 "Photo: Photo by JJ Hermes")
Editor's note: The following is a Daily Texan -30- column. In the typewritten days of the newspaper industry, "-30-" dentoed the end of a story. A -30- column gives graduating staff members an opportunity to reflect and speak their minds.
For the past year, The Daily Texan readers have most likely known me as no more than a bold-faced name at the top-right corner of the Opinion Page - a faceless, easy target of negative energy concerning issues in the Texan and the world around us, a media contact for activists or promoters with agendas, a listening ear for idle prisoners looking for pen-pals. But if you've read any, all or some of the editorials in the box on the left side of the page, you probably know me better than my closest friends or family members. I've put my heart into that box.
But whereas the role of journalists is to tell stories of people and the issues that affect them (and not just the elite few with .gov e-mail addresses), it's seldom that people know journalists' stories. At the Texan, that's what the -30- column is for. In these last words I write in this paper, I'll humbly share a few things I've learned or been inspired by in my college years - which brings to mind the irony of my first point: In a world where no one knows the truth, learning only makes people more aware of and comfortable with their
ignorances.
I've spent the past two years writing editorials about things I feel readers need to know, even if those things aren't what people want to hear, and I've knowingly subjected myself to criticism on numerous occasions to stand up for what I believe. I am familiar with what it's like to be the enemy, as I've been bombarded with hate mail and angry calls on several occasions, and I've seen negative energy used unproductively more often than constructively. Journalists are adept at defining the good guys and bad guys, but having been the bad guy - or at least a much hated bold-faced name - I've learned the importance of choosing enemies wisely and reaching out to them constructively, as opposed to sending 1,000 e-mails that may never get read.
I've come to realize that institutions of higher education are more like money-making corporations than I would have ever thought coming to UT in 2002 as a freshman, and we should be working toward a system in which universities have to do much more to justify their public subsidies. UT doesn't pay taxes on the millions of dollars students pay in tuition, whereas charity foundations and health clinics, for example, give away much to stay tax exempt.
I've realized that it's important to call home often, or at least more often, but it's sometimes best to tell my mom about my whereabouts (i.e. climbing active volcanoes, Mexico road trips) after the fact so she doesn't worry (I think she'd agree). I've also come to realize that I should never be too busy for my friends - I can get more done in the long run with them by my side. And when it comes to time, I think Ben Franklin had it all wrong: Time is by no means money, and that mentality deceives people into thinking they constantly have no time, which only costs them time by depriving them of enjoying it. To each its own, but I'd rather see time as what I make of it, instead of relating it to material value. Deadlines, however, are a different story.
I've realized after six sporadic years at the Texan that not returning calls to Daily Texan reporters is just in Gov. Rick Perry's nature. I've learned that student activists and leaders tend to let their images and goals of self-gratification overshadow their causes, and the most successful activism often comes from the lesser-known people who are working so hard they don't have time to send out press releases and would rather see positive change than a pat on the back.
I've realized that journalists' tendency to seek out "expert" sources is an institutionalized practice that sometimes neglects the real experts - the people. Two summers ago, for example, I traveled to Mexico City with former Texan editor JJ Hermes to cover the controversial presidential election rallies held by candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. I was only pretending to be a foreign correspondent, of course, but I finagled my way into the press area and got to watch closely how correspondents from around the world do their jobs (the job I want). While I spent all day talking to numerous Mexican citizens who were starving to tell their stories, many of the big-time correspondents arrived right before the event and left immediately after. It became obvious after reading their stories the next day that they piggy-backed off each other's identical (and mis-translated) quotes, and they failed to include opinions from the more than 280,000 attendees - the people who stood to be affected most by the election.
I've spent the past six years at UT and working in journalism, but most of my education has happened outside of the classroom, and I see my workplace in the future being everywhere but the newsroom and my bosses not being limited to being my editors. "We the people" control both the media and the direction of society, and that's who I plan on working for. Journalists should be reporting not just about people, but for people and with people. Staying true to that notion will make years of being a bold-faced name on newsprint totally worth it.
Harlin has served as editor-in-chief since June 2007, and before that she was an associate editor, columnist, associate news editor, senior reporter and general reporter. Her co-workers are basically going to have to drag her out of the place.
