I Did Some Writing

This is a follow-up piece to an article published in Issue 2 of the Virtual Voice. Read the original here.

“As the title subtly implies, I don’t think of myself as a writer” were the first words I had published in this paper. Nine issues, eight photography columns, three club features, a few advice columns, and a cross country skiing article later, I’m starting to think that I might be a bit of a writer. I might have believed you if you told me at the beginning of the year that I’d be writing a photography column for a virtual school newspaper, and probably about the two podcasts I’ve been in too, but an advice column? Definitely not.

I’ve become a member of the music appreciation club, the guitar club, the photo club, and written things like articles about those clubs every month for the Virtual Voice. I don’t think I ever would have been involved in clubs like those in a normal year, and not just because there wouldn’t have been any room between whatever three sports I was currently playing.

The activities have been fun, and I’ve learned a lot of new things, but, as it always has been, my favourite part was the people. Especially because of this unusual virtual year, I’ve been able to meet new people from all over the city that I never would have otherwise. I did a podcast with a fellow columnist who I met a few months earlier in English class talking about New Year’s resolutions. I did another podcast with a member of the film crew who I’d never met and had a fantastic conversation about a shared passion of photography.

The Virtual Voice has been full of countless creative individuals sharing their unique voices, and even if I didn’t meet or collaborate with all of them it’s been amazing to see such a variety of engaging and genuinely interesting content every single month. I’m proud to have been able to contribute my little pieces to each issue and to have been part of such a great sharing of ideas.

I missed a lot of my friends, but I made a few new ones. I wasn’t part of my old teams and clubs, but I had a great time with the virtual ones. Instead of focusing on what I wasn’t going to get to do I embraced what new things I would get to, and it worked. Life is never going to stop moving or changing. Sometimes it’s what you expect, like moving from high school to university, or moving out on your own, and sometimes it’s something that’ll go in the history books, like a global pandemic. It’s up to you whether you move with it or not.

If you’re always looking for new opportunities, and not as nice lines on a resume or a way to win awards, but as real chances to explore and grow as a person, you’ll never be left behind. When I started this year, I wasn’t a writer, and maybe I’m still not, but maybe I am. Maybe this is a new skill that I can continue to develop and enjoy. Maybe it gets me involved in more opportunities and groups of outstanding people. Maybe this is the last school newspaper article I ever write. Any way it ends up going, I did some writing.

Editor's Note: Actually, Owen did a lot of writing! Click the pics below to check out samples of his work: