How did The Odyssey get started at Madison?
The Odyssey was started at Indiana University in 2009 by two active members of their Greek system and has since expanded to 25 campuses nationwide. Headquarters seeks campuses with Greek systems containing over 3,000 members, and UW-Madison was an obvious choice. In an effort to spread to our campus, The Odyssey reached out to trustworthy members of teams at other campuses for recommendations of people who are involved in our Greek system and would be good for our executive team. They were lead to Ben Goldman (Her Campus’ recent “Campus Cutie”) who is a great leader, involved in IFC, well-liked and popular on campus, not to mention he “started his own frat” (hopefully he doesn’t read this.) Essentially, Ben was happy to take on the responsibility, and with Michael Underkolfer, Jon Osmondson and Mike Walker, spent the summer securing advertisements and organizing for the impending launch of the paper. Our first issue was published on Sept. 1, 2011.
What makes The Odyssey different from other newspapers on campus?
Other campus newspapers are targeted at the UW community as a whole, while The Odyssey’s audience is essentially limited to the Greek system. Though the readership is notably smaller, the content is catered specifically to members of our community. We have a team of almost 30 writers, representing almost every house on campus. Readers look forward to seeing articles written by their friends each week, and find that the content is informative and relevant to what they care about most. The Odyssey’s content is none too serious; we try to keep things light and humorous while also being informative. One of the major motives of the team is to unite the Greek system; many of us are from different houses, but working together on the paper each week and communicating amicably is essential to lessening conflict and barriers within the community.
How did you get involved?
Part of Ben’s job this summer was to recruit writers. He’s one of my closest friends, and knowing that I am an involved member of my house and passionate about writing, he encouraged me to apply for the position of Contributing Editor. Last December, I started a blog called Living Outside the Lyre as a joke for the members of my house, Alpha Chi Omega. The content is specific to our house, and includes embarrassing stories about my friends, confessions, advice and of course, gentle mockery of AXO customs and the trials and tribulations of a live-in. To my surprise, people actually read it, and I’ve continued to post to fuel everyone’s need to procrastinate. Plus, my parents really like it. I really love writing in LOTL, but the audience is pretty small and it’s not really something I’m looking to put on a resumé, so The Odyssey was the perfect opportunity for me.
How often is it published?
Every Monday The Odyssey is published and delivered to each sorority and fraternity house. I also make a point to slyly drop a stack in the lobby of my apartment building/leave a copy of each new issue open on my dining room table so my roommates are forced to read it.
What types of things do you write about?
One of the greatest things about writing for The Odyssey is that you’re free to write about anything you want, which isn’t something we get to do much in our classes. Obviously, we have to place some limits on the appropriateness of content, and we can’t publish anything incriminating (I just save that for my own blog.) I’ve written about the behind-the-scenes aspects of sorority rush, my experience on campus as a “coastie,” the horror that was deactivating Facebook and what I wish I’d known as a freshman. I do my best to choose topics that all readers will be able to relate to; I recently wrote about classroom annoyances in attempt to stray away from Greek-specific subjects. It can be hard to brainstorm a new topic each week, but somehow we all think of something. Everyone has kept the content fresh, instructive and entertaining, and I’m really happy with the positive feedback we’ve gotten.
How can people get involved with The Odyssey?
We’re constantly looking to expand our team, so if you have any interest in writing, please contact me at mkirsch410@gmail.com. You can find the writer’s application at http://theodysseyonline.com/_mmServerScripts/archive/writerApplication/. We’ll be losing a number of team members next semester to study abroad, so please apply!