Now that I\u2019m graduating from Pellissippi State Community College \u2013 again \u2013 the time has finally come for me to say goodbye to my favorite job I\u2019ve ever had and the amazing coworkers I\u2019ve been grateful to call my friends. My time with Imaginary Gardens<\/em> has felt both very long and very short \u2013 having seen it grow from only a conceptual goal shared between Faculty Mentor Heather Schroeder and I into a sustainable group effort of 30+ people every week has been a pleasure to witness, and I feel like we\u2019ve come a long way in a short period of time. At the same time, the experience has been like a short dream that I\u2019ve woken up from far too soon, as it\u2019s hard for me to imagine watching the production continue from the outside next semester and onward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because the last year has been very hard for me in my personal life, juggling the passing of a few close friends and multiple family members, in addition to falling out of relationships with people I\u2019ve known most of my life, this last semester has felt like a fever dream of grief and joy. Publishing my first novella, NOSTU<\/em>, with the journal and consistently writing two or more stories every week, as well as continuing to help our new writers and managers succeed \u2013 with special shout outs to Rebecka Jones\u2019 Dimension of Abnormality<\/em> novella and Emma Harrison\u2019s leadership of the journal in my stead \u2013 these have been some of the proudest moments in my life, even among all of the hardship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I truly see this journal continuing to find greater success every semester moving forward, just as it has for the last four. Only two years ago, Imaginary Gardens<\/em> didn\u2019t exist, and now we\u2019ve published over 400 unique stories without a week going by without a new edition. It\u2019s been lots and lots of hard work that I know will continue with just as much love, care, and veracity as it moves onward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019d like to personally thank our Faculty Mentor Heather Schroeder, who pulled me out of \u201ccollege retirement\u201d and gave me an opportunity to build my portfolio, both in works published and experience gained. I\u2019ve learned more on this job about management, public speaking, overcoming hesitancy, and self-confidence than any other job I\u2019ve had, as I\u2019ve always had total freedom here and, therefore, total responsibility for success or failure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As IG<\/em> has found nothing but great success, I have never felt like it was mine alone; everything we\u2019ve ever done has been a group effort from everyone in the journal buying into the concept of diverse content and the ability to create something for everyone. I\u2019ve learned so much about a great many things from the people writing about their interests \u2013 far more than I ever learned in a classroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I can personally attest to the journal\u2019s quality, not only in terms of entertainment but as a source of inspiration and learning. Learning not necessarily about content, but about the people around us on campus and the extremely diverse experiences and interests anyone can bring to the editors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Like anyone moving on from one experience to the next, I hate to leave behind the community and the work that I\u2019ve loved so much. One thing I learned from my film class this year (shout out Professor Lloyd) is the fact that progress is a series of changes for the better. Staying stagnant is the quickest way to failure \u2013 it\u2019s a \u201cyou miss 100% of the shots you don\u2019t take\u201d type of thing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Therefore, although I\u2019m still figuring out what my next step will be from here, I know there will be one, and that it will be easier and more informed because of the work I\u2019ve put forward into the world here at Imaginary Gardens<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Thank you to everyone who believed in me and my na\u00efve vision that anyone can publish anything they want if they\u2019re willing to work at it. Thank you to everyone whose hard work, both on and (especially) off the clock, that has made IG<\/em> into the powerhouse of student journalism that it is today. Most importantly, thank you to everyone who has read our work. It\u2019s clich\u00e9 as hell, but creative work like ours really can\u2019t be done without the fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next time I stop by the newsroom, as a visitor instead of a member, I hope to see even more people than I remembered, so don\u2019t miss a chance to join the incredible work happening every week on campus. I know for certain that, if you\u2019re willing to work at it and support IG<\/em>\u2019s vision, there will always be a place for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By Draven Copeland, Managing Editor Having been a part of Imaginary Gardens\u2019 return to prominence over the last four semesters, I\u2019ve seen amazing writers, cartoonists, photographers, videographers, social media managers,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":5986,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-5970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5970"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5970\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5989,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5970\/revisions\/5989"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5970"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=5970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"DravenandtheMentors\"](\"https:\/\/www.imaginarygardens.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/100_0539-1200x900.jpg\")
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