Very recently, an article went viral that completely bashed the social platform, Odyssey. The author claimed that the Odyssey was a "bunch of privileged white #MakeAmericaGreatAgain people" and that it "allowed them to write about how much it sucks being white." He then continued to discuss two separate articles that have been written by Odyssey staff--claiming that those specific articles "sum the Odyssey up." He concludes his argument by stating that no one who writes for the Odyssey should be considered a writer or an author.
Being a writer (and yes, I do consider myself a writer) for Odyssey, I may be a little biased with my argument. That being said, I really believe that Odyssey is a phenomenal site and I wouldn't have applied to be a staff writer if I didn't believe that.
Contrary to the author above's belief, Odyssey is made up of a very diverse group of people. College students from all over the country contribute relevant articles to their life. That being said, articles that I write at my college could be completely different from those of a writer who is from the other side of the country. In contrast, some of our article topics could be more relevant to each other. This is the beauty of the site. As authors, we write about things that are not only relevant to our lives, but are also relevant to the lives of the people we are surrounded by. We write for our generation, on any topic that we want. If one week I want to write about the boy who broke my heart, and the next week I want to write about Hillary Clinton--that is completely fine. You are able to find articles from nearly any topic that you can think of. The are thousands of writers contributing to this site, and thousands of articles. For every article you read about one topic, there is probably an article out there that discusses the opposite.
I've written articles before that have received eleven shares, and ones that have received four thousand. While you may not enjoy the "Open Letter To_____" or "10 Reasons Why I Love _____" articles, it's not really Odyssey who is to blame, or the authors. It's the social media users who are making these articles go viral--not the site. The site is merely an outlet to share your pieces. That being said, I have read a TON of great articles on Odyssey that have gone pretty much unnoticed. If an article doesn't get the shares, it won't get the attention--and sometimes this is simply because the network that you are sharing your article with just isn't interested in the content presented.
To say that those who write for Odyssey aren't writers or authors is completely untrue. We are students, who are learning and growing. The Odyssey is not only an outlet to share relevant content, but is also a place where millennials can practice and enhance their writing skills. For many, their first article might be a horrible piece of writing. As they continue to write more and more articles for Odyssey however, their articles will become better and better.
While I understand that it may be annoying at times to see articles in your timeline that you are uninterested in, I can only urge you to share the ones that you like. Trust me--there are people writing articles out there about topics that can interest anyone. You just have to be willing to read and find them!
