For me, it was simple. I was a
communications and English major at college. This particular community college
didn’t have a journalism degree at the time. Once I became editor of the college
newspaper, I discovered how powerful my words were in covering the news on the
college campus. While the monthly newspaper had come out sporadically before I took
over, maybe once a semester, I made sure it came out every month. And I organized
it into sections and put substance in it. I discovered I liked sniffing out
news stories for the paper. I became an advocate for the student body, finally
finding my college voice at the community college level, investigating life on
campus from why the administration closed the pool to why some buildings became
a lake each time it rained.
Anything that affected the
student body and college campus found its way into the student-run college
newspaper. Where the administration had been all excited about the new look and
content of the student paper, department heads and vice presidents soon started
to glare at me and hold their tongues until I made them understand that I was
going to report on an incident whether they spoke to me or not. I permitted the
administration equal space within the article to inform the student body what
was being done about certain situations.
But how did I know
administration was upset with my coverage of events at college? Once a semester,
all leaders of student organizations met with the president of the college and
the provost and vice presidents. We students introduced ourselves and reported
to the president what our organizations were doing around campus. We also
brought up any concerns students may have. I had no problem with this, as I was
doing it already in the newspaper. The president zeroed in on me and
relentlessly drilled me as to why I kept harping on any problems the college
was having. If it wasn’t for the provost reminding the president that I was
only doing my job, he was a college reporter in his time too, I thought the president
was going to kick me out of college. I really got under her skin.
But the important issues in life need to be
brought up, need to be discussed if we’re ever going to make things better in
this world. That’s why we need honest and moral writers to bring the issues
into conversation to help those in charge see the importance of addressing the
issues.
I can’t wait to see how you
learned that language had power. Thanks for visiting! Please follow Adventures
in Writing if you haven’t already and connect with me online. Leave your blog
link in your comment so I can be sure to do the same for you.
This post was written for the
Insecure Writer’s Support Group. We post on the first Wednesday of every month.
To join us, or learn more about the group, click HERE.
