About a year ago, Wesley Lowery asked me to be associate editor at The Post. Being a public-relations student, working at a newspaper was something I never envisioned for myself. I had been a copy editor at The Post the previous two years and was planning on ending my time here and moving on to a job that paid better.
Everything in me was telling me to run away from Wes as quickly as possible. Working for a newspaper isn’t for any typical PR student. I knew it would throw me into a roller coaster of emotions for my senior year, lump me with a ton of reporters who didn’t want to be in the same room as a PR kid, and the worst part: It would cut into the budget for my ravenous eating habits.
Lo and behold, here I am. And I have to thank the Ohio University students, faculty and the Athens community. It was you all who kept me sane and reminded me exactly why I wanted to be the editor of the opinion page at The Post. This page has always been for you: your opinions, your rants, your raves and your thoughts. Not for us at The Post or anyone else.
And I always kept that in the back of my mind. Some of your letters made me want to pull out my hair, quit my job, and curse at the fate of our society. But it all came down to one concept: You all cared enough to send your opinions to me.
I truly believe that the value of our voices goes a long way. We live in a world overloaded with stimuli: a tweet one minute and a text message the next. We need to stop and listen — or, in this case, stop and read what our colleagues are saying.
Those of you who sent me letters made me the happiest associate editor you’ll ever meet. You stuck your necks out there, climbed up onto your soapboxes and let Athens and OU know how you felt. And that takes chutzpah. I admire you all for it.
I wanted to say a special thanks to some letter-writers who frequently held real estate on the this page: Ellie Hamrick, Jared Henderson, Christopher Myers, Tom Pinney, Spencer Smith and Tyler Barton, professor emeritus Barry Thomas, professor emeritus Chuck Overby, and OU alumnus John Spofforth. I always donned a grin after reading your names in my inbox.
Letter-writers were notorious for lighting up a debate in the editor’s office and keeping our dialogue on important topics in the backs of our minds. You kept us on our toes and made us realize angles we wouldn’t usually pursue.
To all my letter-writers and extremely opinionated people: Don’t stop doing what you’re doing. The Canadian poet B.W. Powe said it best: “Each voice carries a portion of value, no matter how unpalatable or distasteful that voice may be: No one person, government, ideology, transnational or religious institution can own and dominate the whole.”
If you don’t think that what you say matters, think again. And continue to be the people who make a difference. Thanks for making my job worth it.
Cori Sherman is a senior studying public relations and associate editor of The Post. Get nostalgic with her at cs182407@ohiou.edu.
