Hello! My name is Drake Ogden, and as of this fall semester I will be assuming the position of student editor for the Trident! I am very excited to begin writing and publishing articles, and I wanted to let you, the reading audience learn a bit about me and what I plan to do with my time here at the Trident.
This is currently my second year at Ohio Wesleyan, and I am majoring in History Education and Medieval Studies. I was born in Columbus and I was raised in Powell, just 20 minutes south of Delaware, so it’s safe to say I am not very adventurous in terms of college location. But OWU happened to have a great AMRS program, and things like the Trident and theory to practice grants helped me realize this was the school I wanted to go to, and it ended up being my top choice. I definitely appreciate my choice and I hope that I can enjoy my years here to the fullest before moving on to graduate school.
My interest in medieval history goes back very far, but my passion for studying it started in highschool, when I decided to buy The Merovingian Kingdoms 450-751 by Ian Wood. I was sucked in by the period and the extraordinary people of that era, and ever since I’ve had a deep love for the Merovingian Period of medieval history. I kept getting books and adding to my collection until I had a little library of my own, and I knew from that point that what I really wanted in terms of a career was to be a historian.
As the new student editor for the Trident, I hope to make this publication first and foremost a place for diversity and education. By its nature, an AMRS magazine already incorporates subjects from many times and places, but I hope to make it so that this magazine reflects both people and places from all corners of the globe, and highlights experiences and ideas that may not always see the spotlight; the Ancient, Medieval, and Renaissance periods were host to many diverse peoples and cultures and it would be a shame if lesser known subjects didn’t receive any attention. I also want to begin publishing interviews of faculty in the AMRS departments and of AMRS majors to pay special attention to the community at OWU and the various backgrounds that led us all to become passionate about history.
I’d also like to take this chance to extend an invitation to the community of readers at Ohio Wesleyan to help me in this project. If anyone would be interested in writing an article for this magazine, whether they are an AMRS major or otherwise, I would be extremely happy to help! The Trident does not have any permanent writers, so we rely on community participation, and to that end I urge anyone reading this to consider trying their hand at writing about any topic related to the AMRS field; whether you want to talk about a specific historical figure, an aspect of past culture that you find interesting, or even just talk about your trip and what you learned, we would be happy to help edit and publish it here! You can contact me at dpogden@owu.edu if you are interested, and if you need any help with making an article or even coming up with an idea on what to write about I’d be happy to oblige.
My hope is that this magazine can become the center of a community of readers and writers who have a passion for the past and want to share their varied experiences with various unique topics. I would love to see the magazine grow and prosper during my time here, and I hope all of you will be able to help me to that end. You can expect new articles in the coming weeks, so I hope you’ll stay tuned!
