My last two cents: op/ed commentary

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it’s the
day we’ve all been waiting for: This is the last time
you will ever have to read anything with my name
on it – unless, of course, I get lucky in Hollywood
and, by some freakish twist of nature, the Writers
Guild of America strike is resolved. For all our
sakes, I hope it is.

But first, back to the present and to opinion
writing.

Opinion writing is tricky. Instead of writing
straightforward news articles, like I have been
groomed to do for the past few semesters, opinion
writing is about taking a news article and putting
in your two cents. You have to do it carefully,
though, with some research and in my case, a bit
of good humor.

Whether it’s a different style of writing, the
content or the argument itself, not everyone will
agree with you. And that’s more than OK, because
you know what they say: If you can reach just one
person, it’s not a total loss, right? So a big thank
you goes to all four people who are actually reading
this column.

This brings me to my next point: With more than
31,000 students, VCU boasts the largest student
body in the state of Virginia. Given these numbers,
there is no reason why The Commonwealth Times,
a semiweekly newspaper, can’t get more student
involvement than it currently does.

Also, there’s the stigma that if you work on the
paper, then you must be a mass communications
major. This is not true. The only way to know if
you can get published is to try to get published
by submitting pieces – out of more than 31,000
people, there has to be someone who can write more
coherent and more interesting opinion pieces than
I can. Remember, the final product you see on the
newsstands around campus is only as good as the
people behind it.

Most student newspapers aren’t necessarily on
the same pedestal as The New York Times or The
Washington Post, so I don’t see the point in pretending.
The opinion sections of most papers tend to
lend themselves to a lot of bickering and pandering
over matters of political correctness.

If a college audience wants to read that kind of
thing, then by all means they should hunt those
papers down.

I aimed to make the column more relatable and
accessible to the VCU student who picks up a paper
in the University Student Commons, casually flipping
through it while eating some Chik-fil-A (and probably
wiping chicken grease off with the paper).

While I tried to have fun selecting topics for the
section, I also tried to have fun with my writing
style. During the first few weeks of the semester,
my style ran along the lines of “struggling essayist”;
sometime within the past month, it mutated into a
more conversational “glorified blog post.”

Now, as I graduate and leave school behind to
take my place in the unemployment line, here’s a
little bit of advice so you might enrich the paper
– and your own knowledge, as well.

Read the CT. Contribute a story. Stay informed on
current events. Read about weird news. Don’t wait
until the last minute to print papers at the library.
Lastly, check out the Pencils2MediaMoguls campaign
and support your favorite television writers.

So long, farewell, and thanks for all the fish.