{"id":5400,"date":"2021-05-29T12:09:28","date_gmt":"2021-05-29T12:09:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/?p=5400"},"modified":"2021-05-29T12:09:31","modified_gmt":"2021-05-29T12:09:31","slug":"hello-and-also-goodbye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/2021\/05\/hello-and-also-goodbye\/","title":{"rendered":"Hello, and Also Goodbye"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Dear <em>Fieldston News <\/em>Readers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I don\u2019t know that I\u2019ve ever formally introduced myself to you; when you read my writing I likely exist as a disembodied, snarky voice in your mind, or maybe some pretentious stranger with lukewarm takes on current events. Well, I may be those things, but I\u2019m also Rebecca: she\/her pronouns, mediocre left-fielder, and Fieldston alumnus as of yesterday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I entered <em>The Fieldston News <\/em>(and the Fieldston School) in ninth grade, as a gawky fifteen-year-old with little sense of myself or of anybody else. I tended to stand at the fringes of any social groups, perpetually observing, perpetually consuming, and rarely participating. Now, as I leave both institutions, a gawky eighteen year old with a few more opinions and a better grasp of grammar, I just want to say thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you to the approximately five people that read my articles, to the <em>News <\/em>writers and editors, to Mr. Montera and everyone else who\u2019s called me out when required; thank you for forgiving my frequently dropping the ball, for making me better, for allowing me to ricochet wildly (and with varying levels of success) out of my comfort zone. I love this place and these people, and I sincerely do appreciate the person they\u2019ve helped me become.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I never thought I\u2019d be this old, never thought I\u2019d have to consider myself a real life <em>grownup, <\/em>that I would have to leave this place that still feels so new. Soon I\u2019ll be collecting my AARP discount and complaining about my joints, but before that happens I\u2019d love to give a few words of advice: <em>try hard.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It sounds obvious, but it took me so long to learn. Sincerity is scary and humiliating, but also beautiful. Nobody thinks you\u2019re stupid for writing a poem or participating in class or trying to make friends\u2013and if they do, who cares? You\u2019re the only constant in your life, anyway; treat your own approval like it matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anyway, I\u2019m not really in any position to drop knowledge bombs. Do with my hallmark wisdom what you will, and from one trainwreck to another, good luck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lots of ambivalence and even more love,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Your former editor-in-chief,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rebecca Margaret Kopelman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dear Fieldston News Readers, I don\u2019t know that I\u2019ve ever formally introduced myself to you; when you read my writing I likely exist as a disembodied, snarky voice in your mind, or maybe some pretentious stranger with lukewarm takes on current events. Well, I may be those things, but I\u2019m also Rebecca: she\/her pronouns, mediocre left-fielder, and Fieldston alumnus as of yesterday. I entered The Fieldston News (and the Fieldston School) in ninth grade, as<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":230,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[347,318],"tags":[],"coauthors":[337],"class_list":["post-5400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/230"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5400"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5401,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5400\/revisions\/5401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5400"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}