Spring Break
Valuing all opinions and perspectives in all arguments
Patrick Fancher
Issue date: 4/27/09 Section: Forum
Last week made me realize just how much I love being a columnist for The Daily Barometer, and that if people agree with what I write every week I'm truly not doing my job.
When I first took the job in fall, I wasn't sure what to expect. I had no experience writing for a student newspaper or publication of any kind during my variety of career paths prior to transferring to Oregon State.
I decided last spring that New Media Communications, not English, was to be my major of choice, and it seemed to work well in combination with my writing minor. So, long story short, I was determined to get my feet wet in the field of journalism for the first time at the age of 29 by applying for a position at The Daily Barometer.
Luckily I was able to be a columnist from day one. Being a columnist is an excellent job for anyone who has strong feelings about certain issues, prefers to choose his own topics to write about or simply likes to share his own perspective. The latter made me realize last week that not only are the students and faculty actually reading my columns, so are many other people all over the country.
Who knew a student newspaper or a rookie columnist could get so much publicity for publishing a column that would cause agreement in one circle and total outrage in another?
If you're not sure what I'm talking about here, I'm referring to the column I wrote last week in which I opposed the issue of people having concealed weapons on campus. I wanted to express my opinion as to why it's not a good idea, because I felt like the pro-gun advocates were the only ones making their opinions known on our campus.
I was reluctant to write the column at first, as I figured it would create an overly negative response from the opposition, which it did, and then some. I chose to write the column by combining my real life experiences with guns, some alarming factual statistics and my personal opinion on the subject.
I received ten emails from readers last week who were angered by my column. Most of them claimed that I was withholding the facts or information necessary to support my observations.
When I first took the job in fall, I wasn't sure what to expect. I had no experience writing for a student newspaper or publication of any kind during my variety of career paths prior to transferring to Oregon State.
I decided last spring that New Media Communications, not English, was to be my major of choice, and it seemed to work well in combination with my writing minor. So, long story short, I was determined to get my feet wet in the field of journalism for the first time at the age of 29 by applying for a position at The Daily Barometer.
Luckily I was able to be a columnist from day one. Being a columnist is an excellent job for anyone who has strong feelings about certain issues, prefers to choose his own topics to write about or simply likes to share his own perspective. The latter made me realize last week that not only are the students and faculty actually reading my columns, so are many other people all over the country.
Who knew a student newspaper or a rookie columnist could get so much publicity for publishing a column that would cause agreement in one circle and total outrage in another?
If you're not sure what I'm talking about here, I'm referring to the column I wrote last week in which I opposed the issue of people having concealed weapons on campus. I wanted to express my opinion as to why it's not a good idea, because I felt like the pro-gun advocates were the only ones making their opinions known on our campus.
I was reluctant to write the column at first, as I figured it would create an overly negative response from the opposition, which it did, and then some. I chose to write the column by combining my real life experiences with guns, some alarming factual statistics and my personal opinion on the subject.
I received ten emails from readers last week who were angered by my column. Most of them claimed that I was withholding the facts or information necessary to support my observations.
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Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Christopher Smith
posted 4/30/09 @ 10:49 AM PST
Personal experience does not make fact Fancher...you need to understand this. Just because its happened a few times to you, does not mean that anyone else has experienced it at all. (Continued…)
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