Last week was officially the last week of classes this semester. Like every other week, you wrote papers, we hosted events with scholars and activists, I went to meetings, and sent emails. The best parts of last week weren't the normal pace of SMPA, the officialness that comes with being the director, or the promise of a break we could all use. The best parts, the parts to end a year on, were the things that happened in between. It was laughing with students in my office, trading stories with colleagues at Tonic after a faculty meeting, joining the staff and a graduate student for a screening of Anchorman in the studio, and seeing Lady Jordan Mathews-Mason’s astonishing senior thesis performance of Anna Deavere Smith’s Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992.
I also ate all of the gluten free pizza that Anna Camp ordered for the SMPA Ambassadors. In my defense, there was a lot of non-gluten free pizza and no one else seemed to want the gluten free kind.
This has not always been an easy semester, but no semester is. Besides, if you wanted easy, you wouldn’t be here studying journalism or political communication. Nevertheless, it is great to go out learning, reflecting, and laughing. Thank you for helping make this a great academic year.
See you around SMPA.