Seeing my time at the University and with The Cavalier Daily come to an end can be summed up into one word — weird. With nostalgia in full force, it is tempting for me to want to wrap up my four years in a neat little bow and proclaim that I have finished the best four years of my life! The truth is, my four years have been a struggle. I have seen the highest of highs and the lowest and lows. I have felt that I could never be good enough or something about me was irrefutably wrong. I have spent countless hours here feeling lost or worried. I won’t get those hours back.
While trying to find my place on Grounds my first year, The Cavalier Daily entered my life. Writing has always been something essential to who I am, and finding my community on the Life desk was the brilliant answer to two of my main desires — to share my writing with others and to forge meaningful connections and friendships as an undergraduate.
I started by writing Top 10 articles, with my first published article being “Top 10 books for launching — and sustaining — your own ‘Hot Girl Era.’” I’d like to think that this was a fitting way to begin my time with The Cavalier Daily, a time of transformative growth for myself as both a person and as a writer. 35 articles later, I was able to dip my toe into everything that makes the University an interesting place to be — from food reviews, event features and even a column, I was able to get a taste of it all.
However, Top 10 articles have been the bulk of my work. Although it felt impossible at times to invent a new Top 10 list, I will miss the rush of getting into the groove of a Top 10 that made me laugh while writing it. I think I will always look at the world through the lens of a Top 10, searching for a way to translate the quirks of daily life into a silly, useful or perhaps meaningful Top 10 list.
If I could share one piece of advice to current and future students, it is to stay the course. If the first paper you write for a class doesn’t go as well as you hoped, stay the course. If you wake up one morning feeling particularly lonely, stay the course. If you feel like your voice doesn’t matter, stay the course. As simple and as cliché as it may sound, getting up every morning with the hope and determination to make it a great day — even if that meant just staying the course — is what helped me thrive amidst the inevitable rough patches. You matter. Your voice matters. And your story matters.
Before signing off for the last time, I must thank a few of the many people who have crossed my path during my time with The Cavalier Daily. To Cecy Juárez and Mario Rosales — thank you for welcoming my first-year self onto the desk and making me believe that my work mattered. To Miriella Jiffar — I will always be grateful to have worked and learned alongside you. Finally, thank you to Kate Johnson, Mia Tan and Dana Douglas for their unwavering dedication to the Life desk. I might be biased, but I do believe that the Life desk is and will always be the best desk.
During my first year, I picked up a small magnet at Barnes & Noble. The magnet reads “The planet does not need more successful people. The planet desperately needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers and lovers of all kinds.” Attributed to environmentalist David W. Orr, this quote magnet has followed me all through my four years. I return to it in moments of anxiety and in moments of joy because I believe it to be a guiding truth.
Storytelling is powerful, and writing for The Cavalier Daily has empowered me to share my own stories and the stories of others. I posit that if we continue to share our stories and show love to ourselves and others, we might just redefine “success” altogether along the way.
With love and gratitude,
Elizabeth Parsons was the Life Senior Associate for the 134th and 135th term and a life staff writer for the 133rd and 136th term of The Cavalier Daily.
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