In the fall of my sophomore year, I received a curious message on my Facebook. It was an offer to join the Odyssey community right here at USF. At first, I mulled over this offer for a while, I’d heard of Odyssey sure, but I knew next to nothing about it except that it posted articles and other writings by students. After a week spent debating over whether to accept the offer, I made the decision to join.

Now, after a year and a half spent writing for Odyssey, I can honestly say that it was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my college life.

I don’t consider what I write here at Odyssey true articles, even though I call them that. I associate articles with newspapers such as "The Washington Post" or magazines such as "The Atlantic" that report on actual news and current events. No, I consider what my writings to be essays. Essay writing suits the structure and intent of Odyssey; student creators writing about what they know or what interests them in their own voice, in their own way, whether trying to argue, explain, or just articulate their view.

So with this important distinction out of the way, there is the question then of why do I do it.

The simplest answer as to why I do it is that I like to write. I’ve always had a particular talent for writing and putting words together in creative ways. Ever since late high school I’ve found an increasing pleasure in putting words to type and seeing my ideas take shape on the page. Odyssey has given me a way to indulge that pleasure outside of the occasionally stimulating, but frequently dull world of academic writing.

A further reason is that the constant stream of writing to meet weekly deadlines of 500+ words has made me a better writer. Having talent alone at something is not enough to be truly great at it, for that you need practice, and Odyssey has given me the opportunity to constantly keep refining my skills. I’ve noticed that as the months have gone by, the quality of my articles has slowly improved whether by making fewer mistakes or by giving better treatment to my particular subject for the week.

I’m convinced the brainstorming for an original article every week has also increased my creativity as I’ve been forced to think of ever more inventive topics to write about ranging from the topical, to the personal, to the grand and abstract.

The final reason, and dare I say the main reason that I write, is to express my views to the world. One of my motivating desires to study politics is a desire to change the world. Writing is one avenue for me to express those views that I have developed through study, experience, and reflection and then to share them with the world. I’m under no illusions that I‘m some big influential writer with thousands of readers that can change opinions with a couple of clever sentences.

My audience is fairly small, but it is still an audience reading things that I wrote. I may not influence everyone; all I may accomplish is to educate someone about the difference between communism and socialism. But that is still one person who I shaped through my writing and at the end of the day I am grateful for that. It is more than many others ever accomplish. And I owe it all to Odyssey.