Uncategorized – Inside an Optimist's Mind

Recently, the newspapers of Harvard (The crimson) and Northwestern University (The Daily Northwestern) have been “under fire” for reporting on stories that caused controversy, and dismay among the student population. In Harvard, some of The Crimson’s journalists reached out to ICE, who the student government protested against, for comment. In response, the student government made the Act for a dream (look up) petition against the Crimson.

In Northwestern University, The Daily Northwestern, reported on a event in which Jeff Sessions, who is not supported by those on campus who are liberal-leaning, made a speech. Reporters from the newspaper also uses the student directory to reach out to those who protested at the event. Both publications received heavy back-lash, and eventually apologized.

In my opinion, the outrage among the students is understandable, as they probably felt that the publications were not empathetic enough. However, not all the criticism these publications received was deserved because it is the responsibility of journalists to report all sides of the story. Controversy will always be present and there will always be stories that certain people frown upon. This should not inhibit the press from upholding their responsibilities. Journalism and the press are being more scrutinized as the days pass by, and a lot of it is truly unnecessary.

First days of school with a different set of teachers are always interesting. When the teacher does roll call for attendance, I wait until he or she calls on my name. There’s always a chance that they’d stare at my name for a second or two before pronouncing my name as “Row-be”and I’d have to correct them. Some years, the teacher would alternate between “Raw-be” and “Row-be” throughout the entire school year. Other times, the teacher would mispronounce my name for the entire school year, and on a good year, all six of my teachers would get it right the first time.

My father told me that he wasn’t originally going to name me Rhobie, but as he was thinking of names, it crossed his mind. He liked the name’s pronunciation in Creole. Although my name is common, the way it is spelt is different. The name is also usually seen as masculine. Every once in a while, a friend of mine almost gets in trouble because by the spelling of my name, their parents think I’m a boy. One of my closest friends told me that when I sent him a message saying who I was, he also thought I was a boy. He assumed I had the wrong number since most of his friends were girls. There’d be instances in which people add an extra ‘b’ or neglect the ‘h’ in my name, or if I was really lucky, the person would do both. In most instances, I’d let out a sigh, or possibly shoot a glare and correct them. Other days, I did not have enough energy to care. One could only correct someone so many times.

Despite the mishaps associated with it, I’ve grown fond of my name. For as long as I remember, I never cared about fitting in. I don’t follow trends simply because everyone else does. I don’t want to be like anyone else — I don’t need to be. I’d rather stand out, and my name is one of the things that help me with just that. People would tell me, “I’ve never seen it spelt that way” or “You’re the first person I’ve met with that name,” and every time, I can’t help but smile. I’ll take the mispronunciations, and misspellings, and the failed attempts of others trying to give me a nickname any day. My name will always be a part of me.

Category: Uncategorized

Black-lash Towards the Press

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