#4 Diana Baron (LH 17-18)
After several years of working as a labour lawyer, coming to London was a new beginning for me; a path to discover new ways to achieve my goals.
By coming to Goodenough College, I found not only lifelong friends and lasting memories, but also an outlet to a neglected passion – creative writing.
Looking back at the year I spent at the College, I feel comfortable saying that my greatest achievement wasn’t graduating with distinction, being a student representative or performing my alto parts in the choir. They were all amazing and I am grateful for each, as they have made me a better professional and helped me step out of my comfort zone (singing was very frightening at first!). But rather, my greatest achievement was founding and editing a creative writing magazine called We are GoodEnough.
Like many other lawyers, I dabble in creative writing, but until I came to London, it was mostly kept hidden, in a dozen notebooks that accumulated dust. Once at Goodenough, the energy around encouraged me to show initiative and embrace my creativity. I learnt during my stay that if I wanted something to happen, I had better pick up the gloves and get into the ring myself! I saw there was no publishing platform at the time to showcase the College’s talented artists, and simultaneously, I felt inspired by other activities promoted by the College. I decided to find a way to showcase these talents and invite others to do the same.
I felt inspired by other activities promoted by the College. I decided to find a way to showcase these talents and invite others to do the same.
From the moment of its inception until its launch, it took ten long months of development, budget applications, open calls for submissions, and grueling months of editing and designing the final product. The launch day of the first issue on 10 August 2018 was one of the proudest and most humbling moments of my life. Seeing the talents of my peers, their enthusiasm and appreciation for the magazine, reading the pieces by Goodenough Members, interviews, poems, seeing photographs and paintings inspired by the writings of colleagues, all moved me to tears.
Since I left the college in 2018, the baton has been passed to two amazing ladies, Sarah and Claire, who will be leading the magazine’s comeback in 2020 online We are GoodEnough. The fact that the magazine will live on, among so many amazing initiatives that Members produce annually, shows that something truly special began with that first issue.
So here’s to future generations sharing their art and making the magazine even more accessible to our Alumni community. I am proud to have taken part in making a small dent in the history of a place that was such a wonderful home away from home.
