Traditionally, the Editors-in-Chief end their years at The Voice with interviewing one another. Per tradition, Editors-in-Chief, Lark Pinney ’23 and Samuel Boudreau ’23, interview one another to discuss their lives and The Voice: past, present and future.
LP: Do you want to introduce yourself?
SB: Yes. My name’s Sam Boudreau, I’m a senior sociology major and I also played trombone in the band here.
LP: Where are you from?
SB: I’m originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
LP: How long have you been working for The Voice?
SB: I’ve been working for The Voice since my sophomore year. I started as a senior news writer. How about you introduce yourself?
LP: I’m Lark Pinney, I’m from Minneapolis, Minnesota. I’m a senior political science major, Spanish and religious studies minor.
SB: And when did you start The Voice?
LP: I also started my sophomore year. I started as a Features editor, and then after that, I was managing editor.
SB: What have you learned about yourself working for The Voice? What have been some of your favorite memories from your time with The Voice?
LP: I have learned to not listen to the imposter syndrome: the voice in your head that says that you were not the best fit for the job or you can’t do it, that kind of thing. I have learned to trust the people that I work with – the people that I guess supposedly I’m the boss of, but we’re not bosses per se. We all work for a team. So I learned to trust the team a lot and then also trust myself that I have valuable things to add and a valuable perspective. And my favorite memory is like a genre of memory, but when it gets late and we all get kind of goofy, I don’t think I’ve ever laughed harder than some of our Tuesday layouts. What about you?
SB: I think the number one thing I’ve learned is just to keep moving forward. There’s going to be weeks that are bad and it’s going to be difficult at times, but I think it taught me that some things are also out of my control. There’s just like sometimes you kind of got to be okay with not being able to accomplish everything. Also, I’ve just learned a lot about journalism in general, that being consistent is really hard to do. Whether it’s good or bad, you should be proud of yourself for getting through something like this. I would say my favorite memories are just whenever it’s a good edition and just kind of being proud of that. Just being proud of us producing something. Obviously not every week is perfect, but we do our best to produce something. And whenever I think something is good, it feels good to distribute that. It makes you feel good and it makes you feel like you’re doing something with a purpose.
LP: Are there any specific achievements or editions that you’re particularly proud of?
SB: I’m just proud of stuff that gets people talking. I think my proudest achievement is just being here with you. Like just knowing we finished the paper for our time. I feel like it was difficult for a lot of reasons starting out, but I’m really happy because there were a lot of times this semester where things were not going well and there’s some papers that were just not great editions, but I’m really proud of seeing a positive retention. I feel like most of the people are coming back, I’m really proud of who we hired. I feel like they got a really good outlook. I really feel like the proudest moment for me is that we inherited kind of a difficult situation on a lot of fronts, but I really think through it all we’ve published some really good editions and hired some good people and they’re coming back. So I think that’s what I’m most proud of. Yeah. What about you?
LP: Yeah. Similarly, I feel like we don’t give ourselves enough credit for straight up publishing 20 editions a year in the middle of moving offices. We started using new software this year, too. I’m proud of when we write stuff that people get mad about, that people want to talk about, that is the truth. Even if it’s not super pretty to hear or to write about. I also am really proud of our team. I think people like coming to work with us and we like working with them. And I think that we’ve created a newsroom that trusts and respects each other, which I think is important and we’ve made some really awesome friends.
SB: What do you hope to accomplish or who do you like to be after college and specifically after The Voice?
LP: I am excited to be an alumni who reads The Voice. I’m excited to see what this new team does. They’ve got some really cool, big plans. And then, personally, I just hope that I’m happy. I’m really excited about the grad school program that I’m going to do, and I feel like what I’m going to do really aligns with my values of being a helper. So I just hope I go up and up. What about you?
SB: I’m excited to end this chapter. It’s been a lot of work, and I’m excited to be able to reflect on it and look back. I think to be part of the student newspaper is pretty cool, and I’m so proud of the work we did and it’s going to be cool looking back on that work in like 10 to 20 years. I’m also excited just to read it and not make it. I’m excited to not be responsible for making it or help them make it. I think The Voice just taught me to always just like, remain calm. Not just while reporting, but also like in the office. Just try to remain calm, just keep my cool and just kind of approach life and just be someone involved in the public. What was the most difficult part about The Voice, particularly as Editor-in-Chief?
LP: It is difficult to be responsible for it all…to be the one that people would come to if something wasn’t right or if we made a mistake. Not that that happened very often, or we were super worried about that. But I think knowing that it’s up to you was hard. Like we couldn’t really blame it on anybody else. I don’t think either of us are inclined to do that but, it was up to us to make sure that there was a paper every week and there was no one above us to make sure that that happened. So that just means you have to be there and you have to have your brain on. You have to be thinking. And I know you and I both found that a little bit exhausting. But rewarding. I don’t think it was like a material thing that was difficult. I think it was like the attitude about the role. What was the hardest part for you?
SB: It’s tough for me. I think the hardest part, one, is being responsible for grammatical errors. There’s always like one misspelled word and that’s upsetting. And also I just don’t think I’m a great administrator. I think I like doing journalism, but, honestly, what I learned about being Editor-in-Chief is that really it’s not about being like a good journalist at all. It really has to do with being a manager, obviously. And like, I also think I’m a pretty shy person – I’m pretty passive. So it’s tough for me to – not that it really ever happened – like lay down the law or something like that. Like, I’m just not comfortable doing that. So that was difficult. Also just dealing with being the one responsible is difficult. And being consistent too. One week you feel like it’s a great edition. And I’ve noticed that during the next week it’s tough to stay consistent because next week doesn’t feel like it’s good or something. What’s your favorite edition and story at The Voice?
LP: I love it when we push the envelope. We weren’t in charge, but that protest edition last year was so cool. I love that stuff. I am a personal fan of The Vice. I do think we do a good job with that. In addition to all of our fantastic hard hitting journalism, I think making people laugh is quite valuable to me. I think the stories that ask the hard questions about what’s going on and why and that kind of stuff. I love to read the news stuff that you guys work on, asking the tough questions and holding people accountable.
SB: Yeah, I think the protest edition was such an interesting moment in the College’s history and, whether we were right or wrong for doing that, just the fact that we did that. I think about whether The Vice is a good or bad thing, but I love The Vice because it’s just utterly ridiculous. It’s one of those things that we’re to look back on and be like, what the hell was that? But, it’s like a breath of fresh air. Favorite stories? I thought Maggie’s article on Lowry was just amazing on a journalism level. I also think Mudiwa’s story in the protest edition – it was a viewpoint – was one of most beautiful things to read.
SB: What would you tell first year Lark heading to The College of Wooster?
LP: Oh, that’s a good question. No one is actually having that much fun in the first semester of their freshman year. Even if they seem like they are, they’re probably not having that much fun. So you are not the only one not having that much fun and you quite literally just have to go through it and it will get better. And it will get more fun. Just naturally things will fall into place. But the only way out is through. And eventually you will have a very fulfilling, meaningful college experience. But man, I do not envy first semester freshman year me. Everything was just so different and so new. And it felt like everybody else knew what they were doing and. But it turns out that almost everyone felt that way, but no one was talking about it. So, what would you tell yourself?
SB: I would just say just trust yourself. Yeah. Just trust yourself. Trust like where you come from. Keep that in mind. Keep your family and your hometown kind of in mind and those kinds of things. And those are kind of like your anchors, I feel like. And no matter how, there are definitely moments here at the newspaper where I’ve messed up\didn’t do the right thing. There’s things maybe I could have done better, but as you said, you just kind of go through it and you just kind of go.
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