Hello :)

My name is Jess Neary, I am a freshmen pre-journalism major this year and also a designer on the Kaimin newspaper staff. I love photography, writing, my three dogs, my family, and my friends. I came to UM because of its excellent journalism school and hopefully it will propel me to a career that I truly enjoy.

I used to write to let out a lot of negative emotions when I was younger such as my parents divorce. Now I keep a journal and sometimes I don’t write it in for months, but usually late at night, I get an idea that won’t go away until I write it down. I love going through my journal because I chose my topics carefully enough that they still hold true today, instead of just some flimsy moment in my life that won’t matter in a month. Writing allows me to describe my emotions, because sometimes I find it hard to voice them. So instead, writing it out allows me to figure out a solution or understand how I’m feeling.

My ideal space to write in is my bed, late at night when I’m inspired about something that is meaningful or my family’s lake house in upstate New York on Lake Ontario. All you can hear is the waves rolling up against the shore and the breeze on your neck. I like to imagine myself there a lot when I do write at home just because it holds a lot of memories for me as a child. It’s a place that never changes. Even when my family has sold the property off and it’s lost forever, when I write, I hope I can still imagine myself there.