In case you haven’t gathered from some of my friends’ articles, this edition of the Brandeis Hoot will be my last one as Arts Editor. I still have one more year at Brandeis and I will certainly keep writing—there’s a whole season of Bake Off airing this fall! But as I step back to pursue all those stressful senior year things, I wanted to say a brief goodbye to the role that has been such an important part of my Brandeis experience.
I started my journey at the Brandeis Hoot by writing my first Bake Off recap series (now something I do annually). I was hired as Deputy Arts Editor, promoted to Arts Editor and soon I was contributing articles every single week. I also recruited several of my friends to the section, always with the same pitch: have you ever had opinions on any piece of media and wanted to share them? Well, you can!
In all seriousness, I never thought I would get involved with student journalism at Brandeis. It wasn’t something that I had ever done before, and when I started, I had no idea what I was doing. I ended up having an incredible time building my own section, writing weekly articles and getting to build a writing community with my friends. I learned that taking those random opportunities on a whim can become something fun and rewarding—and you might end up taking a lot of your friends with you!
If you’ve written for Arts, or want to become the next Arts Editor, I say go for it! I’ve had such a great time and I’m so excited to see where this section goes in the future. I wanted to leave a little bit of advice, so when you get started, you know that the former Arts Editor is cheering you on.
Firstly, have fun! Especially for a section like Arts, having fun is one of the most important things when it comes to having a successful section. If you enjoy writing your articles and seeing what everyone else has to contribute every week, the rest will follow. If you are having fun your writing staff will be able to feed off of that energy. You get to write articles about books, movies, TV shows, music and all the fun cultural events at Brandeis! We get to write about the fun stuff, and the best thing you can do is enjoy it.
Secondly, get your friends involved. One of the most rewarding things for me about working at the Hoot is turning so many of my friends into staff writers. Even when they were initially resistant, many of my friends quickly realized how much they loved putting their thoughts on media to paper. Creating a little community within the Arts Section has been so special, and getting your friends to write for you makes editing so much more fun.
Thirdly, stay on top of everything. Being an editor is all about remembering to send out emails, edit everyone’s articles and put everything into layout. Being an editor is fun, yes, but it’s also a responsibility, and make sure you keep up with it! However, you’ll be surrounded by a supportive editorial board who can help you when you need it. Do as much as you can, and ask for help with whatever you need support with. The rest will follow.
Finally, embrace the weird! People will come to you with wacky ideas, and you yourself will discover that your own articles get a bit weirder and wilder over time. Enjoy it! Arts is by nature a chaotic section, and it’s a place where you can really let your own personality shine through. Take the time to review a theater production at Brandeis to keep up the more serious journalism, but in other articles, you can be silly. This is the Arts Section of a college paper, and as a result, there’s a lot of room for individuality.
I hope my successor enjoys being the Arts Editor as much as I have. I’m so excited for one more year with the Brandeis Hoot, this time as a staff writer. To the rest of the editorial board, I know you’ll do great things next semester. And to everyone else, thank you for reading and supporting my Arts Section for the past two and a half years. I’ve learned so much, and I’m so grateful for my time in the role. I’ll see you all when Bake Off is back on the air!
