Jackson Free Press

"I get it once a week." That is the JFP marketing slogan. It's true; some people do pick up a copy of the paper every Wednesday. However, I'm disappointed by how few of those people are my peers.

My friends ask me what I've been doing this summer and I reply that I've been interning at the Jackson Free Press. There are three standard reactions to this answer: 1) "OMG cool!" 2) "What is that?" 3) "Bo-ring." Only around 2% (yes, I calculated that, using experimental data) fall into the first category. Even then, they use the texting abbreviation "OMG." It's as if local news is for old people. It's not cool to like Jackson, or even to wonder what's going on in your hometown.

At school, we have people running off to volunteer in Africa, but nobody cares about the issues we face right here in our city. Starving babies aren't exclusive to Ghana, ya know?

At the moment, I'm a bit disillusioned with my age group, but I understand. Before this summer, I'd only occasionally picked up a copy of the JFP and read maybe a few articles. Community interest stories just aren't extremely interesting, next to Student Council, detentions and Homecoming.

I feel that as we mature, though, we start to look outside ourselves and the walls of our school. We start to care about things that may not directly affect us. I know that my eyes are opening. I hope that a number of my peers will join me in learning about the way things are.

This week, I've started really respecting how much work goes into an issue. I've been having nightmares about Jackpedia listings. I have also come to realize that the people who get things done at this paper are motivated by their ability to enlighten and inform.

Curiosity is a basic human emotion. We just have to let ourselves be curious.

The answers, the information is in the paper. The paper is free. Why not read it?