Life

It has truly been a wonderful year for the Life section. The changes that the section has gone through are incredible and so worthy of praise. This past year has seen the growth and development of Selinna Tran’s conception, “Life Through The Lens”, as well as other new, exciting sections. “Life on The Street” made its first appearance in the fall semester and a comeback in the spring, covering the hidden gems of the Winston-Salem shops. Not only that, but “Adam’s Culture Column” appeared with a briefing of some of pop culture’s modern treasures and a new perspective on cultural explorations.

This year was truly a year of experimentation. We added new features like crosswords, completely redesigned the section’s layout and had writers take part in writing the “Hot List”, but what made each edition so special was the wonderful writing done by our talented writers. 

We would like to recognize one writer in particular, Yushuo Wang, who wrote six spectacular articles this year — taking home a “Best of SNO” in the process. Her writing has provided a much-needed window into the lives of international students at Wake Forest, exposing us American-born students to struggles and complications that we would otherwise have no idea about. While her articles approach most subjects from the standpoint of her international identity, there is also a universal element to the feelings of academic inadequacy or uncertainty surrounding identity that her writing has explored. With a fresh, quirky writing style and a dedication to helping out the Old Gold & Black, Yushuo has been an invaluable component to both the writing and production aspects of the Life section.

Alyssa Soltren was our first “Best of SNO” award winner this year with her article titled “Finding meaning in the unthinkable”, which dove deeply and honestly into the reality of mental illness in this country. She touched on the importance of being there for others and staying connected with those we love through her personal experience. The Life section lends itself to a wide variety of topics, and this year was no different. We covered existentialism, “The Emoji Movie”, niche music, reality TV, Winston-Salem and just about everything in between. We are always blown away by the creativity and variety in the Life section. Writers consistently provide us with articles that aren’t the standard movie review, but something more. From analyses of celebrities to actors’ performances to pop culture critiques, the Life writers have stayed transformative in presenting standard ideas in a fresh light.

Abby Komiske and Sofia Bazant lead the way in articles written with Komiske writing eight and Bazant writing seven. There were so many fantastic writers this year, and we want to simply say thank you for all of your effort and dedication as well as congratulate all of our new staff writers! The enthusiasm that we’ve encountered is so encouraging and wonderful to see. If next year’s Life section is anything like this past year’s, then the future is bright, imaginative and inspiring.