Emily Hoeven | You are what you think

Growing pains | Why I write (and will keep writing) about growing up

By Emily Hoeven 04/25/16 11:26pm

When I applied to be an opinion columnist a year ago, I wasn’t quite sure if I fit the mold. Most opinion columns I’d read, whether in The Daily Pennsylvanian or in national newspapers, were about politics, economics or controversial things. But even though I like discussing politics and economics and controversy, whenever I sat down to write a column, I never found myself actually wanting to write about those subjects.

Instead, I naturally gravitated toward my personal experience, the things that I went through in everyday life that were representative of the process of becoming an adult. Hence the title of my column: “Growing Pains.”

When I first became a columnist, I was told that different DP alumni critique every issue of the DP and send in their feedback so that we can improve the paper. The first time I received a critique, I was on pins and needles. It was similar to the ones I would receive over the next two semesters: “Great story, but perhaps something that belongs more on a blog than in a daily newspaper.” “Too reflective.”

Over time, I began to doubt the importance of my column and to question both what I was writing and why I was writing it. If my columns weren’t addressing important policies or legislation or attempting to answer difficult social justice questions, were they serving any purpose for the Penn student body?

About halfway through the year, I met with Alec Ward, another DP columnist who often writes about political issues and university policies. I told Alec I was considering changing the focus of my column, and asked him if he had any advice about how to go about writing political articles. During the course of our conversation he asked, “What do you think about the most? Whatever that is, that’s what you should write about for your column to be the best it can be.”

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that my column was what I think about the most. I am fascinated by what it means to grow up, by the roller coaster of experiences as we transition from young adult to adult, the decisions we have to learn how to make, the consequences we have to live with, the unique, irreversible sensation of edging closer to our adult lives and further from our childhoods.

And to be honest, I do not consider any of that to be less important than politics, economics or controversial issues. Newspapers ought to have articles that speak to the complexity of the human experience as well as articles that speak to the complexity of the issues of the modern world. After all, the things we experience now, the choices we make now, the people we meet now, the emotions we feel now shape our opinions, our identities and our interactions — just as laws and politics shape the world that we live in. And while questioning institutional authority and brainstorming solutions to wrongs that we see around us is a fundamental part of being an informed citizen, it is just as fundamental to question and reflect upon the processes that take place within ourselves as we grow up. We cannot forget that the microcosm is just as significant as the macrocosm — nor that the microcosm is what shapes the macrocosm.

I hope that my column has served the purpose of encouraging the Penn student body to reflect upon their own experiences and feelings as college students, as they grow up — and to realize that those experiences and feelings are intrinsically connected to those of the students around them. I know that it has certainly served that purpose for me.

Writing this column has allowed me to better understand the depth and complexity of what it means to be an adult-in-progress, and I think that’s because I was able to share it with you, my fellow adults-in-progress. All I can really say is, thank you for allowing me to share my experiences, share my insecurities, share my thoughts, share my opinions, share myself. And thank you to those, in turn, who shared themselves with me.

Chances are, I’ll still be writing about growing up next year.

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