By Madelyn Braho · Staff Writer
It’s been two years since I wrote my first article for The Collegian. I had asked Grace Scheller, the previous Perspectives editor, if I could write for the paper. Her articles had pushed my expectations of what I thought people at Grove City could think, and I wanted to try for myself.
She kindly put me on the email list, and shortly after Donald Trump started selling Bibles with an incomplete Constitution included. Thus was my career begun.
I’ve written over 30 articles since then, for almost all sections of the paper, and admittedly not all of them have been great. But nevertheless, my time in college will be tied to The Collegian, and especially the Perspectives section. But this is not meant to be a timeline of my articles, because that would be boring and self-aggrandizing, things papers never are. Instead, here are a couple things I’ve noticed.
First, knowing your audience means knowing it is diverse. Despite Grove City College being a pretty demographically homogeneous place, there is a broad spectrum of opinions here. And because of that, it’s likely that you are not alone in your opinion, no matter how unpopular.
I have written a lot of articles that are left-leaning or question and critique institutions, including our own college. Often, the articles I was most concerned about people’s reactions to were the ones people told me encouraged them, including professors. No matter how isolated you may feel, there are people who will surprise you.
There is a quote, originally a satirical comment about newspapers, that says papers “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” While this can certainly be pretentious, I think it also is a good guide for how opinion writers, and all newswriters, can approach their work.
Being inflammatory, without also including a positive way forward, does nothing but make people upset. And while that can be a writer’s goal, it doesn’t put any good into the world. If we are to be a light in the world, then we should be more like a lighthouse and less like a housefire.
Another thing that I’ve realized while working for The Collegian is that papers need variety. There’s a reason we have five different sections every week, each of which need people to write for and read. News alone would get dry, Community would become PR, Entertainment would lose relevance, Perspectives would be Twitter and Sports would be relegated to the field. All of them balance each other, keeping an informed and interested readership.
That is why I have tried to branch out, writing articles on town news, including the community library’s financial troubles, as well as interviewing professors and attending campus events. This is also why I’ve written opinion pieces on things that aren’t actually about politics, like my October articles on the occult and Halloween.
Repetition is the death of interest. It is also when we start becoming complacent. If you look around you, even on campus, business as usual is rarely business as usual.
This year alone we have had two different student protest movements regarding the statement of faith and Crimson Card+. For both, The Collegian has played a part in the conversation, with News and Perspectives articles informing on and discussing them.
Take an interest in what is going on around you. Be thoughtful and humble, knowing you don’t know everything. Approach everyone and everything with some curiosity and some humor. Try things that seem frightening, like writing for The Collegian — I promise they are friendly. Always look for a way forward and don’t sit in despair for too long.
This is Madelyn Braho, signing off.
