Callie Fedd is a Centenary English alumna who graduated last spring and served as The Conglomerate’s Editor-in-Chief during her senior year of 2021-2022. She worked on The Conglomerate since her freshman year at Centenary. During her career with The Conglomerate, the paper overcame the challenges of maintaining relevance for the student body, surviving during the pandemic, and facing the real risk of shutting down for good. On a personal level (and I say this because I’m sure anyone who knows her would agree), I can say she is the hardest worker you’ll ever know. She’s a woman who follows her passions to the end, someone who will help you however she can, even if she’s juggling ten things, and above all, a truly wonderful friend. Callie was one of many who fought to make sure the paper survived so the staff could  celebrate the release of its hundredth issue. I spoke with Callie to hear the trials and tribulations of writing for the conglomerate and the process she underwent to bring The Conglomerate back to campus while juggling her academics and other extracurricular activities. To summarize, and to no one’s surprise, she handled it with grace, wit, and superb timing. Here’s what Callie had to say during our interview. 

1. How did you hear about/start writing for the Congo?

It was funny…After I committed to Centenary, I started looking through OrgSync and saw that Centenary had a student-led paper. I expressed interest, and in the middle of July, I received a message from current EiC Lauren McHan and Reagan Petzold telling me that the Conglomerate was returning after a small hiatus and that I was invited to become a staff writer (all of this happened on Saturday at the Greenwood flea market).

I remember how overwhelming it felt to write my first article. It was a piece about eliminating the use of plastic straws that I ended up writing while I was in Paris with the help of my then-roommate, Mallori Smith.

2. What was working on the Congo like when you started?

It was simultaneously intense but not. The first issue of that year came out before the semester started, which meant that I, a first-year, was working on it during orientation and in Paris. Back then, we were publishing in a print format, so we were limited in what we could publish. Before we decided what to write, we needed to consider how long it would take to write, copy edit, format the paper, send it to the publisher, get it back from the publisher, and then distribute it. It was a small group of us, so if one of us fell behind, the whole system was disrupted. Consequently, because the group was so small, we really got to know each other. Altogether it was a collegiate and collaborative endeavor.

3. What was the Congo’s reputation when you started?

Again, when I started, it was coming back from a hiatus, so we had to rebuild the reputation. We did this by bringing copies of the paper to local restaurants–Strawns, Rhino’s, First Watch–and distributed them all across campus. We were an unexpected but pleasant, Centenary staple around Shreveport. People were fond of us!

4. What were the biggest challenges for the Congo when you started vs. when you ran it?

Well, when I started, I was just a kid. I was a freshman with a measly staff writer position, so I wasn’t involved in any leadership decisions.

I think our biggest challenge back then was finding article topics that would still be relevant by the time we were able to publish. This is because our turnaround time was much longer than it is now. Back then, we could take from one to three months for each issue, so it was hard to find topics that wouldn’t lose their relevance.

That relevancy problem became irrelevant when we went online in the Spring of 2022. We could suddenly produce and distribute work with a click of a button, and we took advantage of that with a bi-weekly publishing schedule. However, I think, at times, that resulted in us publishing large quantities of work that didn’t always meet the quality standards of previous versions of the Congo.

5. As someone who worked on the Congo when it died out, why do you think it went under?

COVID was what ultimately killed it. I was only a sophomore in 2020, so I only had supporting roles in student organizations, but I remember all these plans we had that we wanted to do. We had great ideas and future plans that just disappeared overnight when we had to leave school. And then we couldn’t get any answers about how long we’d be stuck at home because no one had them. No one knew! So we didn’t know if we could feasibly plan for an issue in April or May without a concrete schedule. Regardless of how much we had to write about during lockdown, there was no way to distribute the articles to the student body. Funnily enough, I think our publisher actually went out of business that year. It was like everything was conspiring against us.

6. How did you feel when you realized that the paper might actually shut down for good?

I was super sad! I had always wanted to work on the paper, but there was just so much going on. So it was understandable that it had to take the backseat.

But, you know, at the same time, I feel like that at the beginning of cOVID during lockdown,  would’ve been a prime time for the Congo. Had we been virtual then, the paper would’ve been a great way to spread information and stay connected to each other. It would have been a great outlet.

7. Explain the process of bringing the paper back.

Oh, wow, okay . . .You get ready to type.

So, I know people laugh when I say I never intended to do this, but I really didn’t! Every year, Mark Miller sends out an email to the student body, advertising media head openings. While I’d thought about it before, Reagan P. and Lauren M. were doing such great jobs, and I never wanted to challenge them, so I held off.

By the time Spring 2021 rolled around, I’d largely put the idea out of my mind. I figured a Comm. student would’ve been lined up to succeed Reagan. So, I chose to become President of the Film Society.

It wasn’t until August when I received an email from Professor Hawkins that I realized the opportunity was still there, and, of course, I wanted to do it! I had since I was a freshman, but I had already committed to Film Society. Luckily, both faculty advisors (Professor Hawkins and Dr. Hendricks) were very understanding. After discussing it with them, they agreed to bring my application before the media committee. The media committee voted me in; from there, it was just an effort of perseverance!

I don’t think a lot of people realize how many hoops we had to jump through to bring the paper back. First, we had to draft a constitution and organizational charter. We had to secure funding with SGA. And, once we decided on a format for the paper, virtual over physical, we had to build an online platform. After that, I received a lot of help from several of the students hired on the staff who helped me make The Conglomerate’s comeback a reality.  

Remi Miller was great. She was the one who handled most of our interactions with SGA and got us our funding.

As for Jordan,  I hope everyone knows that Jordan Fong is a godsend. She pretty much single-handedly built our website, and–once we had grown beyond the boundaries of Squarespace–she began to input her own custom code to fit our needs.

The Congo would’ve been dead in the water long ago if it wasn’t for the people that hopped on the bandwagon of bringing it back.

8. Why was it so important to you?

I have three main reasons:

1. It records the College’s history. That’s always been an important endeavor supported by our numerous organizations and student media. As we see, the Congo has always (consistently) played a vital part in that mission throughout its 100 year history. Especially now, with the Yonconpin (the school yearbook) being long out of commission, I felt it was more important than ever that the Congo be present and functional.

2. I think it is important that Centenary have a way for students in the humanities to practice the skills they’re learning in the classroom. The Congo serves as a way for (allows) students to practice their writing, photography skills, web design, budgeting, social media, marketing, multimedia techniques, and more.

3. I just wanted a chance to work on something with my friends, and I was lucky enough to be able to do that!

9. When you were trying to build the paper back up, did you feel like it was a one-woman show, or did you feel like there were others who shared your goal and helped make it happen? Were there groups who didn’t want the paper to come back?

It was never, not even in the earliest days, a “one-woman show.” I cannot overstate how many people contributed to bringing back the paper.

Of course, there was Jordan, who worked night and day and every weekend on building our pretty site. She attended every meeting. There was Remi, who got us our funding and developed our Multimedia Section (something none of us had ever before attempted!). Reece Maguire, Mackenzie Newlan, and LC Moffitt were there from Day 1, asking what they could do and where they were needed. Emilie Adams was blessedly dependable, amd Sarah Thompson was there for advice and comma splices. Phoebe Cragon (the smartest person I’ve ever met) spent every weekend listening patiently to my plans and frustrations even though she didn’t have time to take an Editorial Board position. And there was Dr. Hendricks, who was an invaluable critic, sounding board, and sympathetic ear. Nothing would’ve happened without those people.

If it had been a one-woman show, the paper would have crashed and burned before it even started.

As for people being against us – no one was just blatantly anti-Congo. That being said, there were some concerns. People were concerned about how I, as Editor-in-Chief, could divide my time across my various campus obligations and how the organization could be properly funded. There were also some voices of concern about The Conglomerate’s storied past and if the new staff would also have the tendency to ruffle some feathers. The paper has a ** history of challenging authority, and some people found that alarming.

10. What was your favorite thing that the Congo did while you were Editor-in-Chief?

It’s honestly hard for me to choose just one thing. Since we were online, we had brand 

new opportunities available to us that most of the previous editions of the papers didn’t. 

We took advantage of that from the very start, with the conception of the Multimedia 

Section and the utilization of different social media platforms. And, once we got our 

footing, we kind of got into this habit of constantly dreaming up and instituting new 

features. (Once again: Bless Jordan Fong, the one who actually bore the burden of 

creating the new features.)

We built an International News section (written solely in non-English languages),  began to use our own forms of advertisements and ‘student spotlights, and started making videos, podcasts, and Spotify playlists. I’ve loved all of those developments, but I have to say that I think my favorite thing the Congo has done is the “Misc. B.S.” section. It brought a lot of comedic relief to the Congo while I was there, and it continues to amuse me even now.

11. How did you feel having to leave the Congo after you worked so hard to bring it back?

There was only a brief moment in the Spring when I was worried because we didn’t know who would take over as Editor-in-Chief. Once Emilie Adams committed to being the next Editor, it all fell into place, and I knew I didn’t need to worry. How could I? Emilie is amazing! I’m constantly in awe of her maturity, responsibility, creativity, and leadership skills. She was a natural choice.

I wasn’t worried; I was more sad. I had been given this opportunity to make a hobby into a pseudo-job, to work on a passion project with my friends, and leaving that was very hard.

Final thoughts . . . . 

• I think it’s important to acknowledge the possibilities of the Congo being online and what that could do for other Centenary student media. I’m not sure that I agree that it’s the way of the world, but I do acknowledge the benefit of stability and permanence that an online format provides. I do find it funny to consider the differences between the first issue of the Congo and the anniversary issue (that’s being published online).

• A lot of students working in media organizations consider their work to just be hobbies. And that’s great! But don’t underestimate the value of your work just because you enjoy it or just because you’re a student. I cannot say this enough: the things you do at Centenary matter. The work you do on Pandora or The Conglomerate matters. These “passion projects” are tangible objects you can one-day point to and say, “I did this. This is my work.” They can land you jobs in the real world and open the door to opportunities you would never have dreamed of. Take pride in your work and know that it means something.

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