“Drive slowly, I know every route in this county. Maybe that ain’t such a bad thing,” is a lyric that has etched itself on my heart. Noah Kahan’s song, “Everywhere, Everything,” shows the intensity of love you can have for someone until the day you both die. It wasn’t until I came to college that I associated this song with people and places I now call my second home.
Most seniors in high school understand the impending, sometimes sinking, feeling of searching for colleges. Some kids have known exactly where they want to attend since they were five years old, while others have had lists of possible schools since sophomore year of high school. I didn’t start my search until the beginning of senior year.
It was at a college fair on a random Thursday night where I first heard about Ball State University. I had no idea Muncie, Indiana, existed, let alone where it was located. Growing up in northwest Indiana, near Chicago, I rarely ventured to the central part of the state. I grew up rooting for the Bears, not the Colts. I went to concerts at the United Center, not Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
One thing I did know was that I wanted to go into journalism. I’ve subconsciously known this since middle school, when I dressed up and did a project on Nellie Bly, an American journalist who was a pioneer of investigative journalism, for my school’s “living history” fair.
My mom told me about Ball State’s journalism program and encouraged me to look more into the school. As I went to different college booths at the fair, taking any free merchandise that I could, Ball State’s giant red pamphlet stuck in my arm. I applied to a handful of other schools, but only toured two: Illinois State University and Ball State. I was waiting for that feeling. The stomach-twisting, fluttery feeling in your gut when you know you’re where you’re meant to be. Driving over three hours for my tour, I sat in the car, anxious that I wasn’t going to feel that at Ball State.
Finally arriving on campus after hours of trying to figure out the desolate farm roads and a lot of wrong turns, I was in Muncie. I think everyone in my life at that time knew Ball State was where I was ending up, and I got that feeling at the end of my tour in the Art and Journalism building. In the back of my head, my decision was made.
Over the past three years, August has become my favorite month, and that feeling of hope has never left. Instead, it only grew. It grew as I met people who will stand by my side on my wedding day. It grew as I joined student media, writing and designing stories about my community. It grew as I learned about people’s history and childhood, and how they were so different from mine. I’ve met people from places I’ve never heard of and hold their history in my heart. I’ve memorized the Muncie routes and roads. I’ve visited my friend’s hometowns, admiring where they grew up. I’ve left claw marks on everything I love here.
When deciding the theme for Ball Bearings this year, the idea of history was
constantly brought up. Ideas like roots, traditions and memories were scattered in messy black writing across a whiteboard.
For the past three years I’ve been a part of Ball Bearings; these topics were always mentioned, but never settled on. As I scrolled through my pages of notes, I found myself thinking more about story ideas that related to history. My one-page Google Doc quickly became eight pages with bullet points and topic ideas. It wasn’t until this past summer that we finalized “The Archival Edition,” an edition about history and the archives that make up our community and world. This idea has expanded into stories like how language is an archive and how print media has changed and its importance.
The history of people and places is a vulnerable topic. History holds power. It holds knowledge, and it holds the future. History is kept alive through archives, physical or digital, and sharing experiences. We wanted this edition of Ball Bearings to show that.
My appreciation for the history of Muncie and the community is still growing. I hope that through reading this edition, you can share the same understanding and love behind not only the Muncie and Ball State community, but also for the archives that shape your life.
This article is a part of Ball Bearings Fall 2025 magazine: The Archival Edition. Read more stories online at ballbearingsmag.com and pick up the print edition of the magazine across Ball State’s campus now.
