From the editor
If you’re reading this, you may have some vague idea of who I am already. My name may sound familiar, it might incite feelings one way or the other as I have been known to get quite a few letters sent my way about my opinion pieces that I’ve published here at the Clarion. If not, it’s nice to meet you all.
To preface, I look forward to another semester with hopefully even more letters in my mailbox, whether it be electronic or in person to Building 6 Room 314.
Other than when a reporter goes above and beyond in their work, letters to the editor are my second favorite type of content to publish. If I didn’t care about the students at Sinclair, I sure wouldn’t spend the incredible amount of time I do and have for the past two years at the Clarion.
Part of that care is not only to offer my perspective or thoughts on an issue, but also to include the voices of our students and faculty who see something and want to be a part of the conversation.
My grandfather, Carl Day, was the first to get me interested in journalism. I grew up with it all around me. I spent plenty of days over at Channel 2. I’ve been involved with so many events in Dayton because of journalism and his love for Dayton.
Toward the end of his career, we worked together on a small series that aired called “A Brighter Day.” We would brainstorm ideas together and I would show him something that was a positive story to get positive coverage out there. That’s what he loved most.
We both had discussed how the world changes and that you can be a part of the changes for the better, so we made a short weekly segment to show content outside the unfortunate news that gets the views and dollar signs flowing.
I never imagined I would end up in love with the field myself, but lately I’ve been feeling a lot of his influence in profound ways.
My work is a testament to my dedication to providing quality, objective journalism and controversial, thought provoking or just generally infuriating yet otherwise effective opinion pieces. Even when I sound harsh, I’m an incredibly happy person and it all comes from a peaceful place of caring.
Sometimes, I feel there’s a certain light our paper gets on campus. Truly this is not directed at anyone in particular, I just felt it was important to make clear: I’m much more focused on highlighting our community than I am in giving you a piece of printed clickbait.
I’m not interested in pouring on a bias, particularly when a good portion of our content is directly about students. We genuinely love journalism. We chronicle a portion of what Sinclair students and our community are thinking about every week.
Going back, I first started with the Clarion two years back as the Social Media Editor. I took an interest in writing simply because I felt no one was speaking out about, well, mostly anything. This leads me to an invitation.
Passivity is no virtue in journalism. One of the Clarion’s closely held beliefs is that journalism can never be silent. That means I make people uncomfortable because I’d much rather they be uncomfortable about a topic than for it to be ignored. The alternative is unacceptable.
If you disagree with an opinion piece, and you want to seriously develop as a writer and journalist, join the team! I’ll be happy to welcome you.
Speaking of being uncomfortable, the only thing that’s possibly capable of making me uncomfortable is wearing white after Labor Day. Even that’s just an inside joke here at the office. My skin is almost as thick as my skull, some may contend.
Thankfully, I’m used to being entirely disregarded as a white male in my writings and general function in modern academia, so I’ve learned to love criticism and to take it well in the meantime. Thankfully as a gay male I have at least one card to pull to remind people that I am indeed a human being and not be too immediately disregarded.
Some people view me as a bit of a walking contradiction.
Although I don’t prescribe to some written in stone political ideology, the conclusions I’ve reached in life lead me to being what I would describe as conservative, not Republican.
At my core, I respect the massive power that change wields, so I do typically approach touchy subjects with a perspective that has formed around the power of change.
What would I say about myself? I’m the type that always needs a cigarette yet never smokes. I probably should, but I hate cigarettes. Instead, I’m usually twirling a pen in class between taking notes.
I used to be quite parenthetical. I don’t enjoy attention and am my harshest critic—and that’s saying something.
Like the text in our paper, sometimes you have to be bold and stick out. I’ve had the hammer come down on me plenty of times for sticking out; fortunately I’m quite resistant. I’m also not hateful about a lot of the losses I’ve endured for sticking out, there are risks for everything—some you don’t have a choice in taking. Life is a little bit of doing and a lot of managing the consequences, so you may as well make the most of what you do.
Really, I think life should be entertaining. Life should be fascinating. If you can’t find something to be fascinated while you’re living, you’ve got less to work with afterwards. For me my fascination is found in most things. My life is one fascinating experiment and I can be one mad scientist at times.
As for my background, well, I’ve worked in supplementary education programs for many years; I do costuming work, events and travel frequently.
I’m no fan of the town I’m from so I’m not name dropping them, but I am a fan of Dayton and graduated high school at Mound Street Academies.
I will be a proud Dayton graduate, twice in my lifetime. Maybe three or four times, that is if I am fortunate enough to further a degree after my time at Sinclair comes to an end.
This year as Executive Editor, I look forward to really going there with our topics. We’ve got a great, diverse set of minds behind the paper that are going to really get in touch with both highlighting the Sinclair community and talking about the issues we’re facing.
We have a lot of talented writers I look forward to publishing and seeing develop as journalists. I look forward to getting to know more of you at Sinclair and wish everyone a great semester.
Barton Kleen
Executive Editor