Mollie Shiflett ’26 is a double major in history and linguistics, not that she knows what to do with that. She plays on Women’s Club Soccer Gold for the College of William and Mary and is an avid fan of most sports — except golf. Email Mollie at mrshiflett@wm.edu.
Avi Joshi ‘26 is an English major. He is a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and wind ensemble. Contact him at asjoshi@wm.edu.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own.
Dear readers,
It’s going to be hard as hell to concisely wrap up all of my thoughts on this wonderful section. I’m honestly stuck. I don’t want to be too dramatic and I especially don’t want to try and make jokes I know won’t land.
First, I want to thank my co-editor Mollie Shiflett. She’s an extremely hard worker, knows how to keep it real at all times and has written some truly amazing articles for this section. I couldn’t have asked for a better co-editor (and she could have definitely asked for a better one at some points).
Over the past two years, this section has grown quite a bit. We have been getting a lot of interest among interns and we have been receiving guest submissions — especially this semester — left and right. Yikyak loves us, the administration loves us, we can’t be stopped! In all seriousness, I am extremely proud of the growing popularity of our section on campus, and I want to extend thanks to everyone who has submitted an article to us — it takes a certain amount of courage to try and articulate an opinion that could be read by almost everyone in your immediate social circle.
However, there are still some things I want to see. With each new semester, I think more students are beginning to realize the opportunities to be heard through the Opinions section. Yes, we have movie reviews, food opinions and Adam’s stoic advice, but we also have a platform to spearhead meaningful discussions on this campus. So with that, I offer my last opinion of the semester: the Opinions section should never be boiled down to a section with only goofy articles. I’m not saying it ever has been — I actually think that the Opinions section has found a good balance between serious opinions and more fun ones. However, I want readers to understand that this section is a chance to call out bullsh—t. A chance to call out the incompetence of administration when it pretty much comes to anything. A chance to call out some of the more volatile parts of campus culture (I am keeping this intentionally vague, don’t want to ruffle too many feathers without digressing). The point is, please use this section. Use this section because what you have to say does matter (despite the troglodytes on Yik Yak who will say otherwise).
Best wishes,
Avi Joshi
Dear Readers,
First off, like Avi, I’m not exactly sure what to write for this… After all, I might still be doing this next year, so reminiscing seems premature. When I started at the Flat Hat, I didn’t really know what to do, and Opinions is something I just sort of fell into. I never expected to become section editor as a freshman (who would?) but I’m so grateful that I did, because through that, I met some of the best (and most interesting) people that I’ve ever met.
And I do need to thank Avi. For two years, he has been the best balancing point I could ask for. As someone with a tendency to take things too seriously, he has always known how to keep things light (and how to curate a great playlist once he finds a speaker).
Since we’ve reached (pretty much) the end of the semester, it’s time to start looking towards the next one. Hopefully the Opinions section keeps going strong. There are things we’ve done well and things that we could work on, but primarily I think that the most important thing that we grow is our ability to reach out to the student body. The opinions section should be a forum for discussion for everyone on campus, like Avi said. Not to put too fine a point on it, but student journalism does attract a certain type of person, so as much as I love the opinions associate editors and everyone else on staff who will write a quick blurb for us, they do have a lot in common with each other. If more different, diverse people contribute their opinions, this section can become a place for impactful conversations and the spread of ideas, which is what an opinions section should always be about.
But on a less serious note, I hope that everyone who writes an opinion has some fun with it. Lots of the opinions that people want to write are serious opinions, but writing should always be fun… or at least cathartic.
Mollie