I might just be the most impulsive person you’ll meet, but I’ve never been more certain about committing to an industry I believe in. When I was little, I would spend hours writing short poems about my dog, an old tree in my backyard, or the pet horse I never had. When I was ten, I started writing a novel about a boy named Hayden Victor and someone who bullied him—I believe I named him Garth, for dramatic effect. I wrote short stories about experiences I had in the past, the person who I thought I was, and exactly the person I thought I wanted to be.
Writing has been an escape and hobby that I have been lucky enough to recently derive utility from, and something I ultimately plan to pursue professionally. My time at Harvard has been characterized by consistent inconsistencies, and I joined the Indy out of a thirst for a physical family in an online world. Comping the Independent my virtual freshman spring was my attempt to fulfill the disillusionment that arose from a year of living across the country for the first time, confined to a bedroom and Zoom meetings, and forced to discover the person I wanted to become. Two years later it has become much more than that.
Two of my good friends at Harvard are editors at The Crimson, and we frequently compare the culture and traditions of each respective newspaper. Both the Independent and The Crimson are well established; regardless of which can honestly boast the label of “oldest newspaper at Harvard,” each publication has documented countless events over time, both on campus and off. Writers are drawn to each organization for similar reasons: out of a love for writing, for sharing stories, for seeing their names published on paper or on a website; the reasons go on. Yet in the two years (and admittedly, two unfinished Crimson comps) that I have experienced journalism at Harvard, the biggest difference and opportunity that the Independent has provided me with is agency, over both the subject of my writing and the subsequent responsibility of how to process its public response.
Agency does not necessarily mean a positive form of power over how my work is perceived in the public eye. I can never control what people will think. I often cater what I write to both what I believe is relevant and what the editorial team deems appropriate. Rather, agency at the Indy translates to a flexibility to write what I want while having the full responsibility to take ownership of my words. It grants me the space to act as the contrarian, fully subject to reward or disapproval upon publication.
Writing and editing for the Indy these past two years has taught me how to effectively portray my own opinions towards something, while still being respectful for voices that oppose my own. It has taught me how to digest events and circumstances into conversations that I believe can improve our collective experience as Harvard students. The confidence I have built in my abilities to tell a story while still recognizing my own limits has yielded an authenticity and integrity that I am committed to expanding for every writer this year at the Indy.
It would be ignorant to dismiss the faults and challenges that the Independent actively faces. We can always be more representative, more detailed, more progressive (or traditional); the potential for improvement never dies. Yet COVID’s vicious wake and subsequent spaces for growth has granted this newspaper an opportunity to rebrand itself to one that I want to see offers something to everyone. Whether it be a lighthearted ‘How-to’, a reflection of how current events are shaping student life, a critique of the latest art installation, or even a raunchy crossword puzzle, the Harvard Independent should speak to us all.
The beauty of our agency is, in addition to empowering us to write about what we want, we are granted an honest reaction in our readership, sparking authentic discussion in public opinion. Yet the luxury of belonging to No One But Ourselves comes with a responsibility to establish a credibility in doing so first. I therefore devote my tenure as Editor-in-Chief to doing just that. Every article that we publish will undergo a more thorough fact-checking process, more sets of eyes, more discourse, and generally a more representative resonance.
I’m grateful for the extent to which my peers at the Indy have welcomed me with this New Beginning. I look forward to using this newfound agency to induce more stimulating conversations and transform this newspaper into a mecca of genuine discussion.
Marbella Marlo ’24 (mmarlo@college.harvard.edu) is prepared for the numerous all-nighters that await her.