Well this is it, my last editorial.
Hello, friends. What a year it’s been. The last issue of Massive! Can you believe it?
Firstly, I want to give a huge shout out to the Massive staff this year: Cam, Elena, Ari, Mason, Michael, Ruby, Tallulah, Callum, Sara, Jamie, and James. You guys are fucking awesome, and it’s been a dream to work with such gifted, cool folks. A special shout-out must go to Micah, our unbelievably talented designer, who had to put up with me leaving coffee cups everywhere for an entire year and taking up permanent residence on our office couch. I couldn’t have done this year without you. Your font choices are the highlight of my week. Anyone who volunteered for us, thank you. I loved reading each and every one of your stories. Thank you to everyone for helping make Massive what it is.
This has been my fourth and final year working in student media. From the second I started, working as a very scared, very small Critic Te Arohi writer, I’ve loved it. Where else can you flirt with politicians, uncover scandals and write shitty dating columns, all in one swoop? Student media is special. Especially in an age where print media is more and more rare, how fucking cool is it that we get to print a magazine every week? Students get to create art, investigate stories, and little by little this magazine takes shape. Every week, just when I think “oh God, we’re totally screwed”, something surprises me and the next thing I know, I’m holding our latest issue in my hands. It’s really nothing short of miraculous.
The truth is, student media helped get me through some messy years of university. In my first year, I felt stuck, disconnected at my hall of residence. Lonely, really. I didn’t go clubbing, I didn’t go to house parties. I stayed inside and watched romcoms: cool, right? People outside were living these big experiences, making friends for life, and…well, I wasn’t. To this day I’ve still never been to a Castle Street party, or pissed up on St Patrick’s day. I stopped going to classes, and even cut myself a fringe, which is how you really know I was goin’ through it. But through student media, I got to talk to cool people who were living life. Whether it was selling underwear online or buying drugs off Tinder, I wrote their stories. And eventually wrote my own too, from starting a cooking column with my best friend to attempting the horrors of online dating. I carved out a little world for myself, page by page. I made friends, some of the best illustrators and writers and photographers I’d ever met. We’d get drunk on old couches and write some shitty horoscopes together. Eat dumplings and read letters from angry landlords. Watch the students go by, copies of our words and pictures in their grasp.
That’s not to say that this year hasn’t been without its stresses. I’ve made editorial mistakes, we’ve fucked up the crossword more times than we can count at this point. Covering each campus, each association, was hard, and I struggled with the pressure to do justice for all the students, far and wide. We received our fair share of criticism; some justified, some not, but at the end of it all, we finally got here: Issue 24.
It’s been a rocky road. I’ve probably made enemies for life, which I’ll try to think of as a badge of honour. At the very least, in the event of my demise, the police will have a good list of suspects to go off. But yet, every week, someone will send in a snapchat of their fridge covered in our centrefolds and it makes me smile like nothing else. So, thank you, to the weirdos who read us every week. You’ve made one prematurely-ageing 23-year-old girl very happy.
This year we turned Massive from fortnightly to weekly, and started to be a little bit bolder in our views, our humour. If nothing else, we probably used the word “fuck” more in one issue than all of the previous years combined. I know some people haven’t enjoyed our new vibe, and that’s okay. Because next year something new will come, and the year after too. Massive will keep evolving and changing, and I can’t wait to see where it goes. That’s the beauty of it all.
If you’re looking for a sign to get involved in it all, this is it. Student media has undoubtedly changed my life for the better. I got paid to write! And give my shitty opinions on things! And work with the best of the best. I wish all the luck in the world to the new editor, whoever they may be. Maybe it’ll be you! Applications are open on Seek and I heartily encourage everyone to apply.
As for me? I’ll be moving up to Auckland as you read this, ready to try my hand at something different. Stepping out into the adult world is daunting, especially for someone who likes to sleep in til midmorning and owns an embarrassing amount of sweatpants. But I’ll never forget this year, and all the fun we had along the way. You Massey kids are really fucking cool, you know that right? Like nothing else. I love you guys. Now go enjoy our last issue. I hope enjoy it as much as we did making the damn thing.