I am the first one to admit that this newspaper makes mistakes. During the past four months we have had misspelled names, forgotten headlines, misidentified people and missed important information.
There has not been a single mistake in this newspaper that I have not read and kicked myself for. This semester, mistakes and the insults I receive for making mistakes,have become an integral part of my life.
Take a moment and imagine you have a reading assignment after a full day of class. Imagine that reading assignment being full of errors,typos and misused phrases. Now try and make some kind of coherent sense out of that mess while trying to maintain the integrity of the original writer, who obviously has never written before but wants to break into your field.
Now read it again. It makes a bit more sense now, but it needs another rewrite. Now read it again. Better, but you need to call the writer, this time to make sure he spelled every name right. Now read it again. You’re as close to done as you’re ever going to be. One story down, 23 to go and it’s 11:30 p.m.
If you can do this, alone, without missing a few transposed letters, our office is in room 3081 of the School of Journalism and Graphic Communication. We’d love to have you and applications are due by the end of this week. My other favorite insult is that I’m trying to push some kind of agenda using the newspaper as a mouthpiece.
Seriously?
What agenda does a 20-year-old non-Greek who is not affiliated with any group other than the newspaper have? This paper has been a part of my life for more than two years. The paper is my agenda.
A couple of groups have questioned the paper’s “agenda” lately, the agenda of our opinions section in particular. The opinions page is an outlet for students to speak on various campus groups, problems and issues. They can be lighthearted or serious or – in the opinion of others – bad opinions.
Commissioned 2 Love was the only group with a valid argument. Michael Bryant, a student who has a history with the group, had no business writing an editorial about them. I was not aware of the history and the article was able to sneak into the paper.
Let’s think for a moment though.
If someone has an invalid opinion, that’s your opinion of them. Write a rebuttal; don’t just talk about it.
My job is not to stifle the opinions of others, including yours, but to give them and you a place to voice them.