A study of duality, Samantha Piper
By: The Class
Samantha Piper, 21, grew up in Marietta, Georgia. With its kitschy shops and abysmal traffic, Samantha calls Marietta a typical Atlanta suburb. She said it was quite varied, however, with areas of the city ranging from containing slums to Stepford Wives. With the location giving residents access to quality schools and downtown Atlanta, Piper said that Marietta also allowed for individuality and privacy too, and she was able to experience both rich and poor cultures. Her favorite place was a specific park that she watched grow over the years.
Piper originally wanted to go out-of-state for college but realized she couldn’t afford it. She ultimately chose UGA because she knew she wanted to focus her studies around writing and thought Georgia offered the best writing programs.
Piper’s favorite and best-written work is a piece that she wrote for a Women’s Studies course about transgender groups and the media. This is her favorite work to date because it allowed her to immerse herself in a new community. “I am a big fan of research, so I loved learning how to use the right language and be inclusive,” Piper said. “It really helped me understand how to properly use sensitive language and it was very intersectional.”
Hunter S. Thompson, who was a journalist in the 70s and 80s for Rolling Stone is one of Piper’s favorite journalist. Thompson created Gonzo Journalism, where he inserted himself into the article and where the creative of the story matters over facts. It’s very bizarre.
Piper’s favorite book is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. This enthralling tale is about a woman who, after enduring a troubled childhood, meets a man who sweeps her off her feet. But, he is not what he may seem. This psychological thriller takes place in the Jane Austen era, teaches lessons of independence and putting ones self first. It contains incredible word choice and flow, which is why Samantha loves it so much.
The most meaningful advice Piper has gotten is “something is better nothing”. Piper self-identifies as a perfectionist, but this phrase taught her to at least try and get something done even you think it is not good or perfect. She got this advice from a very close friend last year.
Piper is a fourth year but speculates that she will most likely be adding another semester onto her time at UGA. When she first came to the university, she wanted to pursue music journalism. “I really thought that was my big calling”, she says. But as she got further into the music side of journalism, she realized that she didn’t care for the heavy deadlines and concrete writing, saying she preferred more creative freedom than her major allowed. “The more I got into it, the more I realized I wanted to do… probably radio or magazine.” Piper believes that her career now is more headed “into [an] abstract space of creative production using communications hopefully in radio”.
Samantha savors dualities she finds at UGA and the Athens community as well as those between Athens and its surrounds. These include emphases on sports as well as academics at the school, pockets of downtown culture versus rural countryside, and relative liberalism of Athens within a traditionally conservative state. Piper will miss the richness of these dualities after leaving UGA in December of 2017.
Piper uses both a recorder and a notebook while interviewing. Her radio experience has made her appreciate how using a recorder causes you to examine your speech patterns and otherwise phrase things more coherently, and also appreciates the accuracy ensured by their use. However, she maintains that “you remember details better when you’re writing them down,” and thus likes to write down key phrases, spellings, and physical reactions that a recorder does not capture.
“I’d like to be out of Athens,” said Piper when visualizing where she would be in 5 years. She hopes to have graduated and moved on, joking that otherwise, she would be stuck in Athens forever. “I would hopefully see myself moving to Chicago.” Piper said that she has always wanted to live in the north where it’s colder. She mentioned that in addition to the cool weather, moving to Chicago would allow her to be closer to her family. As for her job, Piper is stuck between wanting to work for a magazine or radio station. At this current time, she writes pieces that can work for both career paths until that decision needs to be made.