Will Ulrich: The importance of telling stories

This editorial page is a place for stories.

Don't get the wrong idea. I don't mean to say that this is a pulpit for the airing of tall tales. If this campus's recent dalliances with plagiarism scandals teach anything, it's that the integrity of original composition is a value worth pursuing.

Rather, I mean that this newspaper's organ of opinion can only thrive when it serves as a launching pad for real-life nonfiction. The thousands of students, faculty, staff and community members that come across this newspaper have stories to tell. They have perspectives that can expand us, heart and mind.

In my two semesters as a columnist, I have become increasingly sure that the best way to do this job is to try to tell a story every week.

Some weeks were tougher than others. As a college senior, I spend a good chunk of time sleeping, at class, at my part-time job, at the bar or recovering from all four. As such, some days are barren of any fresh insights or events that make good column fodder. When I had a week with a bunch of such snoozers, flavor was hard to come by, but I still gave it my best.

Some of the columnists that have set up shop here in my four years at Penn have done a fine job of presenting wrinkles of their thought, week after week. They are able to make you both understand their perspective and care about what they have to say. They can tell a story.

To write a story -- in this sense -- just means to give your thoughts and perspective over to the reader in an honest way. When a column tells a story, it lets its reader know both what the author thinks and why this thought is worth listening to.

Although I decided on my own to try it as a columnist and drum up a fresh perspective every week, there are others who have stories thrust upon them.

I think of Mariane Pearl, the widow of slain journalist Daniel Pearl whose book deal was announced on Monday. The tragedy she has been forced to endure makes me wince, but she now has the chance to tell her story in print.

The world lost when Daniel Pearl was killed, but there may soon be people who gain from the unique perspective that Mariane can proffer.

I think also of Tom, an alumnus of my high school who may produce both a film and book about his interaction with firemen who lost their lives in the World Trade Center. I'm sure he feels strange about the prospect of benefitting from such horror. But isn't the world better off if his unique view is shared?

I think of stories I would like to hear right now.

Last week, news broke that one of the six priests to be suspended by the Archdiocese of New York for allegations of sexual misconduct was a man who served as assistant pastor of my parish during my adolescence.

I knew the priest in question well, but I know someone whose take on the situation would be fascinating to consult. Justin, a classmate of my brother's who is now in training to become a priest, was very close to the man in question and, as I understand it, looked on him as a kind of mentor.

How does a young man of faith deal with such events? What does he think of his mentor? What does he think of the furor around the church in recent months?

I have no idea whether Justin would want to write a piece for his campus newspaper, but I'm sure that his perspective could initiate active and potentially productive dialogue.

I'm positive that there are people reading this paper right now who have stories to share that are every bit as interesting as Justin's would be. There are Penn students who have the ability to shed needed light on this or other pressing issues.

In my time on the page, I've received e-mails from those with prescient insights to share. Much of the feedback unleashed on the DP's Web site is short on coherence, but plenty of it shows that people are out there thinking about the issues opinion writers discuss.

Given the breadth of experience borne by the Penn community, it's right to assume that there are great stories that are laying fallow, waiting to be told.

This page doesn't need blowhards or know-it-alls, but it does need those stories to emerge.

Will Ulrich is a senior Philosophy major from the Brox, N.Y.

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