The time has come. Every laugh, every deadline at The Paisano I’ve had for the past two years has come to a bittersweet end. I reflect on my time at UTSA; the sunny days and rainy days. There were moments when I doubted myself as a person and a writer, only to recognize that my rainy days were valuable lessons before I take off into the real world. I have learned about my existence that challenges the structures and systems of oppression that rape culture uphold. I have learned about the value of friends who love you when you forget to love yourself. I have discovered that thinking we know what tomorrow may bring is very naive, yet somehow necessary for our survival.

I think back to the day I wrote my first piece, #BlackGirlMagic. The excitement of expressing my experience never got lost in the years I’ve written for this newspaper and found so much truth in the columns I’ve written. The Paisano is a place that I will never deny was once home. When I cross the stage on Dec. 15 I will be leaving a piece of myself behind, rooting for The Paisano from wherever I will be. If I could whisper any advice in my ear moments before I cross the stage, it might be along the lines of something my first piece #BlackGirlMagic foreshadowed, “Be voluptuous. Be unapologetically black. Be poppin’. Be YOU.”

For anybody who got to know this column, from the wise words of my mother, “Never say goodbye, only see you later.

Xoxo,
Big Sis