I have spent the last ten minutes trying to swim through all of the apps that are attempting to update on my desktop. Discord is trying to launch, Canva is bouncing on the navigation bar, and Slack is nagging for my attention. I was thinking about how I haven’t produced a TJL piece in a while, so here I am to end the year on a positive note.
This year I moved from Chicago to New York on January 12th, 2025. I remember how terrible it was to receive both my COVID and flu vaccines the day before my flight. I shakily boarded the plane to one of my favorite cities in the world. I quickly tried to assimilate into the city’s culture.
My first semester at the New School was paradise. I couldn’t ask for a better group of professors. Shivani and I still talk about how perfect Andrew Meier’s class was. I think there were nine of us on a good day. That class was one I felt a strong emotional bond with. Not many classes do what that class did to me, and I am grateful that I was there to experience all of the joy.
The first semester was the trial run before things got serious during the second semester. The second semester was harder compared to the first. It wasn’t unpleasant but challenged me to look at journalism in a different light. If we’re following the rules of ebb and flow, second semester was an ebb. I kicked, I screamed, and I struggled.
I end the year by reflecting on what truly matters to me. I was contemplating how New York has become a place that I am now protective of.
The other night while up in bed, I said to myself, “I have worked too hard to arrive here. I can’t screw up.”
Honestly, I have never felt that way about any place I have lived. I have gone to school all over the world, and New York is the only place I have felt a need to protect. I fiercely guard everything in my nest egg, my corner of New York. The life I have built here feels more concrete. I feel that I can exist here and build something for myself.
I think part of this love for the city comes from how personal every situation has been. I arrived here by myself. I found myself curled up in the corner of my old dorm room, struggling to breathe under the giant cloud of weed that wafted over from my roommate’s corner. It wasn’t long after moving into the single room next door that I arranged to sign my first NYC apartment lease.
I spent the entire summer setting up my apartment. I assembled the bed, transported the artwork upstairs, and even replaced the toilet flapper. I know…big whoop. For me, though, it represented a moment when I could safely lean on my knowledge and worldly experience.
I continue to lean on the experiences I endured throughout 2025. From the successes to the days when I struggled, I have transformed into a different person. I am more comfortable with who I am, what I want, and where I am going.
Happy Holidays,
TJL