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Chapter 24

Chapter 24

My time at Forward, though cut short, has decidedly been the most life-changing experience ever. To say it was a roller-coaster of emotions would be putting it delicately. I don't think any other major event would compare to this internship. I had grown in many ways emotionally and mentally, surprising everyone, myself the most. My outlook and perspective on relationships, friendships, and even my own self, has grown tremendously. 

I didn't owe it to only one person - I owed it to every single soul I'd met along the journey. Hell, I owed it to the magazine itself, for without it, I wouldn't even have had a reason to come to New York. I've made a lot of mistakes but I also made good decisions. I've built and destroyed relationships, I've opened and closed stories. 

And I don't regret a single thing.

It has been a few months (I've stopped keeping track of time since I'm not exactly in a rush to get anywhere these days) since the Gala, and the last time I stepped foot into Forward. Though it may seem like a short while, a lot of time has actually passed. 

I knew I wasn't back to the person I was. Though parts of me were slowly coming together in pieces, most of me had grown up. I was a different version of myself. A better version.

The article that Bessa, Kevin, and Tony had written about me was published in the most recent issue. As Nate said during our meeting a few months back, it was the highest selling issue in Forward history. I still didn't believe it was solely because of my statement. I'd like to think the real credit was due to  the writers of that article who portrayed me in the light I wanted to be seen. 

Following the success of that article, professionally, it has been nothing but a benefit. I got a few calls from other magazines and newspapers immediately, plenty of editors interested in hiring me, not because of my well said statement, but because they thought I had the beginnings of a great writer due to my articles. The statement was a gateway into my writing, and once they realized that this scandalous intern was actually a quality writer, they saw my untapped potential.

I was overwhelmed with the amount of attention I received because of it. A few local papers, start-up magazines, and even the New York Review called me with offers for an interview. However, all of those got tossed aside the second I got requested to come in for an interview for the New Yorker.

The New Yorker.

THE. NEW. YORKER.

It couldn't possibly be that after four months as an intern and almost a month's worth of a mental breakdown, that the idea of me working at such a reputable magazine would happen in the state of something so simplistic as a phone call. I pinched myself everyday leading up to the interview to remind little old me how lucky I was to be in that position. Granted, my parents have had to pay my entire rent for the past months, I've have enough empty Cup of Noodle cups to create an Egyptian pyramid, and I haven't actually written anything in awhile, but none of that mattered after I aced my interview and got hired as an official junior writer for the New Yorker.

Yes, my friends, life works in the most mysterious ways. But the one thing you can't do is complain because she always has something better in store.

So, after all that has happened, the good and the bad, why was it that I've just stepped off the elevator onto Forward?

Well, after my interview was featured in such a successful issue, Mister Chester lifted my ban from Chester Publications. While I had no intentions of ever working at any magazine for the company again, as it turns out, the person who gave their contact at the New Yorker a high recommendation on my behalf, was my former boss.