On the vast stage in front of me, a tiny woman donning a white, hanbok-style mini dress shreds on a guitar, dances around joyously and occasionally bangs on a large gong. As I stood in the Kilby Block Party crowd, bright sunlight beaming down from the sky and lovingly burning my shoulders, all I could do was smile.

Badass.

If you haven’t already heard of them, Japanese Breakfast is an indie-pop band headed by Korean American musician Michelle Zauner. You may recognize her name from her bestselling memoir, “Crying in H Mart.”

“Crying in H Mart” illustrates Zauner’s search for her identity, her relationship with her late mother and her start as a musician. She intertwines these aspects of her life with various foods, allowing the reader to feel her raw emotions as closely as if they were sharing a home-cooked meal of sweet jjajangmyeon noodles.

As I stood in that crowd, I was overcome with emotion. Zauner’s ethereal, psychedelic voice echoed around me as I danced and sang my heart out to song lyrics I’ve screamed in my car countless times — every childhood dream I’ve ever had of being a rockstar, a performer or a role model suddenly flooded my brain. I realized I’m growing up. As cliché as that may sound, it really didn’t hit me until that particular moment.  

When I booked my plane ticket in October 2022 to attend Kilby Block Party, Salt Lake City’s fourth annual music festival (with headliners like The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Strokes and Pavement), the end of my senior year felt so far away, but here we are. I am graduating high school in a week and moving to a different country in less than four months.  

I want to take this time to reflect upon my time as a columnist and as a high schooler, and Japanese Breakfast’s song, “Paprika,” encapsulates how I’m feeling pretty well.

“How’s it feel to be at the center of magic / To linger in tones and words? / I opened the floodgates and found / No water, no current, no river, no rush / How’s it feel to stand at the height of your powers” (Zauner, 2021, track 1).

I normally wouldn’t consider myself someone who dissects each individual line in a song to find a hidden meaning, (I’m definitely more of a melody person), but these lyrics stood out to me like no other.

I am at the center of my magic. I am standing at the height of my powers. I have an endless realm of possibilities ahead of me, and all I need to do is open the floodgates and jump headfirst.

Thank you to all of you, readers, for sticking around for these past two years. It’s been such a privilege to have a platform where I can write about anything and everything. My time writing for The Oracle has been an incredible experience, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.