Editor's Note

Dear Reader, This semester has gone by all too fast. Just as the year seems to have started, the end of the semester is upon us. But for this year’s seniors, the semester’s end is just the first of many lasts, the primer to many goodbyes. But before they leave, FM has profiled 15 of those graduating seniors. To select them, we asked students to nominate seniors for different superlative categories, just like your old high school yearbook. In this issue, we profiled the Class of 2024’s Most Likely to be President, Most Whimsical, Biggest Risk-taker, and Most Chill, among others. Read on to see how these seniors both fit and transcend their categories and to learn about all the cool things they’ve gotten up to in their four years in college — one senior competed on American Idol, another spent a summer cataloging a papuan language, and yet another is researching how the post-industrial Western diet has changed humans’ gut microbiota and overall health. Harvard kids, am I right? Read HWD’s 15Q with Yevgenia Albats, the editor-in-chief and CEO of the Russian publication The New Times. Don’t forget to check out PC’s comic on pregaming and SWF’s amazing crossword, the last one of the year (!), and try to find the easter egg for each profiled senior. Also check out our “Parting Shots” to read our reflections from our outgoing and incoming mastheads. Ending the issue are endpapers from CJC and BLK, the 150th’s president and managing editor. In her endpaper, CJC writes about what it means to lead The Crimson, and how all that takes on new stakes and new meaning during times of crisis. BLK reflects on the ways that his father has shaped him. Unlike our dear seniors, we are not graduating at the end of this year, but at the end of this semester we are saying a goodbye of our own and stepping down as the chairs of Fifteen Minutes. We’d be remiss to sign off without sharing a few words of gratitude. Thank you to SS, SCS, MHS, MQ, JH, JJG, and SET for maestro magic. Your photos and designs never cease to amaze, it’s truly been a joy to work with you. Special thanks SET for redesigning the glossy, and for your kindness and constant willingness to help — both as a collaborator and as a friend. BLK and MX, thank you so much for grounding us this year. Your wisdom, support, and care made all that we do possible. CJC, thank you for leading this building with such impressive competence and grace, and for truly caring and believing in the work that FM does. To FM’s execs: You have been such a joy to work alongside. Thank you to MGB, poet extraordinaire, and always-composed JL for being such diligent and kind comp directors. Thank you BWF for being such a thoughtful and brilliant inquiry editor, and for keeping me humble. Thank you to JKW for being such a caring introspection editor, and for bringing your humor to every meeting. Thank you to CJK for being so real and for absolutely slaying social media with SWF, who, while studying Folk and Myth, is a legend herself. Thank you to DRZ for helping plan so many amazing socials, all while pre-med-ing. Thank you to MMFW for constant fun, always giving us perspective, and radical optimism. Thank you to KLM for bringing the sass and for being so reliable. Thank you to SEW for your constant cheer and enthusiasm, and for getting me through Hist Sci 100. Thank you to GRW for lending us your artistic chops, good convos, and for often lending us a helping hand. Thank you to HD for being such a cool CS major number cruncher for us on AET. Your talents are what really enable our magazine to thrive, and for that we cannot thank you enough. MG and KT, what is there I could possibly say to capture what you have been to this magazine this past year? You have been our foundation, taking on additional editing, and proofing, and scrut editing whenever needed and without a single complaint or hesitation. But more than that, you have been such good friends. We’ve dished, we’ve laughed, we’ve cried (or at least very much wanted to), and you have been there at every turn with words of encouragement, good advice, and a hug. Michal, have such a fantastic time in Rome. I cannot wait to hear all about it next fall. Kaitlyn, I am so for your chairdom, it’s gonna be so great. You two have been the best possible EALs, and I will miss our weekly meetings so so so much. To HD, KT, JL, YAK, AEP, JKW, and the rest of next year’s masthead: I can’t imagine a more talented, funny, and kind group of people to hand this magazine off to. It’s going to be so much fun. To SSL, MVE, thank you for teaching us so much, and for your never ending support. This year would not have been possible without you. To staff writers and recently elected compers: Joining FM, and committing to FM, has been by far the most meaningful thing I have done in college. Thank you for all you have given FM already, and know that though The Crimson can be scary and ask a lot, what you give FM you will get back. Finally, and most of all, Amber. I don’t think “thank you” is even adequate to express how deeply grateful I am to have gotten to work alongside you this year. There have been some real high highs and some real low lows, and through it all you have continued to pour your talents into this magazine and helped curate excellent vibes. This magazine is truly so much better for everything you have given it. Thank you for being such a great partner — I have so needed someone to commiserate with. But more than that, I have cherished our FM debriefs post Chinese class, collecting roast material, the life advice, the funny stories, the friendship. I’m going to miss you so much next semester, but have such a great time in Taiwan (and teach me some slang when you get back). Writing this last closeout was bittersweet, y’all. It’s hard to let go of something you’ve put so much time and care into. Leading FM has truly been such a rewarding and formative experience, and I feel so lucky to have gotten to be FM Chair. So thank you so so much, to everyone who has shown their faith and love for FM, it has been such an honor to know all of you. Retirement here we come! IYG & AHL