I’ve decided Sundays are the perfect day to hit New York City and simply walk around. Inspired by the popularization of the “hot girl walk,” I paraded West Village and SoHo until I found myself in Washington Square Park. The classic characters of the park were there: DJs, performers, Tik Tokers, art vendors, NYU students, etc. But one character I wasn’t expecting to meet was the kind elder man who asked if the seat next to me was occupied. As someone who usually keeps to myself, I try to limit my interactions with strangers, but I ultimately obliged and scooted over to the right side of the bench.
Initially, I had my earbuds in, and I quickly planned my escape route. I would stay on the bench for a few more minutes and then eventually leave; it was time for me to get back anyway. I began to think about all the homework I had left to do for the weekend and the fact that I had to finish writing my editorial for this week, but that train of thought was interrupted by the man asking how my day was going. I replied in short phrases, not interested in engaging in conversation. But then, the man began to describe his experiences in the legal field, our shared love for walking in NYC, and the recent trip he took to Maine. After a few minutes of exchanging pleasantries, I became curious about the man’s backstory, his experience in the legal field.
And so began an illustrious conversation ranging from topics about quantum computing, the U.S. Constitution, Stevens (apparently Stevens was originally named Stevens H. Institute of Technology, which was quickly changed for acronym purposes), Columbia University basketball games, and eventually, newspapers. During his college experience at Columbia, he had served as the Managing Editor of the Columbia Daily Spectator (CDS), Columbia’s daily student newspaper.
CDS is a daily student paper, with print issues that used to be delivered at 9 a.m. every weekday. The Stute on the other hand, is a weekly publication, coming out once every Friday. From all the stress and effort that goes into churning The Stute out every Friday, hearing about a daily student publication seemed almost unfathomable.
We also discussed the issue of readership: how do we get more people to read the physical copies of the paper. I mentioned that our Google Analytic for thestute.com showed an immense increase in readership in recent years; however, readership of print copies have only slightly increased. The man posed some interesting questions that gave me a lot to think about: “What in the paper makes STEM students want to pick it up,” “How is the paper advertised around the campus?” While of course The Stute is hyper aware of our readership, it’s in our best interest to really focus on how we can get more people to read the paper. It’s also important to keep in mind the reach of The Stute as well. Just this past week, one of our opinion columnists was DMed on Instagram by an artist she wrote about! So it’s also about how we can reach the Stevens community and broader Hoboken/NYC community as well.
Other things we discussed included position hierarchies—there was little difference between our two organizations—and responsibilities, the excitement and aesthetics associated with deciding the paper layout, collaboration across student newspapers at different schools in the Ivy League, the effectiveness of TV as a news outlet, the idea of compensating student newspaper staff, and everything in between. The breadth of conversation topics of newspapers is truly never ending.
Ultimately, I left this conversation feeling inspired, driven, and more enthusiastic because there’s much to be gained from taking time to talk about the news. I never thought I’d take away this much from a random conversation with a stranger, but I’m glad to have gained a newfound perspective on the broader world of student newspapers. All because I took a walk in the park.
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