On Monday, Aug. 10, 2020, I was sitting in my dad’s car in a strip mall parking lot in Cape May, New Jersey. I had his phone in one hand, anxiously trying to get his hotspot to work, while my laptop precariously balanced on my lap. With a look of exasperation glued onto my face, I shooed my parents away, forcing them to walk laps around the parking lot. Family vacation had to wait, I had an important call that morning. It was the Glimpse from the Globe New Member Orientation.
Even before Glimpse was what it is today, and before I even thought much of it, I knew I had to make a good first impression. I had spent the entire night before orientation working tirelessly on my pitches, eventually settling on one about the crisis in Lebanon. My leg shook as I waited to introduce myself on the Zoom call. “Sangeeta Kishore, rising sophomore majoring in IRGB and French, from Princeton, New Jersey.”
I always loved writing: I worked on the newspaper in high school, my dad is a journalist. But my journey in Glimpse wasn’t seamless. On my first article, my brain went into instant panic mode when I saw my draft COVERED in suggestions. I forgot to add all my citations. Every sentence had a rewrite. Certainly not my finest work.
I wanted to give up in that instant. I didn’t take well to criticism, especially when it came to what I thought I was good at. But it was the pandemic — I frankly didn’t have much to lose and Glimpse brought the only semblance of normalcy to my quarantined life. So I pushed on. I spent every waking moment, even my lunch breaks while working at Madewell, on my next piece about pro-democracy protests in Thailand. And not to toot my own horn, but that article was quite a hit.
I had put myself on the Glimpse map: I was soon promoted to Associate Editor, made it onto EBoard, which was barely an EBoard at the time, but more importantly, I gained a renewed sense of confidence. The joy felt after that article is what I wanted all of our writers to feel, and I knew I had to give Glimpse my all to make it happen.
I could go on a rant about what I’ve done at Glimpse, but nothing could truly do it justice. Glimpse has been more than anything I could ever imagine. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve talked about Glimpse, I’d be richer than Jeff Bezos. Because helping build this organization has been my biggest success story thus far. I’ve met some of my best friends through Glimpse: former Finance Chair Jake Wisnik, former VP Sasha Benke, and former President Lauren Schulsohn. In fact, Lauren and I became the close friends we are today because we spent the entire summer on long phone calls talking about our plans for Glimpse. We fostered a friendship over our shared love for this organization.
As Editor-in-Chief, it’s easy to say that Glimpse’s success comes from our editorial prowess. We publish daily, covering news from all across the globe. But the true virtue of this organization is the community. A group of over 100 truly dedicated students, who not only think, analyze, and question the way true journalists should, but are driven by the desire to make this world a better place. Whether it’s Zain Khan’s passionate fight against Hindu nationalism in India or my successor, Mane Berkiyan’s remarkable reporting on conflict in Armenia, our writers take on important issues, even issues affecting them and their families, with such eloquence and tact.
In my tenure, I strived to empower those voices and harness the diverse community we’ve been able to cultivate at Glimpse. Our work has become more personal, but all the more powerful. Because that is what the news is. Events that affect everyday people. People like all of us.
For our last editorial series, Lauren and I created a culminating project: “A Glimpse into My Life” to support this vision. Our writers, including myself, wrote a personal piece reflecting on how an aspect of their identity has shaped our global outlook. Let me just say, I think this one might’ve been better than my Thailand article.
Glimpse has pushed me and all of us to fight for what we believe in. This organization has been my source of inspiration, friendship, but most of all, my source of purpose these past few years. While I am quite ready to graduate, and go to even more school (law school alert!), leaving Glimpse is bittersweet. Thankfully, we have left it in very capable hands — Sarra, Mane, and Zain 😉 I may not be sending Slack rants or Trello updates anymore, but I will still give Glimpse my all, even from afar. My love for Glimpse will always be an unfettered flame.
