Episode 16: TD Features Featuring: Skyler! (or: Paper Conundrum)

So I managed today to finally get my hands on this past Thursday's printing of the Drake University-made school newspaper, the Times Delphic which just so happens to feature an article written by me (that's a looooooooong sentence. Wow).

The article I wrote is about the new Ultimate Frisbee team and their exploits so far in becoming both a functioning group and an official Drake recognized organization. I thought I did a fine job doing the interview and writing up the article.

Writing articles for school papers is nothing new to me, as I wrote each month for my high school paper, but those were editorials where I, basically, said whatever the heck I felt like saying (within school parameters and rules and guidelines which, apparently, I still have issues dealing with today...). These are journalistic reports on events and activities around the school, here. Slightly different.

Back in high school, though, I was supposed to get my articles OK'd by the administration (since all I seemed to do was write on controversial topics that ended up coming down pretty hard on the entire student body), but after the first one was censored so heavily, I just lied and said that they had read them and OK'd them, then they ran that month.

While this was lying and cheating, I figured it was fine since later the administration would approach me and tell me how much they loved the article and how it was the only thing in the paper they read. They had apparently forgotten about their duties completely, it had seemed.

So, in the end, the only thing that happened to my article was the teacher of my journalism class fixing grammar and spelling mistakes and making sure everything was accurate as far as information. Then it was printed, more or less, exactly how I wrote it.

The Times Delphic article I wrote, though, is slightly different. While for the most part it is the article I wrote, there are some differences here and there... A few rewordings, some parts left out, a title that I didn't give it, some things added or moved about... So, in the end, while the majority of the article is what I produced, the final product is just a touch different.

And I'm not complaining in the least, to be sure. Its not like they removed some part I had put in there about how the Ultimate Frisbee team were some racist or sexist jerks or anything like that (which they aren't! I'm just saying, for example!!!! NO ONE SHOOT ME! I HAVE SO MUCH TO LIVE FOR!), and I'm not really journalistic writing material, as I'm a fiction writer and like to make stuff up, primarily. So tuning my article into something they can print is perfectly OK by me.

But its just interesting to see my name attached to something that wasn't created by just my hand. Its a falsification, any way you look at it. A small one? Sure, but a falsification nonetheless. And, like I said, it doesn't upset me at all, because they are editors and stuff, but... It just makes me fear for the future of all my writing and what an editor will be for me if I ever become a novelist or something. Will any work I try to publish or produce for the masses ever be mine alone? Will someone else always have a hand in making my creations ready for the world?

In talking to my mother about this fact, I came to the realization that so very few people ever have 100% say in what their creations are in the final product. Even though my parents were the ones that created me, at 21 years of age, I'm a man that has been shaped by much more than just his parents. The entire world around me and all its people are to blame for my reaction to everything and how I've responded in my growth.

So, again, while not upset about how the article turned out, it has made me wonder about the creation of all things and how we can only create with our intent, but it is the input of the many that helps us present.