From your senior editors from Buzzsaw
There are so many reminders that this is the end.
There’s a countdown on my fridge to graduation. I keep hearing the word “last” around every corner. I’ve said goodbye to many things I’ve loved doing for the last four years.
As I look back at my time at Buzzsaw, it’s bittersweet but also makes me so proud. I came into Buzzsaw with no knowledge of the magazine. At all. I applied on a whim to the web editor position since it sounded like a chance to hone my skills. I wasn’t expecting to get invested. I wasn’t expecting to find a family in the people who are this magazine.
I’m not much of a writer, yet this magazine has given me the chance to share my soul and get published. And I’m grateful for that chance.
A lot of work that I do for the magazine is solitary. I don’t often go to the weekly meetings and I’m not exactly required to do most of the editory things that everyone else does (or if I am I’m sorry I’ve been neglecting that for the last three years). I helped Buzzsawfind a new look for their website, I am glad I could help. Most of the time I’m in the Buzzcave, I’m here by myself. Grabbing stuff off of the server to throw on the website.
That doesn’t mean this magazine isn’t a family. We can share jokes and we care about each other. If I see one of these people around campus, I know I can say hi to them. And I think that’s what I’m going to miss about Buzzsaw.
We can pass down our positions, we can pass down our knowledge. It’s harder to pass down camaraderie like you can find in Buzzsaw.
Thank you Buzzsaw for giving me all of these things.
To the new and continuing editors, keep kicking ass. You guys are awesome.
To my fellow seniors, good luck with all of the things. I can’t wait to see all of the amazing places you go. And maybe see you back in Ithaca on occasion. If you want, you can crash in my apartment.
Here’s to 20 more years of this beautiful magazine.
– Christine McKinnie, Website Editor
When I was a measly little junior in high school with wonky eyeliner, big aspirations and all, I visited Ithaca College for the first time. It was April and it was snowing. I remember picking up a copy of every publication I saw on campus. The journalist in me knew that this was one of the best ways to get to know the quirky little town that would eventually become my new home over the next four years. I remember picking up my first ever copy of Buzzsaw:the cover was bold and orange with a snail drawing… the “Nasty” issue. I flipped through the pages (which, at the time, were ugly gray newsprint that didn’t do our content justice at all) and I was hooked. The writing was brave and unapologetic, it was raunchy but timeless, it was everything I wanted to be as a writer. The first student org fair that I went to in the fall of my freshman year, I searched mercilessly through each and every club’s table in search of this magazine. I remember looking at the editors seated there and saying “Buzzsaw! I’ve been looking for you!” and one of them replied, “No, we’vebeen looking for you.” This reaffirmed to me that Buzzsaw was my place.
I wrote about everything from the Kardashians to capitalism, eyebrows to insomnia, e-cards to subtle racism in college hookup culture. I explored my own abilities while being able to appreciate and learn from our writers and the other editors each and every day. Becoming an editor for this publication was without a doubt one of the greatest gifts my four years here has given me. I remember looking at the senior editors through the years and thinking to myself that I would never be able to be that sure of myself — but here I am. The Buzzcave became one of the safest places for me on our campus. There, I have laughed so hard I’ve cried, and cried so hard I’ve laughed. I have had the great honor of reading the work of my peers and seeing the immense effort that every single individual on our e-board puts into making a magazine that we are proud of. We have changed advisors, printers, budgets, branding, but never once have we changed our mission for our campus community. I am proud to be a part of that and can’t fathom what life without that dehydrated Bogart basement room will be. To the editors we are leaving behind… continue to kick journalistic ass just like Buzzsawhas been doing since ‘99. I already know that you will.
– Alexis Morillo, President and Upfront Editor
I picked up my first issue of Buzzsaw during a college visit when I was a junior in high school. At this time, I was struggling to find my identity and I was searching for it within a plethora of college options. This was back when I thought wearing a band t-shirt with a pair of boat shoe Sperrys was making a statement. Clearly, I was confused.
I found Buzzsaws prawled across a table in the Park School. Its grit and grain drew me in, as well as the classically attractive, blonde cartoon woman on the cover (was this my first real hint at my queerness?). The Swimsuit edition was packed with investigative journalism, creative writing, gross images and a lot of curse words. Immediately, I went home and taped this issue to my wall, and promised myself when I was finally at Ithaca College that I would write for Buzzsaw. Four years later, I write this farewell as a former staff writer, former multimedia editor, treasurer and production editor.
I didn’t realize until now how the magazine’s and my own growth were undeniably linked.As I slowly came into my own identity, Buzzsaw began recreating its identity. With our printer closing, losing funding and editors graduating, we were greeted with powerful new editors, more readership and way better paper quality. Similar to my angsty teenage self, the magazine’s ups-and-downs have contributed to its greatness as an independent publication.
As I reflect on my four years at Buzzsaw I can confidently say I have never met a weirder, more opinionated, resilient, educated and brilliant group of individuals. I have seen many editors come and go, but what doesn’t change is each person’s passion to produce journalism that matters.
Thank you, Buzzsaw, for seeing me at my best, and at my sleep-deprived worst. I won’t miss staying up until 3:00 a.m. on Sunday nights, but I will miss the energy we have created as a publication. I can only say that I am happy to have been a part of Buzzsaw, even if it was just a blip on a long spectrum of talented editors.
– Julia Tricolla, Treasurer and Production Editor
I’m going to cry.
Buzzsaw didn’t start out as a dream of mine, but it became one of the most influential parts of my time at Ithaca College. I saw the magazine in a stack full of publications on campus my freshman year and thought its content was so powerful and so unapologetic.I wanted to be a part of it. A month or so after I picked up my first copy of Buzzsaw, I saw the editors’ call for layout artists and said “this is fucking it.” I had already had three years of experience with InDesign from working for the newspaper at my Catholic high school, but as you can imagine, we were so limited in our voices. We were stuck with a strict guideline of do-not-talk-abouts, aless-than-free freedom of speech, and a small box where our points of view could try to live: in my section, the opinion column. Moving onto Buzzsaw was like breathing fresh air. I had never seen a periodical do what Buzzsaw does, at least not one that wasn’t Bustor Adbusters, CRWNor Damn Joan, or any of the like that were far out of reach and far off a college campus.
We’re three years older now, coming to the end of our senior year. We’ll be graduating in a week. But the Buzzcave will still house late nights, with new editors and different playlists. It’ll never see daylight or proper ventilation, but it’ll always have a lifetime supply of Old Spice, so who needs to breathe?
I’m damn proud of us and I’m damn excited for the new editors to take Buzzsaw to new places.
– Brianna Pulver, Layout Editor
I remember being a high school senior,visiting Ithaca College for the first time. It was Accepted Students Day, and during the campus tour I saw a stack of magazines with the name Buzzsaw. I remember thinking that was the coolest name for a magazine I had ever seen. I legitimately chose IC over other schools because of that name.
I remember writing my first piece for Upfront about the ecological impacts of the internet. I also remember getting yelled at via Google Doc by the section editors, “SOURCE???”
I remember my first time getting published. It felt surreal to see my name printed inside a publication I respected so much. It still feels surreal every time.
I remember when I got asked if I’d like to apply to be an editor of News and Views, and trying to act like it was no big deal that the cool kids were officially letting me into their club.
It was Buzzsaw’s name that brought me to Ithaca four years ago. But it’s been Buzzsaw’s staff that kept me here. So I’d like to sincerely thank all the editors, past and present (especially Anna, my wonderful co-editor) for making my college experience infinitely more meaningful, and for being the antidote to the bleakness of college journalism.
It’s time for me to move on from Buzzsaw. But I know it will continue to beckon lost and confused high school seniors like it did me. It will continue to be the place where young writers find their voice, get their first taste of rallying against injustice, and know they’re somewhere they belong.
Thanks for everything, Buzzsaw.
– Owen Walsh, News & Views Editor
Thank you, Buzzsaw.
Thank you for teaching me how to write ?helping me succeed where my formal journalism education could not.
Thank you for teaching me about rejection ?it’s made me more humble.
Thank you for introducing me to like-minded people ?I’m happy to have such talented colleagues in the world.
Thank you for reminding me that journalism is still worthwhile, and that this kind of writing matters, if, at the very least only to its author.
Thank you Owen, you’ve been the best co-editor I could ask for, and best of luck to Rachael ?the mag is in good hands.
– Anna Lamb, News & Views Editor
Originally, I started writing articles for Buzzsaw (few and far between) my first year at school after my roommate Julia told me that it was something I would like. I took a hiatus from it for a few years, but come spring semester of my junior year, Buzzsaw and I met again.
This time, my roommate, Julia, approached me about doing social media for Buzzsaw after my Instagram (which shall not be named) gained traction. I love social media to its core and find it to be a powerful tool in promoting and bringing people together. Thus, I took on this role and have enjoyed every second of it.
Buzzsaw has allowed me to meet some amazing people and grow as a person. There is something about sitting in the Buzzcave, a room in the basement of Bogart with no windows or a bathroom, one weekend a month, that makes my heart tingle. Not really… but it was something that I looked forward to. Being surrounded by such hard-working people with aspiring goals and robust intelligence is not something everyone can say they are surrounded by — but, somehow, I am.
So, thank you Buzzsaw for everything and I cannot wait to see what all of the amazing graduating seniors will be doing in the future. I know it’ll be great.
– Emma Rothschild, Social Media Editor
I first found out about Buzzsaw during the first semester of my freshman year. I was sitting in my S’Park lecture scrolling through Yik Yak because that class was pointless and the person sitting next to me was telling me about how they were writing satire articles for Buzzsaw. I thought that sounded pretty cool, so I completely forgot about the magazine until a year later at the Student Org Fair. I walked up to the Buzzsaw table and asked, “What do you guys do?”
The person behind the table said I could write about whatever I wanted. So I came to the meeting and took a pitch for Sawdust. I was hired as Sawdust editor in the middle of the last production cycle of the semester so the previous editor didn’t really have much time to train me. I don’t think I ever really figured out how to do my job, but I’ve done alright.
I’m writing this in the Buzzcave in the middle of production weekend. For anyone who doesn’t know, the Buzzcave is the location equivalent of a fever dream. There are no windows or bathrooms. All of the chairs and couches are slightly uncomfortable. There’s a weird closet full of Old Spice products and a one-way mirror indicating that maybe the Buzzcave was an interrogation room at some point. The room is also decorated with a blow-up doll, collages, a dinosaur mask, a beheaded Barbie doll, a poster of Ronald Reagan and other spooky shit like that. It’s pretty much impossible to do anything productive in a place like this so forgive me for going off on it for the last paragraph.
As strange as Buzzsaw is, getting involved with itwas one of the best decisions of my time in college. I’ve gotten to know so many wonderful people and loved working in such a creative environment. We just hired a bunch of new amazing editors and I’m so excited to see where the magazine goes from here.
– Will Cohan, Sawdust Editor