SOPHIE FERNANDES
This piece was published in volume 14 issue 1, and was my first ever "boiling point" as managing editor. Because the topic was so important and personal to me, I felt the need to articulate its importance to the people in my community.
This piece was published in issue 2. I worked on this photo story/article for a year. The subject was hard to tackle, and it took me numerous rewrites and reshoots to get it correct. When I first asked Mia if I could interview her, I was nervous. Mia kept to herself and was not the type that wanted pity when she told someone that she was homeless. Mia was very sensitive and vague when I first started talking to her about her situation and it took her time to truly begin telling me about her life. I made it clear to Mia I would work with her to make the piece sensitive enough to broadcast to our whole community. I later found out that her best friends don’t even know that she is homeless; this was her way of telling them.
My “Stopping the Stigma” article was published in Volume 12 Issue 1. This piece meant a lot to me. I chose to write about this controversy because I was disturbed at how frequently I heard my peers say these derogatory terms. I thought it was important to express my opinions so I could convey how insulting these terms can be. I inquired and had investigative persistence when working on this piece even though I knew the majority of people at my school would disagree with me. I gave an in-depth study on social issues important to the local high school audience, high school students in general, and society.
This blog was published in December 2015. I got it published with a different platform (a beauty blog created by UGA Women Studies students.) The process of writing this blog was definitely the most emotional for me. It was hard to recount this incident because it was so scarring. Originally, when I wrote the piece, I was not getting deep enough into what it really felt like and how it affected me; I was closed off. As I kept writing, I realized the only way for this story to be powerful and leave an imprint in the reader’s mind is if I told the truth and truly explained the dilemma behind this guy’s comment to me. I chose this topic because it is something a lot of women can relate to and brings awareness to a big problem. Also, I had to step outside of my comfort zone because I got the piece published in a different publication.
This piece was published in Volume 14 Issue 2. It was especially difficult for me to write. As someone with diagnosed anxiety, recalling things that set me off (like the SAT/ACT) can be mentally strenuous. However, after five drafts and an addition of voices, the boiling point was ready to be published.