On February 23, 2016, my first Odyssey Online story was published. As I look back on the past year, nothing can replace the experiences I had while for writing for this site.
I covered President Donald Trump’s campaign rally last March, met Brandon Stanton from Humans of New York, and took on my first beat in covering the Student Association Senate at UAlbany.
The Odyssey also allowed me to work on my sports writing as well. My first piece talking about Gary Bettman, the NHL’s Commissioner, reads like a high school essay, while the story about the Las Vegas Golden Knights has a set structure and a stronger point.
https://www.theodysseyonline.com/will-they-stay-wi...
The reason I chose to write for the Odyssey over the student paper was the deadline that every person on the staff must meet. Sure, the student paper looks great on a resume, but I would not have written as much or as often if I wasn’t held to a weekly deadline.
I have 52 (This is 53) articles to date. My most viewed has 1.2k views and my lowest has 0. My most viewed article, about Sober in 5, came to me as I was riding a Greyhound bus into the city with a friend. While somewhere in New Jersey, we passed the sign and looked at their website. It just all seemed fishy that a drink could help you sober up faster.
https://www.theodysseyonline.com/sober-5-shortcut-...
The lowest view count goes to an article about the UFC, following the Jon Jones/Daniel Cormier feud. That whole situation was one I was very upset about. Jones had tested positive for cocaine in his blood twice. He was one the face of the UFC. Cormier never beat Jones, and before they fought after a long suspension for Jones, he failed another drug test and the fight was dropped.
My favorite article is covering Brandon Stanton. A lot of work went into that. I, and other journalists, met him in SEFCU arena at around 5 p.m. We were able to ask him questions for about 30 minutes or so, then killed time before the actual event started at 7. After he finished at 9, I rushed back to my room. He spoke on a Saturday night and my deadline for the Odyssey is on Sunday, so it was a quick turnaround for me. Nonetheless, it was so much fun getting to interview a guy like that. It made all the work worth it.
https://www.theodysseyonline.com/brandon-staton-no...
So, what is next for me at the Odyssey? For the people that know me, I talk like there’s no tomorrow. Right now, I am working on a podcast that would be broadcasted through the Odyssey. It would be in the style of a free form chat that doesn’t really have an agenda. I’m planning to have my roommates to feed off when the conversation goes into a lull. Eventually, we would start bringing on some of our friends to switch up the pace of the show. I’m working hard on it, and hopefully will be able to put something together soon.
This last year with the Odyssey has been awesome. In total, 3.2k people have read what I put into these articles, and that is something I never thought would ever happen. So, thank you to the Odyssey for letting me get my voice out. Thank you to Al Masino for reading and editing all my articles. Lastly, thank you to Andrew Cutrone for running our section and keeping us in line. Here’s to another great year of writing.