Our e-mail box overflows every few days, so a part of my job
description is to sift through every letter we get. We rarely
publish anything we receive from outside the Daily Bruin.
You might see this as evidence of how competitive it is to get
something printed in our opinion page, but if we decided to lighten
up and run everything handed to us, you’d see a very
different Viewpoint.
You’d end up reading ads for porn and erectile dysfunction
medication every day. You’d get to hear about how separate
women from separate countries all have somehow gained a mysterious
inheritance they can only claim with your help. And for
multilingual readers, you’d see some Russian letters run
side-by-side with Chinese submissions.
Basically, all we get is junk. For an opinion-page e-mail box,
there is a disappointing number of opinions.
What the Daily Bruin would like is a little more audience
participation. We’d like to hear from more people willing to
speak out.
And sure, we have the loud-mouthed columnists and cartoonists
who love to juggle their beliefs in front of a crowd, but the
section can’t thrive on their voices alone.
An opinion page works best when readers switch the focus to
themselves, and as a paper that is supposed to represent our
community, the kid who uses my section as an affordable gift-wrap
alternative for his girlfriend’s birthday present probably
has as much to say as the chancellor.
The criteria for topics we’d like to see from readers is
simple: Write what you’d want to read about.
For example, in this edition of Viewpoint, members of our
undergraduate student council share what they want to see in
UCLA’s next leader; a student-athlete struggles with being
one of the few black students in this year’s incoming class;
and a fifth-year student recounts her life in Tanzania.
But in the end, we just want to hear from readers who have
something original to say. I’m tired of hearing how UCLA is
one of the best universities in the world. I wouldn’t have
signed up if it wasn’t a decent place. Tell me instead about
how we’re falling apart, and tell me how we can put it back
together.
I can understand a fear of writing. There is always some worry
about laying yourself out there for people to scrutinize. But much
of what separates those who write from just another casual reader
is the lack of hesitation.
After asking so many people to contribute to the page, the
shrug-offs have become familiar: “Who cares what I
think?” “Does it really matter?” “But I
can’t write.” But those who actually write a piece have
shaken off these concerns. They’ve come to realize their
voices have that far-reaching range necessary to pull minds one way
or another.
This doesn’t mean that as long as you write something,
it’ll get published. Readers should not have to sit through a
random unsupported accusation against the president or a mundane
recount of how mean your professor is.
New York Times Op-Ed Editor David Shipley noted a concern that
must be common among others in the opinion-section business when he
described the real estate of his page ““ sparse yet valuable.
Some submissions and letters just don’t make the cut.
But the competition isn’t as rough as you think, and
although you might believe you are incapable of writing something
decent, you probably aren’t.
When readers try their hand at writing in to Viewpoint, they
might not persuade every opponent that comes across their words.
But you can’t win anyone over without putting pen to
paper.
Opinion pieces lend themselves to an intimate kind of knowledge.
You shake hands with a thought; you ask it out to dinner; you
squirm in your seats until you reach some agreement; and during
that final encounter on the front porch, you either stay or go.
Hopefully, you’ll at least give us a chance to meet
you.
Guigayoma is the 2006-2007 Viewpoint editor. E-mail him at
jguigayoma@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to
viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.