Photo Credit: Flickr Creative Commons

The Piece: A letter to Ryan Gosling, national treasure
Original Publication: The Los Angeles Loyolan
Date of Publication: February 2, 2012

Background: I took over as the Loyolan’s Arts & Entertainment Editor in late September, with my first solo issue coming that October. From that first issue on, I wrote a column for the section called “It’s K-OK!” Generally, the theme of the column was ‘pop culture as lifestyle,’ but I deviated from that well once or twice, to say the least. This was one of those deviations.

Conception: At the end of January, Ryan Gosling was riding a wave of good publicity. Though he had missed earning an Oscar nomination for either Drive or The Ides of March, he was gaining a reputation as the hottest young actor working today. My actorcrush on him started with Half Nelson and bloomed into full-on actorlove with Fracture and Blue Valentine. The last year was a triple play of charm (Crazy, Stupid, Love.), savvy (The Ides of March) and undeniable appeal (Drive). Ryan had sealed his place in my heart.

I was about to transition into my new position as Managing Editor and, as a result, would be writing my column much less frequently. I decided to do something different for one of my last editions, and the result was my letter to Ryan.

Design Credit: The Los Angeles Loyolan

Execution: Part of what I loved so much about putting this together was the design. Originally meant to just run like a regular column, a co-worker and I brainstormed to come up with a presentation where the letter would appear to have been printed on parchment — including my signature at the end. I was thrilled with how it looked, and it was the first hint of something the current Arts & Entertainment Editor at the Loyolan would really run with: engaging, thoughtful page design that used appealing graphics instead of static templates.

Revisiting: Admittedly, if I had to rewrite this piece, I would have put it out in October, in the heat of Ryan’s success. With the delay of his movie Gangster Squad to 2013, this year will go without a major Gosling release, and the spotlight has been shifted to fellow Emma Stone co-star Andrew Garfield for his work in The Amazing Spider-Man. Still, I’m firmly in Ryan’s corner — he’ll be back soon enough, and in a big way. I’m just glad I got to declare my love in such a creative, fun fashion.