I wanted to write a personal letter to Interrobang expressing my sadness for this glorious era of college that Interrobang helped me feel I belonged in. 

Since I was a teenager, I have been attracted to art and creative writing as a form of expression; journalism has always attracted me as a form of art. As an autistic person, I’ve always found one of the ways I dealt with stress through the unique difficulties I deal with in society and stressful situations like the pandemic was to find a channel to let myself express my voice, which art allowed me a constructive, therapeutic channel for catharsis. Knowing you and your team of resourceful journalists have made the Interrobang a creative outlet that managed to reflect the struggles and trends that influence most students in their day-to-day lives, which has done more to represent the ideals of students than any other entity at Fanshawe has. 

The positive spirit within the students of Fanshawe doesn’t lie mainly within the student union, what the students do after school, what they have done in class, or what social life they live: the positive spirit of the students of Fanshawe lies within every student’s unique ability to turn the adversities they’ve lived with in life into the motivation that brings progress into the world rather than antagonize the world for when it didn’t have them helping it. I found that the college has been a place where I can grow into a place of society as an individual by finding a creative way to channel my unique motivations into a constructive force to help others, just like how the college has done the same for many students, and how the Interrobang has continually reminded every student that the positive spirit in Fanshawe’s students endures in many different forms. 

I think it is nothing like the positive spirit that drives the students at Fanshawe to take away a channel of letting Fanshawe students use their strengths to grow and make the world a better place (which I think is the main reason why the college exists in the first place). Journalism is not entertainment, it’s a reflection of reality that reminds us why we should look after it. If taking away the student newspaper that reminds students their strengths have a place is something someone wants to do, then I guess that’s the same as not wanting anyone to have a place for their skills in our world. 

Even though I hope that the Interrobang can still be resurrected as an independent news source, I’m sad to see that what helped sustain the ideas that inspired the creativity and resourcefulness of Fanshawe’s students is being shut down. Even after the Interrobang is gone, I hope all of the good people working on it will have the opportunity to do the work they loved doing in the future. 

Sincerely,

Maximilian King