A Good Hill to Die On // Goodbye

So, this really is goodbye — or in some cases, good riddance. After the publishing of this article, I am closing my laptop and will only be reopening it to play an occasional hour or three of The Sims when I am bored on a Tuesday evening. 

While we are all saying goodbye to this school year and the campus, I am also saying goodbye to this blog. It was such an honor to have a safe space to discuss all the things I felt so passionate about. Since I began writing for my high school newspaper, I instantly fell in love with journalism and opinion writing. It was the first time I was actually good at and passionate about something. 

While I will truly miss having my own blog, I felt like I was living out my Carrie Bradshaw dreams. You can continue to read my thoughts, opinions and rants over on the opinions tab of The Pitt News — you could not get rid of me that easily.

For my last hot take, I want to tell you a little more about the tinier bumps along the hill I would feel passionate and content dying on.

To begin, I think Raising Cane’s is just Cane’s. It is wonderful chicken, but it is nothing more than that. The fact that America is so fascinated by the different ways we can shape and fry chicken will always amaze me. Since you have to smother the poor tender in a mystery sauce, it just shows you that Cane’s has never heard of a simple spice called salt. Still, you can trust that this fall I’ll be tucked away in a booth, munching on a four-piece tender box.

Pepsi belongs in a bottle, but Coke is always in a can. I grew up on Pepsi, it sort of shaped my personality, but once I tasted Coke, I could never go back. Sadly, after unknowingly committing to a Pepsi school, I dabbled in the different Pepsi products. My advice — the diet Pepsi from Smokeland BBQ is top-tier. I would recommend skipping all of the fountain drinks at the various meal-swap places, besides for tea and lemonade. When up at the Pete, meal swap a Celsius. Lastly, on the drink tangent, I will never forgive Forbes Street Market for preventing you from meal-swapping four drinks.

As I reach the end, my final rant is dedicated to a reusable water bottle. I know, a very strange, niche topic, but I feel oddly passionate about the way people collect water bottles. The whole reason for a reusable water bottle is to prevent waste and overconsumption. Filling half your kitchen with Stanley, Owala, Yeti and random ones off Amazon is a waste of space, so find an effective bottle you like and stick with it.

I will end this final blog with a few quick thoughts that are constantly racing in my brain on the daily. 

• Uggs do not belong with shorts. Your feet have to be hot. 
• MacBooks are not the best laptops, because why spend $1,000 to have a computer in a constant state of overheating? 
• Clean out the lint traps in your dryers. It’s the simplest part of laundry nobody seems to get.
• Rory Gilmore is more relatable than some think, especially now, going through the emotions of college.
• Why go to class if you are just going to sit on your phone? Plus, it’s so embarrassing when the little TikTok noises play aloud. 
• Backpacks over a purse for your belongings any day, because I know your shoulder hurts.
• I am terrified of pigeons.
• Pitt and the city need to better coordinate construction projects because I’m tired of having my walking pattern interrupted. 
• Shopping in-person will always be elite, and the deals are better.
• Why does my Einstein Bros always take so long? Why does everybody want a bagel? 

It has been such an honor to write “A Good Hill To Die On” over this past year. I will truly miss this space, but I will always continue to write, rant and support the efforts of student journalists here and around the world.

Thank you so much for dying on this final hill with me. It is filled with love, jokes and laugh