To our readers,

With the help of MFJS Professor Dr. Lynn Clark, we asked our past members and some of our current members to send in any comments they had about what the Clarion meant to them. Please enjoy this collection of eloquently written stories from staff members of over 55 years.

Mike McPhee

I wrote my first published stories, with no training or experience, for the Clarion during my freshman year in 1969-1970. Chip Berlet was editor at the time. 

I had just returned from 12 months of combat duty in S. Vietnam, where I was awarded two Bronze Stars during the Tet Offensive in 1968. I was quite angry about the war and disillusioned that our country could destroy such a lovely country as S. Vietnam and its lovely people.

So I joined the protests during “Woodstock West,” the shanty town erected on the campus to protest the war. I had wonderful, late-night discussions with many of the foreign students at the Graduate School of International Studies, who had the “book-learning” about S. Vietnam while I had the “hands-on, muddy-boots” experience of being there. We all opposed the war but I wrote a few clarifications about Nixon’s leadership of the war, particularly his “Vietnamization” program of getting the ARVN soldiers to do more of the fighting.

After the National Guard pulled down the shanty town, effectively ending the protests, Chip gave me various general assignments as a reporter.

Based on those experiences, I eventually transferred to CU to major in journalism. I then spent 35 years as a print reporter, mainly for Associated Press in Boston, New York and western Europe. I spent my last 15 years reporting for the Denver Post, where I shared a Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News for coverage of the Columbine High School carnage. I retired in 2011 and have written eight books since.

I had a terrific career and give much credit to my start at the Clarion. I am very grateful for my experiences at DU. 

Connor Davis

No one is too cool for the Clarion.

I distinctly remember thinking I was too cool for The Clarion.

“I’m a magazine guy,” I said. “I already interned for SKI Magazine,” I said. 

But my professor at the time, Andrew Matranga, told me otherwise. And politely made it clear that A) I wasn’t that cool and B) a 2-month internship didn’t make me better than anyone.

Thank you, Matranga.

I stumbled in, stoned, to my first school newspaper meeting at some point in my freshman year. And it was nothing like I expected. The lounge of Driscoll — which at the time was a dark and damp place built of carpet and brick — was bursting with conversation. Writers, designers, illustrators, editors and photographers were all jamming on new ideas for the next issue. 

All my life, I’d been a closet writer. More focused on sports and girls and weed than connecting with like-minded creative people. And in this moment, I felt a shift that would shape the rest of my life. I was all in on The Clarion and pitched my own column in that first meeting.

If I could tell the whole story, I would. But fast forward a couple of years from that first day — and I’m standing in front of The Clarion staff, giving my pitch to be the next Editor-in-Chief.

Fast forward from that, and I’m spending my entire summer before my senior year rebuilding the office and redesigning the entire newspaper.

I’m physically delivering newspapers to every table in the library, in hopes of finding new readers. I’m getting story ideas from students at 2 a.m. I’m pouring everything I have into this paper, which not long before, I thought was a total joke. How wrong I was.

And how right everything became. Working at The Clarion directly led me to my dream job: an editor at FREESKIER Magazine. I traveled the world writing about my passion. I met my heroes. I finally knew what I was doing — or was closer to it.

I now run a creative agency in Portland, Maine where we produce videos, photos, design and more for some of the best brands on Earth. My writing impacts every single thing we make. And my writing would not be what it is without the Clarion — nor would my understanding of business.

I don’t know how much my classes really taught me at DU. But The Clarion taught me everything I needed to go into the world and chase a life of meaning.

And that’s damn pretty cool.

Andy Clayton (’94)

Writing for The Clarion and serving as sports editor my senior year was a real highlight of my time at DU. I wrote for the newspaper from Day 1 on campus (and was sadly on staff when the University shut it down for a time … a story for another day). I returned junior year to cover the baseball team led by the legendary Jack Rose and then took the top job in sports for my final year. Regular meetings with AD Jack McDonald and hockey coach Frank Serratore stick in my memory. Hockey star Angelo Ricci was always willing to provide the perfect quote. The memory of a phone call with future NHLer Erik Andersson will always make me laugh as ham radio interference on my landline (yes, I’m old!) had Erik enduring f-bombs coming from some random dude in his basement. And, of course, the story I tell way too often about the time I picked DU’s starting goalie for a Saturday game against St. Cloud. Writing for The Clarion gave me the confidence to pursue a career in sports journalism, a career I’m still enjoying to this day.

David Von Drehle (’83)

The Clarion was a lifesaver to me. I managed to connect with no one as a first-quarter freshman. I imagine I was the loneliest boy on campus. In desperation, I slogged through winter snow to the ramshackle house that smelled of leaking gas where the Clarion was headquartered, just waiting for someone to light a cigarette in the wrong spot and blow the place to smithereens. Managing Editor Bryan Walsh assigned me some sort of story, and a couple of days later I had my first connection to DU, plus five bucks.

Over the next year, I found friends and we schemed together to take over the paper and the programs board and the student government. We had so much fun scheming. The Clarion was utterly lawless and undirected. As long as we were willing to risk death by natural gas explosion, we were free to do as we pleased. We covered an amazing time in DU’s history: near-bankruptcy, the massive fire that destroyed Buchtel Chapel, the purchase of failing Colorado Women’s College.

I don’t think I ever worked harder or enjoyed it more. I know I never learned more in a shorter period of time.

Sara Castellanos (’09)

The Clarion gave me my first taste of journalism. When Lance Armstrong and the Dalai Lama visited campus, I wrote about their speeches. I was first to report on a fraternity scandal, which helped me understand the high-stakes nature of exclusives and scoops. In the beginning, I admittedly relied on most of my friends to give me quotes for stories. I realized later that I needed to diversify my sources. I got hooked on the thrill of seeing my name in print — tangible evidence of my ideas and work. I have fond memories of late-night edits, birthday cakes and pizza, and trying to fill space with house ads or blurbs about quirky campus safety calls. My time at the college newspaper helped prepare me for a real-world newsroom, and I’m forever grateful. 

Grace Carson (’19)

Without exaggeration, I can confidently say that my time at the Clarion helped shape me into who I am today. It made me a more confident and outspoken person. It helped me find my voice as a young adult, and that is something that I carry with me today. While I did not end up pursuing a career in journalism, I use the skills that I learned as an Executive Editor for the Clarion daily as a lawyer and as an aspiring legal scholar. From leadership skills, to writing and editing skills, to interviewing skills, to graphic design skills… every day of my career I utilize a skill that I learned and/or honed during my time at the Clarion. It has been such a joy to see the life that the Clarion has taken after I graduated, and to see the very small part of its legacy that I was a part of live on. I am very proud to have been that small part. Long live the Clarion!

Nina Petrovic (’17 & ’20)

“One of the most important parts of journalism is giving a voice to the voiceless. We are here to amplify stories that may be otherwise overlooked.”

These were the words that would forever stick with me after attending a journalism panel as a college student in 2018. At that moment, I realized being a reporter meant more than covering the news. It meant possibly changing a person’s life simply because they were given an outlet they could express themselves.

In writing for the Clarion, I learned to amplify my voice as well.

At the beginning of my run as a Clarion editor, I had one goal: to find myself again and forge a new identity outside of what was forced upon me. I grew up being taught that women were seen and not heard. It was “impolite” for a woman to voice her opinions in a male-dominated world. That part of being a good woman meant staying quiet.

The Clarion taught me that these beliefs weren’t true.

One of the most impactful memories of the Clarion was covering Brett Kavanaugh being sworn into the Supreme Court in 2018 and the type of message it sent to survivors of sexual assault and violence. A woman speaking up about what happened to her meant the possibility of not being believed and possibly shunned. Meanwhile, a man in power could easily brush those allegations aside and rise in rank. 

When watching and hearing updates on Kavanaugh’s nomination, I felt angry and hurt. I was angry for the women who would never be believed. I was hurt for those who may never have the opportunity to share their experience with an empathetic community. On top of it all, I faced inner turmoil about bringing my own story to light.

Writing for the Clarion pushed me to share my own story. That is a decision I have never regretted. 

Due to the emotions, I felt for myself and women like me, I collaborated on an Op-Ed about the Kavanaugh nomination where I answered the question of why assault victims sometimes stayed silent by candidly sharing my own experience. 

I realized through writing this that I had one goal: to ensure no one who was in my position felt alone the way I had felt. Someone who may have faced a similar experience would come across that article and realize there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. There is hope and there will be a day where you will look back and realize how far you’ve come. No one can take that away from you.

The Clarion gave me the voice I couldn’t find for a while: my own. Whenever I get sent in to deliver hard news to clients or push back on strategies, I think of all those years ago when the Clarion gave me the first push to be assertive. My nickname “The Enforcer” at my job wouldn’t be without the Clarion and the strength it gave me to speak up.

Riley Laub (’25)

Last year, I added a legal studies major to my degree because I was unsure if I wanted to be a journalist anymore. 

I had fallen in love with the idea of going to law school, becoming a lawyer and basking in nice amounts of wealth and assets. This was partially due to (I would estimate) five professors telling me in their classes that journalists don’t make a lot of money and the market is being slashed and jobs are going away.

The other reason was because I didn’t like the idea of being in front of the camera anymore as a TV reporter or anchor. I also wasn’t sure if I wanted to be a journalist more than I wanted to be a lawyer, and that was the first time in my young life I had felt that way. I have been saying I have wanted to be a journalist for the past ten years. 

Last March, I became the Executive Editor and it was the best thing for keeping me pursuing my journalistic dreams. 

The first quarter started off with arguably the greatest news cycle in a while. We helped cover events like winning a national championship, the university changing from Aramark to Sodexo for custodians and the Pro-Palestine encampment. Putting in extra hours for this coverage gave me a great sense of a purpose and seeing how people reacted to our coverage gave me greater pride as well. 

We stayed at the library for four hours and I stayed up until 3 a.m. building the first print edition of the Spring Quarter. When I finished the design and grouped together the spreads, I stared at each page for a solid five minutes each, making sure every detail was on point. When we received the copies two days later, I felt so proud knowing I put a lot of effort into making something super cool. 

The last quarter with the Clarion pushed me to email every newspaper in Northern Colorado asking if they had any internship opportunities. Luckily, I landed one at the Loveland Reporter-Herald and I had an outstanding summer writing local stories. 

The Clarion revitalized my love for journalism. I can’t wait to continue to give it back to this great newspaper for the next two and a half quarters.