Parting Shots
Io Y. Gilman, FM Chair, 150:
In Greek mythology, Io is a princess who goes to great lengths to escape Hera’s wrath — walking thousands of miles across Eurasia, crossing the Ionian Sea, and swimming the Bosphorus strait to reach Egypt.
I can’t speculate on the Gilmans’ naming philosophy, but in my experience with Io Y. Gilman ’25, I can’t help but see parallels. I know IYG will go to great lengths for this silly little magazine — because she already has.
She’s written two kickass scruts on psychedelics and energy (and one scrutling on Avi Loeb!), toughing it out many late nights and handling last-minute editing demands with patience and poise. She’s a bold, fearless reporter — rumor has it she nearly hopped a fence just for an accurate description of the Allston District Energy Facility, but you didn’t hear it from me. As an editor and proofer, she’s equal parts fastidious and compassionate — the comments she leaves on writers’ drafts are among the sweetest I’ve read.
Last spring, Io and I finally exited the Signet at 4 a.m. after a long scrut editing session — and walked straight into the pouring rain. As she does, Io took even that comically-unfortunate situation in stride; she was all smiles as we ran down Mt. Auburn together, dodging raindrops.
Io: Believe me when I say I can’t imagine a more competent, caring, and yes, warm, leader than you to take over this magazine. Godspeed!
— MVE
Amber H. Levis, FM Chair, 150:
— SSL
Maliya V. Ellis, FM Chair, 149:
The psychedelics scrut was the first scrut Maliya ever edited — though I didn’t know, since she had an answer to every question, and somehow made the messiest paragraphs and sections coherent and articulate. I vividly remember walking back from the Signet with Maliya at 4 a.m. in the rain after finishing the scrut, exhausted but also the most elated I’ve ever been. This semester, Maliya also edited the energy scrut, handling every curveball with patience and brilliance. So thank you – I hope you know how much your editing has meant to writers.
Maliya’s contributions to FM extend far beyond scruts, but are too numerous to list here. So for now, a few thank yous: Thank you for being the best comp director. Thank you for fun at Fringe Prom. Thank you for sharing your dad’s cookies with us. You’ve been an amazing chair — any success next year will be because we get to follow your example. We will miss you!
— IYG
Sophia S. Liang, FM Chair, 149:
I should be more nervous for the coming year. Somehow, I will need to balance a 15- to 30-hour workload on top of classes and edit pieces again and again (and again). But really, what I’m most nervous about is how I can possibly fill in Sophia’s footsteps.
Armed with baked goods and affirmations, she can tell you exactly what your piece needs, whether it’s a philosophical examination of its reported subject or a semicolon. And she can do it on top of writing two theses, CAing, and managing a more-than-full courseload.
I could dedicate a scrutiny to examining the many ways her leadership has improved FM, so instead, I’ll describe the extent to which she has improved my writing. She has sat with me through late nights (early mornings), reshuffling grafs and smoothing transitions. Her thorough editing and keen eye have allowed me to publish the pieces I’m proudest of, and it is largely thanks to her that I know anything about journalistic storytelling.
Simply put, SSL embodies everything a student magazine can hope to be, and she has the Warhol wig to show for it.
— AHL
Michal Goldstein, FM EAL, 150:
Michal,
I’m so thankful for all of the time we’ve spent together editing — it’s been a joy to watch you develop as a writer; to learn from you in turn; and to become privy to the plotline of your life. Your style has always impressed me, both in writing and in dress. I’m already looking forward to the emails you’ll send as EAL — if your In-Out lists are any indication, they’ll never fail to make me laugh.
— SSI
Kaitlyn Tsai, FM EAL, 150:
Kaitlyn and I share a certain quality that I know will serve her well as next year’s EAL: a love of repetitive, even mundane, tasks. Last semester, after I read her introspection on appreciating the quiet tasks of working at the Lamont Library front desk, I knew we were kindred spirits. Churning out pitch emails and matching writer to editor to proofer is not always as meditative as placing hold slips into library books, but I know that anyone who likes the latter will come to enjoy the rhythm of the former.
— JFA
Saima S. Iqbal, FM EAL, 149:
We have never made it through an editing session without getting distracted — by free donuts, by Winthrop chatter, by the messes in our own lives — and I would have it no other way. Thank you for meeting me with empathy and wit, for making me a better writer and a better friend. As I reluctantly adjust to an FM without you, my gratitude for the times we have shared remains close to my heart, always.
— MG
Josie F. Abugov, FM EAL, 149:
Our sunshiney EAL and our unofficial weed reporter: FM will not be the same without you. I’ve long admired your knack for tackling the complex and sometimes ~controversial~ stories: stories about sex and porn, scruts on weed and race and equity, and, most recently, the affirmative action scrut. But mostly, I’m going to miss the radiance you brought to every dimly-lit writer’s and exec meeting, the brilliance of both your mind and your heart.
— KT