Madeline Funkey: Finally finding an outlet in the Harbinger that provided a sense of belonging and allowing her to grow outside her comfort zone

Slouched in the back of my freshman year journalism 1 class, attempting to blend into my chair while listening to Dow Tate absolutely tear apart my crappy, underwhelming design on the screen in front of everyone, I was introduced into the abundant, and sometimes humbling, world of journalism. 

Dissecting frogs, navigating the bewildering world of Shakespeare and finding the missing degree of a triangle was all I knew — but it never tickled any interest in me. Journalism opened a whole new world of learning I never experienced before — I was finally finding my niche. 

Junior year. I had just quit the Varsity Drill team after dancing for two years at East and I felt a loss of identity in school. Instead of dwelling on it, I took that loss as a sign to try something new, so I joined Harbinger. 

With the pandemic sending us online in the fall of 2020, I entered my first year like a  lost little puppy through a screen of brand new faces. Thank God for Google because I took my learning to the Internet if I needed a tutorial on design, but if I wanted any other help I had to put on my big girl pants and call or FaceTime one of the editors — which happened more times than I’d like to admit.

My first experience designing was treacherous. The story was about AP test scores, and after many YouTube tutorials on how to use InDesign, drawing out my layouts in a notebook and racking my brain for a clever headline, I finally finished — only to have the head editor redo the whole page. 

I was speechless when I picked up the printed issue and saw my unrecognizable design. But this revved my inner engine, making me want to succeed even more in the next issue. And the next. And the next.

I craved the challenge of navigating through learning new keyboard shortcuts for design and telling people’s stories through writing. I enjoyed the ritual of creating an outline, interviewing, transcribing and creating something that people want to pick up. 

And through writing other people’s stories, I learned to create my own. Stories gave me structure, and structure gave me confidence. No feeling will ever match up to when the paper finally publishes every other Monday and you hear the feedback and buzz from your peers. Walking past clumps in the hall talking about their friend in a feature story or debating over an opinion piece makes me proud to be a part of something that reaches audiences. 

The most appealing part about this publication is that you aren’t put in a box. Tate makes sure we understand as students, and journalists, that even if your title is a “staff writer” that doesn’t mean you can’t get a little uncomfy and try something new, like when I made a sports hype video.

Even though these two years on staff have felt more like 12, I can confidently say Harbinger has not only provided an outlet for me to create, but a sense of belonging within the walls of East. I walked in room 413B inexperienced and apprehensive. I can confidently say I am walking out with a strong, confident voice and many memories and life-long relationships. 

Through telling other people’s stories I found my own narrative.