It was September 4, 2016. I was called for a meeting for a class I didn’t even attend yet known as Newspaper Practicum. It was a simple informational piece about the class, and its main project: the online magazine LocoMag. Combining lifestyle and culture with hilarious themes and complete freedom, this was the very first step to four years of mayhem, goofiness, and growth. And it’s kind of bittersweet to realize that this is all coming to an end by the time this is published. But through all these years, I don’t think I could take this any other way.
While the magazine has been around since 2013, I have the unique distinction of being the only member of the staff present for all four years. From Fall 2016 to Spring 2020. And I’ve gone through a lot of shakeups, shifts, and changes throughout this time. I started out as the weird kid who had zero social skills, and uncertainty about what I wanted to write about. I began with simple editorials and an emphasis on all things pop culture. I soon began to shift things into becoming more of a historian. I talked about a slew of different subjects through the years, like superhero movies, and Dwayne Johnson’s career. It wasn’t until late 2017 that I began to find my groove and my true passion.
I had a very strong passion for movies, largely thanks to Internet critics and my own artistic interests. But more specifically, I had a love for animation and obscure nonsense only I find interesting. This led to a push towards a lot of articles about animation. WWE cartoon crossover movies, cartoon dogs, Simpsons Christmas episodes. It was a fun experience, but I really got a kick out of reviewing weird, bad movies. This was sparked upon learning about a direct-to-video “sequel” to the 2002 Frankie Muniz cult classic Big Fat Liar. For whatever reason, this film’s very existence shook me to my very core, and I soon began my own miniseries.
“Why Does this Exist” was a very simple series. I review weird, awful movies that beg the question why they got made the way they did. Why make a direct-to-DVD sequel that’s just a shot-for-shot remake of the first one? Why make a movie where Whoopi Goldberg teams up with a crime-fighting dinosaur? Why make a movie about one of Queen Elizabeth’s corgis, who bites the balls of a Shadow the Hedgehog-voiced Donald Trump? There’s a whole world of bizarre nonsense that I found myself engrossed in, and I really had a great time looking for these weird movies and sharing my experiences with them to the world.
Of course, there’s a bit more to my experiences than just my own writing. My time with the LocoMag crew truly felt like I had a second family. We all encouraged each other to do better, we argued over the craziest stuff, we all supported one another at our times of need. There was a sense that we’re all here to learn, laugh, and live through what it’s like to write for a magazine, and we’re all going to help each other out.
And since then, LocoMag has become one of the most impactful things in my young life. I’ve gone on to work for two different magazines, developed blogs for an SEO company, and I’m hoping that my future endeavors will allow me to continue to use my writing talents. And none of this would have happened without working for this great magazine. Thank you LocoMag for giving me something to write on for years. Thank you LocoMag for giving me so many amazing friends that mean the world to me. Thank you LocoMag for giving me eight semesters of joy and wonderful experiences I’ll never forget. Thank you Locomag for everything.
It’s gonna be weird not seeing so many familiar faces, but I know it was all worth it.
