Letter from the Editor in Chief

“Work hard, be nice.” 

Every morning in elementary school, our principal would greet students with that phrase. I’d like to welcome you to The Wake’s final issue of this semester—our Bizarro issue, from The Wake Elementary—with those same words. 

Thinking back to full classrooms, noisy hallways, and playgrounds full of small children… working hard and being nice was sometimes a tall order. But the beauty of that phrase lies in its simplicity, in its reminder of what is most important: try your best at your work, and treat yourself and those around you with kindness. I can’t pretend that I remember everything about grade school, but I have always remembered those words. And thirteen years later, they still guide me.

My life and responsibilities now, as you might imagine, are a bit different from when I was seven. My worries are bigger than who the boy I liked was sitting next to at lunch or how many words I missed on the spelling test (although, to be clear, I am also still preoccupied with crushes and am a terrible speller). Book reports about “Charlotte’s Web” have been replaced by literary theory and far too much Shakespeare. Alongside the strange cheers and chants I memorized on the playground, my brain now holds much more important information that I only remember half as well as the rhymes to “brick wall, waterfall.” 

All of that can feel incredibly overwhelming; no matter what your life holds now, maybe you, too, have longed for the simplicity you’ve grown out of. So I’m here to say that even now, all you can really do is work hard and be nice. One of the hard parts about, you know, not being seven, is that you now decide what hard work means. You can’t do it all—just like you couldn’t possibly know every single foursquare rule when you were an elementary schooler, there’s only so much one person can hold. But extend yourself the same compassion you offer to others and try your best at what you can. You are allowed to let go of the rest, as long as when it matters, you work hard, be nice.

Happy reading,

Marley Richmond