Magazine Journalism
Through my work with The Michigan Daily's Statement Magazine and numerous literary journalism courses, I have cultivated my research and writing skills within a medium I deeply love. From generative AI to Ann Arbor's fairy folklore, narrative reporting has allowed me to explore a diverse range of community and societal issues while honing my own creativity.
"In September of 2023, the University pioneered its own UM-GPT and supplemental tools like the image generation program Dall-E. Being the frontrunner of University-specific GPT programs aligns with Michigan’s insistent “leaders and best” mantra—a frenzied race to set examples before other schools have the chance to catch up."
"College throws us for an interminable loop. We enter bright-eyed with seemingly unlimited options. We use what little we know to make educated guesses of what is the best or right or smartest thing to do. We manage to create a life off pure instinct. And at some point, these guesses harden into the narrative of our Michigan experience. They become the immalleable truth. Seemingly out of nowhere, everybody in leadership positions is two grades younger than you and there is no next year. In that space we are left with two choices: to berate ourselves for the guesses we made or to believe in them with unmarred trust and pure hope.
TMD, I love you and I choose the latter."
"The technological affordances that permeate daily life depend on our own identities, needs and interests. In the oversaturated, fragmented media environment we inhabit, it is impossible — and probably inadvisable — to try to consume everything. But on the coattails of that truth is a substantial net positive: a digital world at your fingertips provides the autonomy to cultivate a technological experience that solely serves your best interest."
Francie Ahrens/Daily
"We are entering what has been unmarked territory in recent campus history — though the specifics of Roe v. Wade’s future in Michigan are currently unclear, issues of abortion access are destined for our entire campus in the coming year. Regardless of one’s personal opinions on abortion’s morality, these imminent changes will require vigilant voicing of community concerns and advocating for justice across ideological divides."
Abby Schreck/Daily
"With the modern ability to choose between voting in either your home or college state, these students’ sentiments can feel limited. Being able to vote in your home state, particularly for students who live in swing states, like Wisconsin or Pennsylvania, is just as much a privilege as is having the option to vote in Ann Arbor. But it is precisely that choice — the right to strategically ensure your voice is heard at the loudest decibel possible — that makes college voting such a powerful opportunity."
A photograph in the March 24, 1972 edition of the Daily. Photo courtesy of Bentley Historical Library.
"Losing our imagination begins with the psychological changes that underscore the shift from childhood to adulthood. In our younger days, the mind is effortlessly transformative. Through a combination of psychological processes, social learning and cultural expectations, we slowly grow accustomed to what exactly it means to be a child; we learn where the line of “growing up” is drawn."
Grace Aretakis/Daily
"Jewish female comedians are educational in the sense that they reminds viewers like me that the pieces of ourselves we think are weird or uncomfortable or out of place are actually pretty normal. Because it’s the things we don’t say, we think we can’t say, we are petrified to say, that the right people, the bold and brave and powerful people, can say to us, and then for us, and then with us."
Tamara Turner/Daily
"What his website won’t tell you is that these fairy doors are the result of decades of research and architectural work from Wright. Though the doors are undeniably magical, the man behind their creation and lore may be even more so."
"How many places in the world can you watch a horde of adults wearing limited-edition Mickey Mouse ears push through a crowd of children to get a better view of the same Festival of Fantasy parade they saw last month?"
Abby Schreck/Daily
"For students interested in journalism like myself, the debate of practicality versus academic value for undergraduate majors becomes even more concentrated. A major in journalism can offer plenty of benefits: direct writing and reporting training, a specialized curriculum and access to professors who have had work experience in the news sphere. However, a journalism degree could be too specific and prevent students from experiencing a more theoretical, well-rounded education."
Erin Ruark/Daily
"At the core of every denomination of every religion, I believe there is one goal: to create an incentivized system for people to be kind. Whether the reward is ascending to heaven, attaining nirvana or not being eaten by the Flying Spaghetti Monster (I’m not much of an expert on Pastafarianism), religion often exists to coax the good out of people who may have difficulty finding it on their own."
Katherine Lee/Daily
"We forget that the heteronormative, rigid culture surrounding sex at this powerful university institution is, in and of itself, also a powerful institution — one that warrants critical study and thinking."
Serena Shen/Daily
"Across the ocean, there is a street made of language."
"Postcard Dreams" is a 3,700 word immersion memoir piece centered around my experience collecting postcards during my semester in Amsterdam. Through exploring what it means to represent our experiences through the image, the piece ultimately asks what role the image can play in making sense of our selves and our world.
Leilani Baylis-Washington/Daily
"Having graduated from the School of Music, Theatre & Dance just two years ago, Rallo’s tie to the Michigan experience remains strong regardless of her newfound global audience. With her former involvement in The Michigan Daily, establishment of her own student organization, Blank Space Workshop and numerous returns to campus since her graduation, her imprint on the University has far surpassed her time as a student."
"Beyond the plethora of cultural stimulation pertaining directly to the Ann Arbor experience, city staples like Dawn Treader and Encore Records provide people with the ability to escape into stories in a variety of media from all across the globe."
Katherine Lee/Daily
"As we grow through childhood and beyond, the ways we interpret and utilize color to make meaning of identities tell us where we’ve been. From the first time we’re asked our favorite color to choosing how to decorate our freshman year dorm rooms, our color partialities influence decision making and in turn reflect how we see ourselves."
Emily Schwartz/Daily
"In terms of academic and literary merit, fairy tales seem to get an unnecessarily bad rep. They’re the topic of the class I’ve been told every University engineering student takes to get their humanities credit out of the way as easily as possible. They’re deemed “childlike” in what seems to be a derogatory way, as if we haven’t all been children and, in a way, always will be. They’re part of the time we are taught to let go of — a time, maybe the only time, when the wonder and romance of daily life are welcomed with entirely open arms."
Phoebe Unwin/Daily
The story of a group of treasured stuffed animals who are forced to say goodbye to the now-grown children they care for. Originally published in The Statement's Summer 2021 fiction edition.
A story of feeling used and alone, told through the drearily endearing scene of a Manhattan bodega. Originally published in What The F Magazine, Michigan's student run feminist literary magazine.