Ask A Student: Matt Owen

A student-run newspaper should be read by the students, the students should want to read it, because the campus newspaper is writing about them. On release date, the students of Wheeling Jesuit should run to the new copies of the Cardinal Connection with as much fervent anxiety as tabloid obsessed celebrity worshippers. But, The Cardinal Connection gets little fanfare on campus.

In an effort to increase readership in the Cardinal Connection one must feel the need then to no longer be passive with the naysayers. I’ve heard all the complaints about the Cardinal Connection, and some of them (the overall blandness of the paper) I’ll entertain, but I get pissed off with the self-satisfied student proofreaders who say, “Oh, there’s so many mistakes in the paper that I can’t read it!” Well, you know, our proofreaders work hard, and they’re saddling a full course load. But, how can I argue if there’s nothing interesting to read about in the paper? How can I argue if there’s no substance to the paper? How can I argue if there’s no more than passive, monotonous as stoplights articles wallpapering the pages of the Cardinal Connection?

From day one I’ve been disappointed with the level of student involvement in the Cardinal Connection. I wanted to see more of my fellow students opinions in the Cardinal Connection. I wanted to read about more of the relevant issues that face college students.

In an effort to hear from the student body, I came up with this monthly column called: “Ask a Student.” The idea is simple: find a random student (stranger or friend) and ask them a series of topical questions and as a result maybe get to know someone whom you’d passed in the halls, but had not talked to. Well, my first interview didn’t work out quite that way, I interviewed two students and recorded their responses with my cassette recorder, but since I interviewed them in the library their voices did not pick up (note to self: do not conduct future interviews in library). But, I pulled myself together and, struggling on the other side of a deadline, I put together this interview with Matt Owen: a Freshman History Major, from North Caldwell, New Jersey.

Cardinal Connection: What’s your name and year?

Matt: Matt Owen Freshmen

Cardinal Connection: What's your major?

Matt: History

Cardinal Connection: Do you like WJU?

Matt: I enjoy it very much; it's become my home away from home

Cardinal Connection: oh, hey, I just looked you up on Facebook. Good taste. High Fidelity.

Matt: Thanks

Cardinal Connection: and James Dean

Matt: Yeah I actually wrote a paper on High Fidelity last semester

Cardinal Connection: What defines power? What makes a powerful person?

Matt: Um power is responsibility. A person becomes powerful by accepting that responsibility, this might sound like something out of the Spiderman movies, but those movies had a pretty decent point.

Cardinal Connection: lol. Question 2: what makes a person become a democrat or a republican?
Cardinal Connection: Why do we fight political rivalries?

Matt: I think a person chooses based on a few criteria, personal reasons being one of said criteria; people look to join a party that shares their values

Cardinal Connection: What makes the Beatles music so popular?

Cardinal Connection: And why do some ppl think they suck?

Matt: The Beatles didn't necessarily do everything the best, they just did it first and so much of what they did was ground breaking, they stopped touring in 1966, yet they continued to sell innumerable amounts of records, CDs, cassette tapes...etc

Cardinal Connection: Do you think human beings take enough social responsibility or not enough?

Matt: I think that as a race of people we fail terribly, so many of our number are impoverished and yes we do so much to try and fix the problem but no matter how hard we try we never give enough and we're fighting a loosing battle

Cardinal Connection: Why do we fail terribly? What do we fail terribly at?

Matt: There's millions starving, that shouldn't be happening but unfortunately it’s a very real and very terrible reality

Cardinal Connection: Final questions

Cardinal Connection: Is there hope?

Cardinal Connection: Are we evolving or rolling toward extinction?

Matt: Like I said, we're fighting a loosing battle, but there's always hope, hope that human beings as a species will realize that we need to take care of each other, hope for a better after life. We are constantly evolving whether for better or worse, I cannot say, time will tell.

Cardinal Connection: What inspires hope?

Matt: For starters, seemingly impossible achievements, service opportunities, and random acts of kindness.

Cardinal Connection: Yeah

Cardinal Connection: Insensitivity hurts

Matt: I can understand that, any more questions?

Cardinal Connection: No, I’m done

Cardinal Connection: Thanks

Matt: Sure thing

- Jared Gulley