In our busy lives, it can sometimes be hard to keep up with current events, including international news and happenings that affect our own lives. Luckily for us, in 2009, dedicated UCSD students created an international affairs journal entitled PROSPECT. PROSPECT has a mission to keep students updated on international news and to work to remind us that our lives are constantly being influenced by world interactions. Today, PROSPECT consists of 33 dedicated staff members, including a marketing team, enthusiastic staff writers, and a group of committed senior editors. Within that group, Marianne Zape sits as the only female senior editor, juggling five staff writers as well as penning her own articles. Her ability to maintain a strong team while remaining passionate about international affairs brings inspiration to others who hope to pursue the same path.
What first attracted you to join PROSPECT?
I think what sold PROSPECT for me was the people. We’re all interested in what’s happening in the world, but the thing is, we don’t all pay attention to the same things. Our studies, interests, and focuses are incredibly diverse, as are our points of views. There is so much I don’t know, and the journal, at least for me, acts as a medium where I can learn about things I wouldn’t spend too much of my time thinking or caring about otherwise.
What are some of the biggest challenges of being a senior editor? How did you overcome them?
In the beginning, I struggled with being more authoritative. I’m not a confrontational person, and at first, I felt like my criticisms would maybe be construed as mean and that my writers would think I was this terrible, heartless dictator. I got over that pretty quickly when I realized that we just didn’t have the time for passive communication. and that it would be infinitely worse for me to publish something under their name that wasn’t edited as well as it could have been, just because I didn’t want to be “mean.” It also helps that I have four other editors to remind me that it’s my job to be critical. One of the biggest things I struggle with is working under a deadline. It would be easier if I didn’t have to go to lectures and sections, or to work, or to other meetings, but I do. And on top of that, I have to be conscientious of my writers’ schedules too. All of these things combined make the window of time to prepare a piece for publication a bit smaller. The only way to get through this is to just do it, so I’ve blocked off times specifically for editing. It keeps me accountable!
What topics in international affairs are you most interested in?
I’ve always been most interested in international development and human rights, though I am realizing now that these topics are so much more complex than just wanting to help others and wanting to ensure that people have “rights.” They’re full of webs of relationships and knowledge, structures of inequality, and struggles for power, all of which are depressing and fascinating at the same time.
What goals do you hope to achieve in the next few years?
I honestly don’t know! I hope I will have graduated by then. There are a few graduate programs I would love to get into, but I think before that, I’d like to do some traveling and introspect. I’ve been in school for about 17 of the almost 20 years I’ve existed, so I could use a break. I think the one goal I hope to achieve, not just in the next few years, but just in my life, in general, is to be content, happy, and at peace with whatever I decide to do.
What advice do you have for other college women?
I guess the best advice I can give is to not let other people’s opinions and expectations of you take over your life or keep you from doing what you want to do. Measure your happiness on your own terms. At the end of the day, you answer to yourself. (Edit by writer: This was after Marianne ensured me that she was in no place to give advice. I think we can see that her advice is sound.)
And last but not least, if you could be any animal, what would you be and why?
A bird, maybe? I love flying. I like the idea of being able to go wherever I want, when I want, and not having to walk behind slow people.