Storytime

This piece originally appeared in the Media/Tech column of Walla Walla University’s student newspaper, The Collegian

Hey! My name is Matt Fennell. I’m a Computer Engineer, almost done with my junior year. Unlike most of you, I’m an east coast boy, from Maryland (Go Orioles!).

You may wonder what I’m doing here, in The Collegian. Honestly, I’m still trying to figure it out myself. Daniella just kinda left the office unlocked, and I thought for sure someone would’ve noticed and deleted this column before the issue went to print.

In all seriousness, I’m here for one reason. I love stories. I love TV, books, movies, podcasts, music, video games, and pretty much anything and anyone with a story to tell.  Surprise, surprise, I think everything and everyone has a story to tell. Next year, I want this column to be a place where I can share those stories with you.

I’ve put together a quick list of some of the stories I’ve been enjoying, to give you a little taste of what I hope to do.

Office Space is a Mike Judge film that somehow, despite being from 1999, feels just as current and comically tragic as every episode of his newest show, Silicon Valley. Bonus points to this one for the use of some truly inspiring hardcore gangster rap. Something about white guys smashing a printer while an angry dude shouts about the thug life in the background always makes me laugh.

Wolf in White Van is a cool little book that I read on the trip home this past weekend. It tells the story of a man left with a disfiguring scar after a tragic accident who runs a sort of choose-your-own-adventure pen pal service. He provides harmless escapism in his correspondence with his customers, until a few of them take the game too far. What sets this book apart is the way that it flows and sings, pulling you into this sad, bizarre dream of a story that the author so expertly shares. If this sounds like your jam and you want to borrow my copy, let me know!

Sawbones is the podcast I’m listening to while I write this column. It’s billed as a “marital tour of misguided medical history” from podcast emperor Justin McElroy and his wife, Dr. Sydnee McElroy. This is a fun, lighthearted and educational hour of weekly listening that covers such things as the science of Kombucha, the EpiPen crisis, and the bizarre and disgusting story of Tarrare, the man who ate everything (No really, he ate everything).

So, each week I’ll try to find a story that I, or the rest of the staff or one of you, loved  and I’ll talk about it for a little bit. If there’s a new book or movie I think you might like, or an awesome new album you can stream, or a TV show that you need to get up on, I’ll do my best to let you know. In addition to the more traditional media stuff, if something crazy is happening in the news, or in tech or sports, or just in town or on campus, I’ll try to find the story that will help you make sense of it.

Well, that’s about it! Thanks for reading this far, it means a whole lot to me.^[1] I want to do my best to make my 500-600 word chunk of this paper be something that you want to read every week. Tips or thoughts to point me in the right direction are always appreciated. You can shoot me an email at absolutely any time and I’ll do my best to get back to you.