It wasn’t so long ago that I attended an Op-Ed journalism conference in Atlanta for women writers.
The idea behind it was to start to take the conversation about what women can be and should be “allowed” to write about (‘think pink’ topics like features, recipes, fashion, travel, and softcore porn) to another higher level and start to invade areas of journalism that have always been dominated by male journalists, particularly white male journalists.
White Folks: “Hell, we eat chicken and watermelon, too.”
Who says “white guys should have all the fun“?
The takeaway value I got from that experience (besides the “scholarship” that got me in without me having to find sponsors to help pay for it), is that I am “an expert” who is qualified to write about the hard topics, particularly the ones I am closest to that have impacted my own life the most.
True enough, I don’t always keep to “formula” when I write now, but as our mentor-aggregator Chloe said “Don’t ever tell anybody I gave you a formula for writing Op-Eds, I’ll deny every word of it.”
The basics were: Do your homework before expressing an opinion, make a killer opening statement (hook or ‘lede’ – yep that’s how you spell it), and whatever you do, keep it as short and sweet as possible (under 900 words), unless you’re doing an Op-Ed series.
[To be sure *wink wink* – inside joke] I do my homework.
I shoot from the hip on ledes, even though my Urban Intellectuals editor whose name will remain “Anon Y Mous” tends to change my headlines (I admit that I jump the gun with those, too), and I do tend to go wayyyy past 900 words most (some? all?) of the time because, well, I’m passionate about my topics and the freedom that I get to choose them and angle them the way I want, even if I get slammed with a “last-minute” something that fell out the High Radar gates. Even if I get slammed period, because someone else hates that I took that point of view with it.
This is a public Open Letter of appreciation that goes out to the folks who welcomed me into that Op-Ed circle with open arms and gave me the wings I needed to fly after I clipped them off myself. I used to have a lot of self-hating self-talk like “I’ll never write for a major publication because I’m too old, it’s too late, I’m not an expert at anything, and besides, I tend to be a bit ‘rough around the edges’ when it comes to my Black people and racism in America.”
For those who have asked advice from me because I’m getting more page views than I even thought was possible at one time (UI editor said “Howdayhayell you got 40 page views before I even get a chance to read the article?” I’m like “Connections, LOL.”), all I can say is … do what Op-Ed taught me to do — go with your gut instinct and the hell with the rules, break ’em all … after you know what they are first.
The rules of good journalism give you the direction to take and the confidence you need when you get ready to toss them in the garbage. You have to find your own truth, not someone else’s. Besides …
Dr Frances Cress Welsing
Media Fallout is good.
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Reference
So…who da heck is Zoe Barnes and Slug Line?
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