The Odyssey has been a huge part of my life for over a year now. I never thought I would do anything related to writing once I left high school, but then I came across this website where college students were given a voice, a voice to talk about whatever they felt was important to them. I became a content creator. Within a few months, I became a contributing editor. Then, I finally felt like I had accomplished something in life when I became the Odyssey Editor-In-Chief here at Arizona State University.
I'm not telling you all of this to brag about all this. I'm telling you this because I want to get across how important The Odyssey has been for me. But recent events have shown me that I'm obviously not all that important to The Odyssey, and neither are the other EICs who work so hard every day for this publication.
I woke up yesterday morning, expecting to get on my weekly call with my managing editor. Except, instead, I found out she was let go from the company. So were many others. And yet, it was hours before any of us EICs got this information from The Odyssey itself. And even when we did finally hear from the company, all we were given was a vague email that barely told us anything.
I'm not saying that I know anything about how a business works, or why you let go of so many people, but I do think that we deserve a better explanation as to what's happening.
I understand that we are only college students, that we are not even paid for our positions, but that does not mean we are not a part of this company. If anything, it shows you how much time and effort we put in for jobs that we don't even get a salary for, and that should mean something; we should at least be given the courtesy of being kept in the loop.
I am now left with a huge team, at one of the biggest public universities in this nation, and no idea what to do. I do not know who to report to, if there is a new process, if we are still editing the same way etc. and I certainly do not know how I'm supposed to do my job when we are being given no information whatsoever.
Most of all, I'm left without the amazing ME who taught me so much and brought me to where I am today. I am left without the mentor who checks up on us every day, makes sure everything is good with both our Odyssey lives and our personal lives, who made me excited to log onto my dashboard and edit, submit and share pieces every week.
The Odyssey used to feel like a family, but I'm not so sure about that anymore.
The Odyssey taught me to talk about what I feel passionate about, and use my voice; that is exactly what I'm doing now. I don't want to stay quiet about this, and neither should any of the other MEs or EICs.
So here's to the ME who will be missed, and the fellow EICs who are just as lost as I am. I'm sure we'll get through this, mostly because we've got each other.
As for Odyssey, I'm still waiting for answers.
