by Patrick Coy-Bjork ’24
Dear Words readers,
A common trend in past “Parting Words” articles by previous graduating seniors has been an acknowledgement of procrastinating writing this send-off until the last minute. I am proud to say I have joined in this tradition! I still feel daunted by the prospect of summating my Mac English experience into a single article, but I’ll give it my best shot!
At the time of writing this, I just celebrated my final class at Macalester: the last meeting of the English Literature capstone course taught by Professor Jim Dawes. I’ve only had Jim as a professor once before, which just so happened to be the very first English class I took at Mac: an Intro to Creative Writing course. I’m grateful to have Professor Dawes bookend my experience with English at Macalester—just as I am grateful for the entire English community. I do not think I could imagine a better boss than our Department Coordinator Jan Beebe, who has been endlessly supportive throughout all of my time at Macalester. The department is also filled with incredible professors and students: students who have become dearly appreciated co-workers, roommates, and friends. I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to call this place home.
On that note, I’m reminded of an anecdote from class last fall in which Professor Amy Elkins asked each of us students to take a selfie photograph in Old Main on a polaroid camera. She encouraged us to think outside of the box, and so I decided to take a photo of myself standing next to my own picture on the English department’s wall of majors, as I thought it was a very fun, meta interpretation of self-portrait: taking a photo of yourself alongside yourself. However, once the photo developed, what stood out to me most was all the other images of students and staff surrounding me. I felt that I had all of the English department (literally) behind me, looking on in support.
I have yet to even mention the English classes themselves, which have been some of my favorite experiences at college. In the Fall of 2022, I joined a class taught by Professor Andrea Kaston Tange titled “Great Detectives and the Plots of Detection,” in which we read a wide array of mystery novels written in the last few hundred years. Every morning I was so excited coming to class, knowing I’d be entering a room full of spirited discussion and heated debate. The arguments predicting the mysteries’ culprits would began each day before Andrea even arrived. I adored this class—and so did many others. Once that semester was reaching its end, we decided to continue the class in the form of a book club, which we named “The Tuesday Night Club” after an Agatha Christie short story. To this day, the book club meets weekly and shows no sign of stopping. In fact, we just selected our book for the summer!
Like the Mac English scholars who came before me, I’d like to use my “Parting Words” to impart some wisdom (words-dom?) on any younger students reading this. One of the most frequent pieces of advice I remember hearing growing up was to “be yourself,” but on its own, that phrase can come across as somewhat generic and—ironically—impersonal. However, I do believe that feeling in touch with what you recognize as the most authentic and present version of yourself is one of the most valuable things we can spend our time doing, and is something I wish I could have prioritized more as a student here. So, how is it done?
Above all else, take care of your well-being. “Being yourself” is an astoundingly difficult thing to do when balancing high stress and sleep-deprivation. Additionally, take a chance on the experiences that you imagine will bring you joy and love of life. I almost didn’t register for the Detectives class, as I at first thought I should take a more “serious” class instead, but I am so thankful that I followed what I felt I’d enjoy the most. Finally, I imagine you’ll feel many sparks of exciting new friendship while at Macalester. These sparks are very easy to let go, but I encourage you to kindle them. Let’s leave the ships that pass in the night to the mariners in our novels; exploring friendships of mutual connection and joy is perhaps the single best way to get in touch with your “authentic self.”
I share all of this alongside the reminder that this “authentic self” in question is an ever-changing, beautiful thing, and is vulnerable to error. There may have been and likely will be many times when you sleep poorly, lose joy, or feel alone. Accepting and caring for yourself through mistakes—like a couple (or more than a couple) overdue assignments—is a big part of “being yourself,” and so I encourage you to embrace kindness. You may very well find yourself in a time of severe academic stress, and when everything feels overwhelming and entirely impossible, taking a moment to be kind with yourself can often set you on the right path.
As I prepare now to submit this article to my final newsletter as a contributor, I want to mention how greatly I’ve enjoyed my time serving as a senior editor alongside Zoë Scheuerman. The Words has given me the opportunity to write about such a variety of different topics and meet with so many incredible, interesting people—like all the times I got the chance to speak with Macalester alumni. Some of my favorite of these alumni spotlights were the ones I wrote on illustrator Magdalena Mora and my very own sister! Getting the chance to talk with alums has been a perk of this job since my very first semester as a social media strategist when I created a series of posts about Mac English alums on campus. This is all fun to reflect on, as I am now about to become an alumnus myself. I am honored to pass the Words baton to the incredibly talented Birdie Keller and Lucy McNees, and am looking forward to reading every forthcoming issue!
Thank you to all the many people across the department who have brought light and happiness into my life. I hope to find many more new communities as wonderful as this one.
Much love,
Patrick