I love to write. I feel incredibly powerful when I am furiously typing out words and creating sentences that will reach an audience, hopefully making an impact. I love to write whimsical stories or informative articles or inspiring pieces. I like to write articles for the Odyssey each week, whether they be silly, serious, or anything in between. I love to write because it makes me happy, and maybe what I create will make someone else happy too.
Recently, I have seen a lot of negative comments surrounding the Odyssey, the people that write for it, and the types of articles published. It often has been critiqued for publishing controversial content or relatable articles that are often coined as "basic af."
But here's the beauty in it all: The Odyssey is a community of people with a platform to produce what they want. It's medium through which to connect to an audience and express yourself in way that you hope others can understand. There have been several Odyssey articles that I don't agree with, and frankly just make my blood boil, such as anti-feminist rants, fervent pieces supporting Donald Trump, and claims denying that privilege and racism continue to prevail. There are also several articles that perhaps aren't everyone's style, like lists and open letters. But the fact of the matter is that people create these articles, not an entire website. When you understand that there are articles promoting body positivity and feminism (both things that I, and several other talented writers, have previously written about),and articles that can inspire or comfort people, you no longer can target the umbrella under which all of these things fall. There is an infinite spectrum of ideals and viewpoints presented by a variety of writers and people. It gets hard to defend something that makes you happy when people choose pigeon-hole an entire community to a few members.
Will I continue to write? Most definitely. Writing remains one of my greatest passions and I will always pursue it through any means possible. So will I continue to write for the Odyssey? Probably. Every week I am given the chance to express myself and share those thoughts and feelings with a large audience. Sure, I could start a blog or find somewhere else to write, but why would I when I already have a place where everyone has the opportunity to say what they want. As a writer, I never want to be associated with the content of other people just because they choose the same platform on which to produce. When criticizing people, it's time to start looking and the individual and context themselves, instead of the venue, especially when it ends up negatively portraying a plethora of other talented writers and people.
