It feels very weird to be writing my Buzzsaw farewell. I joined Buzzsaw when I was 18, and now I am 21 and moving to New York City in less than a month. I remember watching this transition happen to the old Buzzedz — the impending doom of “real adulthood.” I’d rather stay in the Buzzcave with its cursed microwave and closet of random Old Spice products, but alas.
I’m pretty sure if I tried I would get asbestos poisoning.
Joining Buzzsaw was a decision I made before I even stepped foot on campus. The gritty zine style stood out to me as the epitome of cool. And even though our design has changed and become more sleek and polished, I think the middle-finger-to-the-establishment spirit remains.
That’s probably why I was initially so afraid of all the senior Buzzedz. As a wee freshman, I thought they were the coolest people in the world. I could never be as funny or interesting as them. As the years passed and I became an editor myself the fall of my sophomore year, I suddenly found myself in their position — just nowhere near as funny or interesting. I mean, I keep a list of hilarious quotes in the Notes app on my phone, and almost all of them can be attributed to the Buzzedz of years past. I want to be you all when I grow up.
To the Buzzedz I am leaving behind: God, I have no idea how you took Buzzsaw from a ragtag group of endearing misanthropes to a well-organized, journalism machine. We went from staying in the cave every Sunday until 2 a.m. (or even 5 a.m. #NeverForget) to getting out before 9 p.m. almost every production cycle. You’re the reason I’m going to stop talking shit about Gen Z, because dammit, you all know how to run things.
Please allow me to be sentimental for just a moment when I say that I met most of the best people through Buzzsaw. Being a freshman Buzzsaw writer during the 2016 election of Trump was tumultuous and scary, and I felt much less alone knowing all of the older Buzzedz were just as afraid as I was. If the duty of youth is to challenge corruption, I think Buzzsaw is surely doing that. I hope you all continue to hold those in power accountable and never back down from printing the truth — whether it’s for an Upfront piece about global warming or a an MOC review about a film. Buzzsaw is a publication that celebrates the underdog, and its success and growth shows that sometimes, the underdog wins.
And lastly to my co-MOC editor Mateo: please don’t stop sending me TikToks. You have single-handedly convinced me that they are not all inherently evil, even if they’re being used to sell our data to the Chinese government.