[New] Letter from the Art Director

Dear Reader,

We did it. We made it to the end of the semester. And to cap it all off, this will be my final issue as Art Director of the Wake. So I’d love to take a minute to reflect on my 3.5 years of working at this wonderful magazine.

I started as a Music and Reviews intern in the Fall of 2019, and worked my way up to Art Director. If you ever have had the opportunity to attend one of our pitch meetings, you’d know I have an obsession with Harry Styles, One Direction, Taylor Swift, and niche childhood movies and always want to write about them. I’ve had the privilege of seeing a variety of people excel in leadership roles and top-notch work being put out in every issue, but this year is extra special. I’ve also gotten to work with an extraordinary group of art interns who continuously blow my mind and renew my passion for art.

One thing about me is that I’m obnoxiously obsessed with pop culture, so I’d like to recap some of the biggest scandals of 2022 for our Burn Book. The biggest for me was the “Don’t Worry Darling” PR garbage-fire this summer. The key takeaway from that was don’t trash-talk the star of your movie in the age of social media. Maybe, more importantly, don’t engage in a consensual workplace relationship, especially if you’re already married. That concept ties into the next scandal of the season, which was the Try Guys adultery incident. I never watched the Try Guys, but somehow this crisis ended up all over my TikTok “For You” page. Lastly, the Kim Kardashian/Marilyn Monroe dress drama at the Met Gala. Here’s my take on that: People are allowed to dislike the Kardashians, but don’t act like you actually cared about Marilyn Monroe and United States history before this happened.

With that, I’ll be signing off. I’ll leave you with this quote from the late great One Direction, “Does it ever drive you crazy, just how fast the night changes?”

Xoxo.

Megan Bormann Art Director