I have been posting on Odyssey for a year now, and I would be lying if I said I never saw people on social media hating on Odyssey. I have seen people say that it’s not “real journalism” and that people who write for Odyssey think they are good writers but they’re not. I’ve seen it compared to Buzzfeed and say that it’s all click bait and ~relatable~ material just to get more likes and shares.

Let me tell you guys something.

Odyssey is NOT journalism.

We are not typically reporting on current events, getting interviews and presenting proven facts. That is not what Odyssey is about.

Odyssey is designed to make people feel good. If you want to know what is going on with President Trump or Hurricane Harvey, read the newspaper. Odyssey is about sharing personal experiences and knowledge to the public hoping that someone can relate and that it can make their day a little better.

Odyssey is designed to be funny at times, emotional at others, and factual every now and then. It’s about sharing opinions and seeing who out there agrees with you. It’s to make people laugh and smile, and send to their friends to hopefully make them laugh and smile.

It’s built so that writers can share with friends and family some of their work once a week. It is helpful for us to build up a portfolio over the years of some of our writing so that we have longterm experience to show to future employers.

We do it so that we have to make time every week to write for ourselves and get down some of our thoughts that aren’t just for an essay for class.

If you don’t like Odyssey or don’t agree with what we are about, you don’t have to read it. But you also do not need to go on social media and put us down for what we are doing. We put hard work into this every week in hopes that other people will appreciate it, not so that you can complain in a long Facebook post or make some snarky tweet in hopes to get retweets and favorites.

We know we are not a newspaper. We know we are not hard-hitting journalism. You don’t need to tell us what we already know.

I am going into public relations. My goal with Odyssey is to gain experience outside of a classroom with writing and how to create material that people will want to read and how to have that material seen by as many people possible. So far, Odyssey has taught me a lot and I am happy with my time here.

I have had opportunities to work with large name brands and even to make money. I have nothing bad to say about Odyssey and if you do, you can keep it to yourself. I don’t need to hear your negative opinions about something you clearly don’t understand yourself.