With classes set to start again in two weeks at Drake, I realized that I’ve officially been writing for Odyssey for a year. Or about a year. I started about two weeks before classes last year, so whether I have the right date (or week) or not is anyone’s guess, because who keeps track of those things? Clearly not me. I’ve also been Drake’s EIC for about eight months, which I remember vividly because my first round of editing was done the night before I got on a plane to visit England for two weeks. Needless to say, in my time as both a writer and an EIC, I’ve read a lot of Odyssey articles, both from my campus and from writers all across the country. I’ve also written quite a few, and, like any other writer, I’ve seen my share of hits and misses.
1. The article that is basically a (negative) digital diary entry
These don’t come around too often—for the most part, people pick the most interesting parts of their lives to write about, and that almost always translates to an interesting article. But when someone sits down and spends an hour writing a personal rant about a situation that’s so specific that it applies to virtually no one else in the world, it’s time to take a step back. Instead of clicking that submit button, just save your rant somewhere else on your computer, and then start over.
2. The article that is needlessly outraged
My favorite to read, and also probably the most common. It usually happens when you see something on the Internet or TV that makes you inexplicably angry, and decide to write about it. The problem arises when, while writing, you assume this issue will also make everyone else angry, or you think you’re onto something new, and your anger will expose yet another of the many injustices in our world. Unfortunately, people can and do get offended about everything, so the chances of striking on a new source of outrage are slim.
3. The article that takes political correctness too far
In all honesty, I’ve probably written a few of these. They happen when a deadline is coming up and you need an article to turn in, so you start trawling BuzzFeed looking for the crisis of the moment, and then proceed to weigh in on an issue that you know nothing about. The resulting op-ed is usually overly politically correct (because heaven knows we don’t ever want to offend anyone anywhere ever) and not very interesting.
4. The article with incorrect information
This one’s pretty simple, but if you base an entire article around the misguided belief that President Obama is secretly a lizard man, I hope you have sources to back it up. Legit sources, like “The New York Times,” not a conspiracy theory blog written by a 30-year-old man living in his parents’ basement and existing solely on pizza, Mountain Dew, and rage.
5. The article with no explanation
I can’t tell you how many “I hate Hillary Clinton” or “I hate Donald Trump” articles I’ve seen that have no explanation for the opinion expressed. This fatal flaw extends beyond just political articles, but they seem to be the most common and worst offenders. Rather than telling me 100 things you’d rather do than vote for Hillary Clinton, maybe spread some positivity and give me 100 reasons why I should vote for someone else.
