I’d always see articles on Facebook and other social media platforms where Odyssey was part of their URL but I never really knew what the Odyssey was. I assumed it was like BuzzFeed or an online blogging type website, but I didn't know what the whole purpose was for it. I didn't know who the writers were or what made the site so special. This past summer, Madison McGlone, the editor-in-chief of my school, posted on the Facebook class of 2020 page describing what Odyssey was and invited us to apply to be creators. I did and was selected to be a part of the creator team at Stonehill. I am so glad that I decided to take part in this amazing opportunity.

Odyssey is a social media platform that enables millennials to voice their opinions, share their insights and get their voices acknowledged. While we began as little kids who loved writing, many of us now seeing writing as a daunting task that we’re prone to procrastinate with. Here’s what I think happened: as children, our writing was never looked down upon, but rather it was praised, given a smiley face sticker and put on refrigerators. Flash forward to middle school where structure first was implemented. The sentences, paragraphs, etc. that once were put on the fridge were now not good enough. Plagiarism was brought to our attention. Teachers forced outlines on us and I had to fill in every last line of that page, even with information that, deep down, we knew we weren’t going to use in our paper. We had to write three rough drafts, and each had to have a certain number of edits in it. With this process being so structured, it gave little to no room for creativity and, instead, it ensued limitations.

Somewhere in this span of about six or seven years, most of my peers gave up on writing for pleasure because they didn't think it was good enough. They couldn't be creative in their writing because their main focus was making sure their format was MLA, APA or whatever the teacher wanted for that essay. We had to make sure the sentences in our paragraphs contained parallelism. All of these guidelines are important and they are what has made me the writer that I am today. Writing does require some sort of structure, although not to the point where the creativity of the writer is being compromised. Creativity was put on the back burner in order to have those guidelines at the forefront of our minds. Somewhere in those six years, we were taught that creativity was to come after following the rules.

I used to keep a diary as a kid, and the writing sucked. There was no parallelism. I couldn't even spell parallelism. But looking at that diary years later, I am grateful that I wrote in it. I read it now and it gives me insight to what I was feeling on April 22, 2006. I loved to write and this summer when Odyssey was brought to my attention, I hesitated applying because middle and high school writing had left a bitter taste in my mouth in regards to the whole writing process; however, I thought Odyssey was different. It seemed to encourage more creativity and self-expression than what I was used to and I was drawn to it.

Let me tell you, if you are on the fence about applying to be an Odyssey creator, do it . It has been one the best experiences that I have decided to partake in. By posting my weekly article about a topic of my choice, I am able to take my love of writing non-fiction and fulfill it weekly. Odyssey has allowed me to voice my opinion on topics that I normally wouldn't write about, such as politics. The reason I wouldn't write about politics is because I didn't think anyone would read it and if they did, they wouldn't care what I had to say. I have so many opinions on things and this is my way of sharing that opinion. Writing for Odyssey isn't a daunting task. It’s something that I look forward to each week.

Everyone has an opinion, and unfortunately, some don't have the opportunity to share those opinions for various reasons. Some don't know a platform like Odyssey exists. Some are so fed up with their writing being turned into a blood-bath of red ink by their teachers that that have given up on writing for pleasure. Odyssey has allowed me to express myself through my writing in ways that I will forever be grateful for. Odyssey has allowed me to grow both as a writer and as an individual. I have learned about myself more than I thought I would through my writing pieces and the different opinions that I have shared. I have shared very personal stories and shared that on many different social media sites. Vulnerability is bound to come with sharing your opinion, and especially sharing something that means a heck of a lot to you, but when someone shares your article or tells you that they loved it, it means a whole lot. I eventually want to start my own blog, but something about being part of this community makes the experience all the more special. I love being an Odyssey creator and if you have even the slightest of interest in writing about what YOU want to write about, the way that YOU want to write about, then I highly encourage you to learn more about Odyssey and what it has to offer.