Letter from the Editor

I didn’t write the first article that The Hawk assigned to me when I was a first-semester freshman.

I had asked the Lifestyle editors at the time if I could write an article about a fall album preview and in response was told to write about a juice cleanse. I thought I had received the wrong email, because 1) I didn’t know what the *censored* a juice cleanse was and 2) the new topic was completely unrelated to my original email. Yet, my name was in the email header. I declined the offer and didn’t write at all for The Hawk, that is until my sophomore year.

That fall semester I took literary journalism with Jenny Spinner, Ph.D., associate professor of English. As an assignment for the class, I went to a meeting of the Bible study group, Down to Pray (DTP). I wrote a five page article on the experience, which Spinner thought was too long. Although I wasn’t used to Spinner’s style of editing like I am now (I’ve stopped cringing when she reaches for one of her brightly colored pens), I thought her observation was unfair. Her major concern was there wouldn’t be enough room for it.

She wanted the article published in The Hawk.

I was hesitant about this for a few reasons. What if the editors didn’t want it? What if they cut my favorite parts? What if they remembered me as the girl who didn’t write about juice cleanses? My concerns took a backseat to Spinner’s confidence in my article, “Underground Preaching.” It was published in December 2015, and to my relief, did very well.

Spinner emailed in the spring semester to notify me that my first and only article for The Hawk had won Honorable Mention at the Pennsylvania News Media Association Keystone Press Awards. She said something I’ll never forget:

“Don’t be a one-hit-wonder. Write for The Hawk!”

I sent a peace offering to The Hawk in the form of another article to nullify our, what some would call, “beef.” And then another one. Then a letter to the editor. At this point, I decided I wanted to be part of the editorial staff.

By my junior year, I was Assistant Copy Editor for the Sports section, then the Copy Chief, then went back and forth for about two months, creating pro/con lists and consulting my most trusted mentors as to whether or not I should even apply for Editor in Chief. This letter is a major spoiler for those who want to know how this story ends. Sorry.

At one point during my time on Hawk Hill, I didn’t think the newspaper was for me. I sincerely didn’t think I had a place on The Hawk staff. I’ve made it one of my personal goals for this  semester to make sure anyone who shows interest in The Hawk never feels this way. I want The Hawk to be an inclusive space where everyone feels welcome to contribute, discuss and debate our content.

The Hawk staff, myself included, considers the newspaper ours. We spend around 10 hours every Monday night putting the newspaper together, not to mention the work that we put in the rest of the week: brainstorming article ideas, writing articles, interviewing people, editing, creating graphics, making pages, getting ads, delivering newspapers, taking photos, having off key singing sessions and so much more.

The Hawk is not just for us, though. This is your newspaper as much as it is ours.

The Hawk gives a voice to every member of the Saint Joseph’s University community—students, faculty, staff members, alumni, editor emeriti, overly proud family members, our friends back home, even our adoring fans who cheer us on outside of Simpson Hall (who I know definitely exist, though we’ve never actually seen them). In our quest to be inclusive, we have been reaching out to marginalized groups in our campus community, so that we may expand the conversations and discussions about the issues that impact us all.

We want The Hawk to be an outlet for those who still feel their voices have not been heard, who still feel marginalized by society, and we will honor the many thousands of people who fought for civil rights. It is our duty as reporters to provide fair, accurate content to the community. As part of this, we intend to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic speech at Saint Joseph’s University in a special issue reflecting on the 50 years since King spoke, and how we can continue to move forward as a university.

It is true that, in our role as watchdog, we won’t put the university on a pedestal, but our goal is not to mount heads on our walls either. We want to report the facts, take stances on a variety of topics, entertain you, keep you updated, start debates, break stories and so on and so forth. If you don’t think we’re doing that, write me a letter or write for us yourself. We want you to look forward to reading this newspaper as much as we love creating it for you every week.

To paraphrase what Ray Bradbury, science fiction author, once said: All you claimers of “fake news,” go back to the bleachers, hit the showers! This is our game. We, The Hawk staff, pitch, we hit, we catch, we’re running the bases. At sunset, we’ve either won or lost. By sunrise, we’re out again giving it the old college try.

We will not stop reporting the facts because they may upset you or you may not like them. That’s part of our job, and trust us, it’s not always easy. However, it is a job we would not trade for the world. I didn’t write about juice cleanses because I felt there had to be something better, something more important to write about. And I was right, as usual. There are a multitude of topics I want to cover this semester, but I can’t do it myself.

There’s something truly incredible about contributing to this community every week—the butterflies in your stomach when you submit your first article, the rush of causing a campus-wide debate, having your article analyzed in a classroom—but I can’t just tell you what that feeling is, that doesn’t seem very fair.

Find out for yourself.