When I was a young kid, I loved to write stories about what was going on in the world of little Ethan. I thought one day how cool it would be if I wrote my own newspaper. Well, I did and it was called “The Ethan Journal.” Now, being young as I was, you could probably have imagined such stories were all from a boy’s imagination of battling pirates to creating a mystifying chemical to battle world hunger. I was a young kid with a vivid imagination. The newspaper changed its name to “The Ethan Gazette” because the newspaper was “getting larger in audience.” No more was it just my stuffed bear’s favorite newspaper, it was now also my parents' favorite newspaper. I even handed out the newspaper to my teachers at church and school. I felt proud.
When I was 10-years-old I decided to bring the newspaper back! I called it “The Ethan Newsletter.” The acronym itself reflected my age (TEN). The writing skills got a little better and I continued to send them to friends and family.
Flash forward eight years, and here I was a graduate from high school about to sail off towards the world of college. This meant my parents would want to know what I did that day and I would have to constantly call them because they would miss me. Well, before I left for college I found a dusty white binder. I opened it up and found “The Ethan Newsletter” from all those years ago. I smiled while I read the letters and found them to be so adorable. I loved to write. That was when I had an idea.
I went to my computer, opened up Microsoft Word, and began writing something. I wrote about my week before leaving for school. I wrote about the “Sweet Suites” and wrote a letter to my parents saying that I love them with all my heart. I also wrote a poem to all my friends back at home titled, “I’ll Be Around.” The headline of my first ever reviving of the newsletter was “UNG Welcomes Ethan and the Class of 2018.” This was a new chapter to my life. Heading to a whole new world where your dreams really could come true (except Disney, of course).
Flash forward to 2016, the newsletter is now at volume 5. There have been over 50 different issues of the newsletter. I am good friends with the UNG post office because I send about seven envelopes a week. In volume 3, alone, I spent $41.50 in stamps and mailed over 83 envelopes. I mentioned UNG 60 times, Dahlonega 26 times, taco 15 times and thank you 43 times. All of these stories have brought me to this point.
I am, now, officially a writer for Odyssey and I am sure proud of it. My newsletter served as a sign of love and thanks to all of the people who helped get me to where I am today. Now, I will share the love of my writing with the family of Odyssey. I am a junior at the University of North Georgia, majoring in computer science. I am excited to spread my experiences at UNG to the Odyssey community and friends.
