for many years throughout middle school and high school) as one of the two most influential people in my life, and I could not have asked for a better mentor through these semesters building not only the journal but also my own confidence in myself and others. She has been a guiding force for the journal, as she has helped to achieve the goals that we set together for the project, which has already grown so much more than either of us had imagined it would in the beginning. Thanks Schroeder!
The first I have to thank on the list of those leaving the journal is our Managing Editor Anna Trevathan, another founding member of the journal and friend that I hate to see leave but have nothing but respect for. After all, Pellissippi State Community College is not supposed to be our lives forever; in fact, I’d prefer it wasn’t. We all have lives to pursue after we finish our requirements for our degrees, and I see nothing but success in Anna’s future. From the first day she came in, she had plans for how she could incorporate her talents into the journal and wasted no time in doing so, even before she was paid to be on board.
Anna has been a true light and inspiration to the team, and I have nothing but admiration for her and her ability to make a real positive difference to the people and workspace around her. We would not be anywhere close to where we are today without her – Anna’s work on our socials and her assistance in creating and pushing our content has been monumental. We’ve gone from tens of views on our posts/stories to hundreds and even thousands since she joined, and I hope Imaginary Gardens continues to uphold her standard of quality and timeliness that she has set. Thank you, Anna!
Our newest Editor, David Lavrinovich, is also leaving us this semester and, despite his relatively short time with the journal, he has made a huge impact on us with his passion and amazing writing. Even from his first article, David has required very few edits/direction with his work, and it’s been a real treat to know/work with someone who has such a strong and knowledgeable vision about what he wants to say and how he wants to say it. Although his tenure has been brief, I know we’ll continue to receive works from him in the future and I can’t wait to read what he has for us next! Thank you, David!
Although our Lead Videographer, Carly Bunch, hasn’t been with us for long, her work has been truly formative for the journal. From developing and publishing her own work in the medium of video to helping create promotional/introductory video for us, she has been the only videographer that we’ve worked with thus far, and leaves us with inspiration and an amazing starting point for the video work we hope to continue to dive into in the future. Thank you Carly, it’s truly been great to have you on the team!
We’re actually losing two Annas this semester, as Staff Writer Anna Baker (known on-staff as AB) is transferring away to pursue further education. Although she is reserved in person, her work in bringing to light the environmental effects of everything from pumpkin waste to AI servers has been the most intriguing science-based work we’ve had since we lost Charlie Dobyns to their own pursuit of education. Hopefully Pellissippi State will be able to beef up its offerings in scientific fields so that we can keep our science writers for more than a semester at a time! Thank you, AB!
Last, but never least, our Social Media Intern, Ashlyn Swaggerty will also be missing from our staff this next semester. Her work on Instagram reels and her presence in the newsroom will be sorely missed, as she has always brought her fun and unique personality to the table in everything she has done with/for us. I know that, wherever she goes next in life, she will still bring her honest self; I’ve learned a lot from her in that respect. Thank you, Ashlyn!
Just because these folks are leaving our newsroom does not mean they are leaving our hearts. Nor does it mean that their legacy with the journal ends here. Each and every one of these leaving members will continue to be examples for incoming staff, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I’ll speed round through all remaining members, but I want it to be known beforehand that they are just as loved and appreciated as those leaving… they just have more time to build up a portfolio for their own leaving paragraphs when the time comes. New members Addison Chrivia, Bean Gast, Cordia the Pantheress, Jackie Ayala, Kaela Hatcher, Kiera Tempel, Reese Bunch, Em Powell, Ruby Caver, and Amelia Williams have all brought their unique talents and interests to the Imaginary Gardens canon, and I couldn’t be happier to have them add to the diversity of content I have always strived for in our weekly releases. Professor Anna Matsen Cantrell has also joined us as an Assistant Faculty Mentor, treating us to hot drinks and interesting ideas every time we see her. Her assistance on the journal has been primarily behind-the-scenes, but it has been greatly appreciated by everyone working in the newsroom every week.
Of course, I appreciate those that have stuck with me/us for multiple semesters: Evie Hawkey continues to bring her creative talent to the journal with her cartoons and comics, establishing her own vision with her incredible Enormous Eight series; James Cochran stepped up into Sophie Perrins’ shoes as Lead Photo Editor, and continues to bring his fun vibes to the meetings and outings; John Medina continues exploring his niche interests and building on his established presence as THE outfit photographer on campus; Mary Arsenault has founded her own Grammar Column and continues to bring her unique perspective and amazing cooking to the newsroom; Patrick Dobyns continues to be one of my most trusted editors on the paper and brings his historical knowledge/interest to the masses with his accessible takes on history and its implications on the present; and Rebecka Jones has exploded into the creative writing scene with her incredible four-part series, Fall Like the Leaves. Each and every one of these fine people has continued to see the vision of the journal and participate in keeping it intact; these are the people that have helped make my job easy for so long, and I really appreciate having them to confide in/lean on over multiple eras.
Any eagle-eyed reader may have noticed I’ve missed one of the most important people; no, I did not forget, I’m just formatting this article well. Emma Harrison has grown from Staff Writer to Editor/uncredited Email Writer to, now, Editor-in-Chief. From my first meeting with Emma, I could tell that she would be with us for a while; she found a place to help right away and has done so in every area she could ever since. I can’t think of a better replacement than Emma and I cannot wait to see her lead the team to success next semester… success I find inevitable with her at the helm.
This brings me back to the first few paragraphs of this letter, as I spoke on my time thinking about the people that are important to me. At this point in my life, I have found that the people I’ve met and continue to work with on Imaginary Gardens’ staff are truly some of the most amazing people I know. Despite any personal insecurities, we have all come together to create something that, first and foremost, we are proud of. It just so happens that students and faculty have found our work interesting and, often, applicable to them. It’s a beautiful thing to be a part of and a beautiful thing to see change all of our lives for the better.
I will always be proud to have been a part of this work, and grateful to have met and made friends with the staff and the people I’ve worked with on the journal. Even though I’m not gone just yet, I already dread the day I leave to go on to wherever I choose to pursue my life next. Thank you to everyone who has been a part of this, past, present, and future; I really appreciate you all.
