My 17-year-old self fell for the glossy ACU recruiting brochures – hook, line, and all-but-guaranteed MRS degree.
My overly optimistic plan for my ACU career included declaring four majors, dating a handsome guy every weekend, being a social club butterfly, and, in a shining, glorious moment, starring as a Sing Song hostess. I’ll pause while the people who know me stop laughing.
One other item on my checklist was “Optimist editor,” and as soon as I discovered the ACU subculture of the Optimist, I abandoned those other ambitions to focus on the Optimist. All journalism majors study news writing and editing, media theory, communications law, and publication design, but only a dozen or so students worked full time on the Optimist. The paper was our laboratory in which we blended our new-found book smarts with a splash of idealism, a dash of chutzpah and a teaspoon of naiveté, and, twice a week, displayed our concoction in black and white for the entire school to judge. We attempted to be the voice of the students and watchdog of campus activities. Our staff covered some important, memorable stories, and also made many mistakes. I personally wrote many poignant, spiritually mature or side-splitting opinion columns – except for the 9 times out of 10 when I didn’t, so I hereby apologize to all 17 people who actually read my columns.
The mid-1990s Optimist staffs were among the first students on campus to have 24-hour access to the latest and greatest technology like Mac computers, photo scanners, digital cameras, and the text-only World Wide Web. The idea that future journalists could file stories from the remotest jungle seemed intriguing, but impossible. I never dreamed that in 2011, millions of individuals with smart phones could unite within a war zone or a peaceful protest, or share the burst of joy the very moment a child is born and the emptiness of a hospital room after a loved one exhales one final time.
If we are currently living in The Future, then predicting the technology of 2111 is impossible. The people of 2111 would laugh at anything I might predict here. Flying cars, finally? But certainly, the Optimist through the next 100 years will endure as a laboratory for stories important to college-age students. May the Optimist continue as a forum for diverse viewpoints. May the Optimist continue to provide sensitive coverage of important issues for Christians – poverty and wealth, race and privilege, sexuality, mental health, addiction, women’s rights, and of course, religion, faith, and how the ACU students of the next century pursue life in Christ.
Congratulations on 100 years. I’m optimistic about the next 100.
