This Isn't a Goodbye
By: Mackenzie Farkus
Editors’ Note: Mackenzie Farkus is a senior journalism major and co-editor of CommTracks. Her most recent internship is with WGBH News in Boston.
I was excited, like many other seniors, for my last spring break. The energy in the CommLab had grown frantic. We were holding group meetings for Studio 5, preparing websites, and planning out both CommTracks and CommWorks. Reality was closing in fast; when spring break was over, we would officially apply for jobs, internships, fellowships, grad school. We charted out where we would live, and with whom; if we would stay in Boston or leave it altogether.
But for this one week, we could all relax. We could go to Montreal, eat a ton of poutine and sift through vinyl, as I did; we could travel to other cities and countries from our final semester abroad; stay in Boston, where jobs and internships continued on; or just go home, spending time with family members and beloved pets.
Of course, these plans fell through. Our futures grew more uncertain as more and more Massachusetts colleges closed for physical classes, on-campus living, and study abroad, until eventually, Simmons did the same.
About two days after I had settled back into my Simmons townhouse, preparing for online classes, I was notified that my approval to stay in Boston by Residence Life had been rescinded, and the date for everyone to leave campus had been moved up.
My life of moving around from state to state prepared me to pack up everything that was mine in the span of a few hours after receiving the email. I left the next morning for Western Massachusetts.
To echo many of my classmates, I didn’t expect my senior year to end this way. I was upset that I didn’t get to see my roommates before I left; I was angry that I was too nervous to go back into the CommLab one last time to transfer files. My heart ached, knowing that it would be some time before I saw anyone in the COMM-unity in-person again, with that same feeling I had known since moving throughout my childhood: I didn’t feel that any of us got a proper goodbye.
One of the things I have realized as I get older, however, is that most goodbyes aren’t permanent. Though we may be separated by distance, different time zones, stay-at-home orders, and policies mandating no out-of-state travel, I still see my classmates and fellow CommLab agents in Zoom meetings; I message people in the COMM-unity. I send them stupid memes and random things I’ve found that remind me of them, like pictures of longtailed furbies, stuffed animal Gremlins, and Animal Crossing villagers. I still feel the love and warmth of my COMM-unity in every digital interaction or long phone call I have.
And when this is over, I’ll see you around — even if it’s not in the CommLab.
Made by the 2020 senior communication students at Simmons University