Every issue, The Megaphone tries its best to look balanced–a little news here, some culture there, like we’re the campus lovechild of MTV and The New York Times. But behind every “thoughtful fun editorial” is a Google Doc full of chaos, energy drinks, caffeine, and someone saying, “wait can we actually publish that?” We’re told our goal is to elevate the student voices on campus. Instead, we mostly want to expose the Wifi for emotional abuse. We’re also told to “focus on pressing matters or fun things happening around campus.” Cool…does that include the tragedy of  $7 iced lattes at the Cove? Or the ongoing frat saga…Greek Mythology that seems to treat their PR guys as a team sport. Truly inspiring; if the Olympics ever add Damage control as an event, they’d sweep gold. 

Let’s just say, the semester’s been generous with plotlines. Even though it’s much colder nowadays, you can still hear the whispers through group chats dropped on Fizz repackaged with someone who “heard from a friend who was there.” It’s like we’re living in our own season of Gossip Girl except no one’s rich enough to get away with it and everyone’s pretending they don’t read YikYak. 

If I were truly unfiltered, this issue would feature: 

“Why the squirrels are organizing and probably winning”

“The Untold Story of Group Projects that made people question Democracy” 

“When Brotherhood Meets Brand Management: How to Say ‘We Don’t Know Her’ or “If You Knew Her”  in Three Paragraphs or Less” 

Of course, we’d never name names (we value our printing privileges). This is all fictional, don’t worry. But let’s say some brotherhoods here might want to pencil in a values workshop to really work on being modern gents that doesn’t end in a mixer or open house. We could never write about what we hear; some are too spicy, some are too messy, some are just waiting for an apology statement to drop first. You know, the kind written in the Notes app with phrases like “doesn’t reflect our values of who we are” and ends with  “we’re committed to learning from these experiences”. 

But beyond the Greek drama, what we should be talking about is the in-between. The real campus experience, the 2am stairwell therapy conversations, the pit in the stomach after submitting an essay you so bull—…strategically improvised.  The strange solidarity of seeing someone in the library late at night and giving each other a slight nod that says “We are both suffering, but at least we’re suffering together.” It’s the ritual of opening Moodle with the hope of passing that test and now aiming for a C with the mantra  “C’s get degrees” just so you can make it to winter break. 

It’s the small stuff too, the latte you regret paying for but needed it’s caffeine magic to get through these readings for class, the joy of finally finding an empty study room, the random smile from someone you barely know that lifts your mood immediately. It’s the way this campus feels like a small village, where you can’t walk ten feet without running into someone you know, someone you’re trying to avoid and someone you forgot you took FYS with until they hit you with a “Hey!” you weren’t prepared for. It’s the whiplash of being both grown and not old enough, planning your career while also calling Mom to ask how long to cook chicken for so you don’t get sick, and then giving up entirely and making two hard boiled eggs because it’s easier and you’re tired. 

 Maybe The Megaphone should talk less about “campus happenings” and more about the moments that don’t make it into official statements: the small chaos, the quiet triumphs, and the ridiculous, hilarious ways we keep surviving each week. So, yes, maybe we won’t print everything we could say but what we can do is capture the heartbeat beneath it all. And whether you’re dodging professors, dodging deadlines, or dodging one particular fraternity, you’re stitched right into the fabric of our story. And if you read between those stitches, you’ll find the tea seeping through.