Emilie Eustace
Features Editor
Introduce yourself:
Hi! My name is Jonathan, a.k.a. J-Lo, and I’m a senior physics major as well as a member of the men’s soccer team.
How long have you been working for the Voice? What got you started working here? What positions have you held?
I’ve been working here for three years. I just applied for Chief Copy Editor and Sports Editor the spring of my freshman year after seeing the email asking for applicants. I started out as CCE and was the editor of the Science and Environment section, which I founded. Senior year, I was Co-Editor in Chief.
What have you learned about yourself working for the Voice? What have been some of your favorite memories from your time at the Voice?
I have learned that I need to be in a position where I am passionate about the work I do, not necessarily in a position to guide or dictate the direction that an organization goes in. One of my top memories would be the issue with the first S&E section last fall and interviewing people for our staff last spring. The first edition with the S&E section was really special to me because it was the first time that I had actually written for the Voice and the first time I saw my own writing in print. I enjoyed working with people last spring because I was going through a coming-of-age process, and a process where I was becoming more aware of how people’s backgrounds shape them and how their experiences shape their reality. I enjoyed asking questions that would make people think about what drove them and made them who they really are.
What is something that you’ve been the proudest of during your time here, like an article you’ve written or a direction you’ve pushed the paper in?
Two things: the thing I’m most proud of was my interview with Al that was published in the protest edition. The second thing would be, again, the first edition with the S&E section. I would like to see science become less institutionalized and more about curiosity and asking simple questions. We’re too focused on problem solving and efficiency but not focused enough on connecting the natural world to the science that we do and how it makes us feel.
What do you hope to accomplish/who would you like to be after college?
I read the Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson starting two years ago, and in the second book, the author focuses on how the Martian government is formed. What particularly stood out to me in this whole trilogy was this chapter devoted to a seaside town called Odessa. They had built their society around the idea that you don’t necessarily have to be credentialed to do the things you love. In Odessa, there was a co-op that was focused on making the seaside town more sustainable and ensuring that the water they had pumped up from beneath the Martian surface (they were terraforming) did not flood the town. All citizens worked at one of many co-ops where they weren’t necessarily trained, but all citizens grew around this idea that they could continuously evolve their understanding of their new world and do new things in life by working at these co-ops. My favorite co-op was called Deep Waters, which did all of the hydrological science to ensure the town didn’t flood. I want our society to look like that and if I had it my way, I’d start up my own science-driven co-op and make sure it had a purpose other than making money. I’d start my own Deep Waters.
Introduce yourself:
Hi I’m Aspen Fedele Rush and I’m a senior. I’m a WGSS and History major.
How long have you been working for the Voice? What got you started working here? What positions have you held?
I have been working for the Voice since my sophomore year. The Viewpoints Editor reached out to me and asked me to write a viewpoint on something I was involved in on campus. I was the Viewpoints Editor, the Managing Editor and now I am the Co-Editor in Chief.
What will you miss most about Tuesday night layouts?
I’m going to miss when it starts to get really late, around 10 or 11, and it’s just a couple of us left in the office. That’s when I’ve really gotten to know people I don’t hang out with outside of the Voice. I have gotten to know them on such a deep and intimate level, and I think that I’ll miss the laughter, tears and the support that I get from working here. And I’ll miss how it feels to walk into the office at the beginning of layout and see everyone laughing and talking.
What have you learned about yourself working for the Voice? What have been some of your favorite memories from your time at the Voice?
I feel like I’ve learned so much. I think that I have learned that I theoretically, knew I like to root for the underdog, that I like to hear a good story. Working for the Voice has given me the platform and the tools to make those stories mean something. I have learned the value of transforming those stories into words and into action (yes, that was an Audre Lorde reference). A lot of that has been learning to tell my own story.
One of my favorite memories is sophomore year Voice formal. It was one of the most chaotic events I have been to in my life. It was a combo of people who would never be in the same room together if it weren’t for the Voice. The majority of the Voice staff was intoxicated, some for the first time; there was a lot of truth-telling done that evening, and most of that truth-telling was people expressing how much the Voice meant to them. It was all love. And I knew everyone felt the same way as I did.
Conversely, what would you say is the hardest part of being in the Voice?
It’s been very difficult to hear the stories of people who are suffering because of wrongdoing done by the College or by the Wooster community as a whole; only to hear those stories dismissed or forgotten; instead of taking those stories as an opportunity to heal the community for all parties involved. Most of those stories still weigh heavy. It’s been a hard lesson to learn that you have to keep pushing, but sometimes you have to give up. Or let somebody else take the reins.
What is something that you’ve been the proudest of during your time here, like an article you’ve written or a direction you’ve pushed the paper in?
I’m very proud of the stories that we’ve published that we knew would get pushback from administration or students. I very much believe in the idea that everyone’s story should be told. I would say that I am most proud of the story that I worked on last year concerning Howard Lorwy’s sexual harrassment allegations. Despite how proud I am of that piece and the traction that we got in regards to renaming Lowry, I will always be disappointed that I wasn’t able to give the survivors more, and the name of a sexual predator will still be on the building for generations to come. My goal for the paper has always been to tell the truth and often those are difficult truths. I feel that I have pushed for that during all of my time here. I am excited to see the incoming senior editors continue to push the envelope and members of the Voice have for over a century.
What would you like the student body to know about the Voice and the work that is done there?
We work way more than you could possibly imagine. We get to the office around 4pm and senior editors often don’t leave until after midnight every Tuesday. It’s easy to criticize the Voice for whatever it may be, but always know that we are doing our very best and we do it for the students and we do it to tell our stories; to document our time here. And we also do it to hold the administration accountable for the promises they’ve made.
What do you hope to accomplish/who would you like to be after college?
I would like to keep telling stories. I don’t know what that means for me, I don’t know what kind of career I want to have. But working at the Voice in addition to my academic and personal pursuits have made me realize just how vital it is to tell stories. I would like to be authentic in my portrayal of myself and others.
