This last weekend, there was a march. More specifically, there were several marches, each of which was overflowing with marchers of different races, colors, religions, genders, sexual identities; it was like the Hilltop Coke commercial from the '70s only without any commercialization to screw it up. It was an entirely peaceful effort to call attention to women's rights.

Now, naturally, in the days since the march, there has been somewhat of a backlash. Spearheaded by women who feel invalidated by millions of marchers around the globe (allegedly) telling them that the choices they've made in life are wrong, the march has come under attack by scores of women. Some of these women have taken to the vast void of the internet to air their grievances. Some of these women are a part of Odyssey.

The articles featured on Odyssey are not in direct response to the march, yet they are recent enough to circulate around the internet in the days after the march and carry that same defensive (self-aggrandizing) tone that is dismissive of feminism. These articles demonstrate a glaring misunderstanding of the fundamental foundation of feminism (the first and only rule, if I'm not wrong) which is that you do not talk about feminism feminism is nothing more than a belief in and support of the equality of the sexes. If you don't subscribe to this particular school of thought, you're perfectly entitled to your system of beliefs. I'm not here to address the ethics of modern ideology.

I'm writing this to those who are slandering Odyssey:

In the last few days, I have encountered social media post after social media post attempting to shine a negative light on Odyssey as a whole, as opposed to the individual authors of the individual articles. And while I am an avid fan of public humiliation and mob mentality, as the Editor In Chief of the Allegheny community of Odyssey, the attention that these misinformed authors are garnering for all the wrong reasons is becoming a thorn in my side. Not for making the already imbecilic public even stupider, but for lowering the collateral of the articles I have listed on my résumé and taking away the modicum of dignity this position granted me, damn it.

Odyssey is a platform, not a publication. It was created to house many perspectives, perhaps perspectives that I and thousands of others don't agree with. Some people naturally seek out other points of view, but not everyone does. It's frustrating to read some of these posts, but it also starts an important conversation.

My name is Andrew Hopf. I'm a senior in college, and I don't have a lot of talents. I love to read, and I love to write, and all I can picture in my future is doing those two things until God takes what mental acuity and precious little eyesight I have left. How am I ever going to get a leg up in the current job market if you people keep trying to call attention to the seemingly deliberate spread of untruths?

Journalistic integrity is one of those tricky gray areas in life that no one can seem to come to a conclusive definition of; Barbara Walters probably never even picked each year's ten most interesting people herself. And so, if you see someone trying to completely refute feminism and set the clock back to 1960, when women couldn't have credit cards or apply for loans without a man's signature, just close the tab and smile with the knowledge that they'll be the ones picking up the shards from the glass ceilings you shatter.

For my sake and the sake of my future bank account.

Please.

- Andrew Hopf