For the first semester campus editor Madison O’Connor and city editor Souichi Terada worked together, they weren’t really sure who the other person was.
They had one journalism class together, in fall 2016. Souichi slept through the class almost every time, they said.
Eventually, the two of them started texting and Snapchatting during class, and the communication increased during winter break.
Everything started to fall into place at the end of February 2017, when they told each other that they liked each other.
Then, they went to Chicago during spring break with a group of friends.
“I think it helped. It definitely wasn’t the end all be all,” Madison said. “It wasn’t like, ‘this was the moment that everything fell into place.’ But it definitely helped that we were able to spend time with each other outside the newsroom.”
When they started dating on March 18, they tried to keep the information quiet at first.
“We tried to keep it a secret,” Souichi said.
“Did we?” Madison asked.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. Don’t give me that.”
But, current Editor-in-Chief Rachel Fradette made sure the whole newsroom knew they were dating, Madison said.
The fact that they both work at The State News helps make their relationship work, Souichi said.
“Everyone says they hate The State News, but in reality we all love The State News so much. It’s just trendy and kind of fun to say, but at the end of the day that’s the reality, so that’s life,” Souichi said. “That’s how our relationship is, too. We both complain about The State News a lot, but at the end of the day, we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for this place.”
Having someone else who knows the amount of time that goes into the job makes their relationship stronger.
“The fact that I’m the campus editor and he’s the city editor makes it so The State News — it is mostly good. I would say that The State News has had a huge influence on our relationship,” Madison said. “We met here, we would hang out here all the time together before we started dating. We obviously work together, we obviously now work together in the aspect of posting stories together, making sure each other’s held accountable and giving each other advice. I think it’s definitely had an influence but it’s also a good influence.”
While their lives tend to revolve around The State News, they refuse to let it consume their relationship.
“As much as The State News has influenced our relationship, it’s also important to make sure that you’re not talking about it constantly or letting it consume your life,” Madison said. “Pretty much our time spent together is doing homework, State News stuff, doing puzzles and going to Cracker Barrel.”
They try to limit “shop talk” to an hour a day, they said.
“It’s kind of hard to say what our relationship is without The State News because we’ve never experienced that,” Madison said. “We will this summer, though.”
This summer will be the first time in their relationship without The State News in their lives.
“Summer should be interesting just because neither of us will be here,” Souichi said.
Souichi will be in Nashville and Madison will be in Grand Rapids for their respective internships.
“I’ll miss him a lot and I probably won’t get to see him very often, but I think at the end of the day, nothing’s really going to change,” Madison said. “It’s going to be a really good growth experience, not just for us professionally, but also for our relationship.
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