Media Participation Project: The Maryland Cow Nipple

For my media participation project, I decided that I wanted to write satirical news and have it published on campus. After talking to a writer for The Diamondback, she expressed that I could possibly start writing columns for them and encouraged me to attend the next meeting. After walking a mile to south campus and quietly standing during the hour long assignments meeting, I approached the editor with my satire pitch only to hear a, "sorry, we don't do that here." 

 

Disappointed, I walked back to The View and began researching possible satirical publications on campus only to stumble upon, The Maryland Cow Nipple, the school's dying satirical newspaper. Although I would definitely be given a smaller audience, I decided to try it out and contact the editor. He informed me of the first meeting as the staff of four met to discuss story ideas. In discussing story ideas, we really had to take a look at the recent trends and current events not only on campus, but also in pop culture. We tried to come up with story ideas that people can relate to and they might find humorous. 

 

The ideas we came up with varied from an article about the inner monologue of a freshman trying to find his class, to President Obama's conflict with Syria using the lyrics of Miley Cyrus. We came to the conclusion that the first issue should be called "The Freshman Issue." 

 

The Freshman Issue will run many stories about the cluelessness, innocence, lack of direction (physically and mentally) of the freshmen class of 2017. After discussing many story ideas, I came up with the notion of a freshman that is hiding in the tree because his parents told him to branch out in college. 

 

Immediately following the meeting, I went back to my room and wrote the article before having the pleasure of reviewing it with the rest of the staff the following week. 

 

So far, I have really enjoyed this experience and plan on continuing to write for The Cow Nipple for the next four years. 

 

At our meetings, just the ability to analyze societal trends, poke fun at pop culture, and depict realistic campus life not only makes for amazing conversation, but will also translate into hilarious articles that everyone can relate to.