Finals are creeping up steadily, dark circles are becoming more and more prevalent, coffee (or tea) is becoming less of a treat and more of a necessity for students with deadlines to meet and tests to pass. As Winter Quarter draws to a close and spring begins to gently flourish, it’s high time to welcome – with open arms – new, wonderful, and warmer potential. And yes, of course it will bring change.

Yet for me it’s also a nice time to reflect and be thankful on the cold winter months (both literal and figurative) that helped me arrive here.
During the last few months, temperatures have dipped, dived, and all around avoided bestowing upon us much sun at all. Very little snow either. It was a weird limbo where in classes were attended and tests were taken like a repetitive beat of a drum. While it was sometimes meditative, most of the time I wanted to play another record or enjoy the silence, so to speak.
As spring steps up to take the place of its seasonal sibling, it also marks many personal anniversaries. One of these is my personal anniversary of working on The Clipper for a full year. I’ve been here for three quarters total now, and counting.

With each quarter I’ve seen this big hearted but little paper become progressively more beautiful and cohesive. Each staffer, including myself, growing and blooming within the small office that we call home. A home in which we make a paper, and readily stain our hands in ink from a freshly printed issue, but a home nonetheless. It has changed, as it always has and will continue to do so.
Through my three quarters, there’s been people who have come and gone, there’s been a fair share of both bad and hilarious jokes, and I can chalk up a large portion of my happiness at EvCC to everyone I’ve worked with and encountered because of my work here.

The Clipper has also helped me get through some pretty trying times; from the loss of a loved one to various medical problems to the general stresses of life, the people I’ve met and the position this publication has held in my life have both helped me get through many ups and downs.

Going further back, to a warmer yet still trying time, in the summer of 2014 I found myself hunkered down on a tiny island in the San Juans. There, I worked with people from all over the world at a French camp that I previously attended for three years, assisting in running the program and watching over rambunctious kids. I came to recognize how important different opinions, outlooks, and personalities are in a community; small or large, young or old.

By extension, as I continue to work here and engage further with the college at large, I’ve come to see how amazing our community here is. Each quarter, it hits me in a new and exciting way each time: eclectic and buzzing, EvCC is full of budding riffraff.

From all walks of life we collectively make a fabric unduplicated anywhere else, even by the finest craftsmen.
But, as revealed by the blossoming of flowers and the fact that the sun is steadily becoming less and less shy to us Washingtonians, change happens. We may not like the change in seasons, the changes that occur within our familes or our lives, but changes do occur. They allow us to put into perspective everything that has led up to the position we currently find ourselves in, wherever that is. We learn to assimilate.

So, as finals and spring both creep upon us, try not to look at it as stressful or worrisome; instead, try to find the beauty in the shifting of dirt as new oppertunities sprout. I know I will!

Sincerely,
Hannah Lu Marie
Managing Editor