ascend | a college reflection coming soon!

I thought I was done creating stuff, but I guess I was wrong. Over the last few months, I've been painstakingly putting together my first-ever magazine! Originally, I had come up with the idea during my junior year winter break. Bored with nowhere to go, I decided to pick up a personal project -- a fancier, personal journal to collect all my college thoughts and realizations. It's basically just an InDesign file with drawings and articles that I put together. I found the project really cathartic. It helped me visualize and write how I felt. When else will I be able to think like a college student?

As I continued working on the magazine, I found that the thoughts I had were things that a lot of other friends were grappling with too. While working on the magazine, I had time to reflect and so many incredible fruitful conversations arose from those reflections.

• thinking about what we leave behind

• would you plug into a happiness machine?

• how to build trust when the world is so broken

• what do I even want to do after college?

• life just sucks

• why do all good things have to come to an end?

Today, the magazine is around 80 pages long. (For reference, I had originally intended for it to be 32 pages. Trust me, I had no idea there was so much to talk about!) I'm putting this blog out there to commit to the project. I will be releasing the magazine in May 2023. I plan to send physical copies to those who left a mark on my college life, and I hope to circulate a PDF for all others to read. I hope the project helps you think and reflect as well!

Ascend is a personal college reflection magazine with short essays, funny stories, life thoughts, important questions, media I love, and more! ascend | a college reflection will come out in May 2023. Here's a sneak peak: