Hey, everyone!

I thought long and hard about this decision that I am going to tell you. I had to think about different reasons for why I am doing this. This will be my last article for Odyssey Online. While thinking about whether this is the right decision for me, I thought about why I started writing for Odyssey, what I learned from it, what I enjoyed about it, why I no longer enjoy it, and what will I do since I will no longer be a writer for Odyssey Online.

Why did I start writing for Odyssey?

I started writing for Odyssey last semester. I joined the Bellarmine community and posted my first article on November 1st. I wanted an opportunity to not only get my voice out to the public but also join a group with other like minded people who want to create a voice for themselves. As English was one of my majors, I pursued a group that would help expand my English horizon. I enjoyed writing, so I thought about letting others see my writing.

What did I learn from Odyssey?

Odyssey did help me in some factors. I became more confident in the topics that I wrote about and worried less about how other people would respond to what I had to say. I was able to open up about secrets from my past that I had trouble expressing before. I was able to discover more about the person that I had become over time. Also, I discovered that my views on some subjects were not alone, and it helped me realize that it is alright to have certain ideas and beliefs. Finally, I was able to expand on my knowledge about editing since I had become a contributing editor for my group.

What did I enjoy about it?

My group was great. I enjoyed collaborating with the other students and seeing what topic ideas that they had for the week. Many of the members excelled in creativity. There was just this "vibe" that you felt when working together and communicating with one another. I loved reading different people's articles and seeing the different viewpoints on certain subjects. I enjoyed writing my own articles and seeing how many people would read my articles.

Why do I no longer enjoy writing for Odyssey?

Odyssey has changed. I am not saying that Odyssey was ever great in the first place, but it got worse! How could it get worse? After Odyssey downsized and terminated over half of their employees in a rude form of fashion, they made other changes regarding student writers.

In the past couple months, our managing editor was one of the employees let go. She was a great part of our team because she was in constant contact with each of the members on the teams that she managed. Any member could ask her questions or just talk to her, and she was just there for us. The new managing editor has spoken to our editor-in-chief possibly only one or two times, which inevitably left us out of the loop on what was happening with the system.

More importantly, the editor-in-chief, myself, and another contributing editor have all had our positions taken down to writers. The Bellarmine community no longer has a student leader to help edit the articles. Furthermore, as we tried to figure out what was happened, we noticed that our group's articles were being published automatically without being edited first. This can cause an unnecessary problem for the writers because they will notice some simple, minor mistake after publishing that could have been fixed before the entire article went live for the rest of the world to see.

What will I do instead of writing for Odyssey?

I love to write. I love to edit.

BUT...

I cannot sit through this painful process anymore. I would rather write somewhere else than have to face these particular dilemmas and burdens that are thrown at the students who write for FREE.

I plan to focus on my education at Bellarmine and not have to stress over deadlines for articles that are sloppy and overused. I will be writing on my own time and enjoying what my university has to offer me.

Good-bye Odyssey readers and writers. Good-bye Bellarmine team.

Last article by Kayla through Odyssey.