To our loyal readers (or, more accurately, captive audience),
Today we reach the end of our four-year journey together, laughing at the likes of Four Loko, Andrew Luck, Mitt Romney, Occupy Wall Street, Jordan Williamson’s missed field goals, Jordan Williamson’s made field goals, and suspicious backpacks outside of Tresidder. From our end, it has been a humbling experience to produce content that is so widely consumed by the Stanford student body. (We know everyone just turns the Flipside over to do the Rebus puzzles, but humor us for a minute…)
While it is awesome for us to be part of a club that experiences such widespread readership every week, we have also noticed, over the course of our four years here, that there are many other groups at Stanford doing equally amazing things. (Many of which we have made fun of at some point…sorry about that!)
So while the Flipside certainly hopes to have your continued support and enthusiasm in the coming years (yes, we will keep throwing it on top of your lunch every Monday), we also encourage you to go out there and enjoy the fruits of all the other amazing student groups that Stanford has to offer. Much gets said of breaking through the “Stanford Bubble” to experience the world beyond The Farm, but many people do not take enough time to explore everything inside the Bubble before bursting forth. (Maybe all those speakers at NSO should talk less about breaking the Stanford Bubble and more about popping your own Stanford Cherry.)
Excuse our presumptions here, but we are sure you have biked through White Plaza and heard someone trying to sell tickets to their Northwest Canadian Stay-At-Home-Mom Culture Night (don’t act like this hasn’t happened to you). No doubt you immediately disregarded the suggestion because you are busy with schoolwork (Netflix) or because you are working on your own (equally nuanced) extracurricular activity. In the end, your group will create a phenomenal event, publication, or campaign, and inevitably be disappointed by the low support for your cause. But just as cool or interesting as your product was, so too was the experience of the Northwest Canadian Stay-At-Home-Mom Culture Night that you so quickly dismissed.
What we are trying to say is that you clearly like the Flipside (we feel confident saying that to anyone who has gotten this far into the article), so why not get out there and try out some other student groups too? Engage with them, go to their events, learn a thing or two from their members. You will never be surrounded by this breadth and depth of interest groups in your entire life, so why not go for it, take some chances, and see if you can have some fun. (Incidentally, this is also the Flipside’s advice for FMOTQ.)
We realize these words of wisdom apply only to underclassmen (if you are a graduating senior looking to a humor publication for life advice, you are beyond fucked), but we hope it gives you something to think about as you pack up your dorm room and head off to your summer internship at Google (remember, StanfordFlipside.com is always there if you get bored at the office).
Once again, thanks for reading our humble piece of paper these last four years and laughing at our high-brow (by which we mean thinly-disguised) penis jokes. To the Class of 2014, we will see you all on Reunion/Homecoming weekend; to everyone else, we look forward to receiving TSF letters from you next year. Have a nice summer, have an even better life, and never forget to take a moment out of your Monday routine for laughter…
The Flipside Class of 2014,
Matt LaVan, Kyle Hoffer, Samuel Cortes, Roxy Carbonell
