That's precisely what the Southern DIGEST's Entertainment Editor (Newspaper Project Manager), Alfred "A.J." Griffith does, he uses his pen as a tool for his voice to be heard.
The Harvey, La. native said he has been fascinated with writing since he was a young child.
"When I was younger I used to write plays," Griffith said. "I loved writing and telling stories."
After graduating from John Ehret High School in Marrero in 1994, Griffith said he decided not to go to college, but work full time.
"I flipped burgers for about a year at McDonald's," he said. "College didn't interest me at the time."
However, in 1995, after a year of flipping burgers at McDonald's, he decided to join the Navy.
"I needed a change of scenery," Griffith said. "So I joined the Navy. I became an aircraft director on an aircraft carrier, and I was stationed in California and Japan."
Despite the fact that the consuming demands of the Navy entailed with his position of guiding planes on and off the board of ships, Griffith said he never stopped writing.
"When I was in Japan all I did was write," he said. "I wrote about everything. I stayed up many nights just writing letters. I wrote down what I thought and what I saw. I just couldn't stop writing."
After completing his four-year tenure in the Navy, Griffith said he returned to Louisiana and began working in a local fitness club. There he met a variety of people, mostly business people who would come in to workout during their lunch break.
"There I met a lot of people," he said. "A lot of professionals would be there during their power lunch break."
"Numerously, I would see a man dressed up in nice business suits, and I liked his style," Griffith said. "I always wondered what type of business he was involved with, so one day I decided to ask him. He told me that he was a writer for the Times-Picayune. His job interested me because I was interested in writing."
Unsatisfied with his position at the fitness club, Griffith said he enrolled into Southern University during the spring of 2001.
"I had heard a lot of good things about Southern from some friends of mine," Griffith said. "So I decided to apply."
A few weeks after attending Southern, Griffith stumbled upon a Southern DIGEST, and his attention was caught on the advertisement for the newspaper's need of staff writers.
"One day I picked up a Digest and saw that they needed some writers," Griffith said. "I was interested in writing so I filled out an application. A few days later I received a call that I had been hired so I came in and started writing in the fall of 2001."
Griffith joined the Digest staff as a general news writer. Even though he had been writing for several years before joining the university news publication, he did not have the experience of writing news. Not only did he not have familiarity of the newsroom, he did not have the knowledge of how to use a computer.
"When I first walked into the Digest, I didn't know how to write a general news story," he said. "I didn't know how to email or search the web, because I didn't even know how to use a computer. I just knew how to type."
Griffith said his first news story was published in the Digest on September 7 and was entitled, "SU students react to Aaliyah tragedy." The article discussed the feelings students on campus had about the tragic death of Aaliyah.
Though his first article was a success, Griffith said he knew there was more that he could do with his writing than just tell a news story.
"I was told by one of the writers that my style was more of an editorial type of writing," Griffith said. "But I was told that I couldn't write editorials until I wrote enough general news stories. So I continued to write news stories."
After a few news articles, Griffith was finally given the chance to write an editorial and they were a success. Many students said they were thoughtful and filled with great sincerity.
Griffith eventually went on to become the Opinions editor in the fall of 2001.
Since the fall of 2001 Griffith has graced Southern with his honest and philosophical opinions which are published biweekly in the Digest. Numerous readers said they enjoy his rational way of thinking and interpreting a story in the form of writing.
"I love A.J.'s style of writing," said Olyyhia Essien, a junior apparel merchandise major from Seattle. "I love his stories because they each have a deep message embedded within them."
Others said his editorials act as a mouthpiece for those who are too reticent to speak up for themselves.
"Practically everything A.J. writes is what I feel," said Shree Bostick, a sophomore English major from Atlanta. "In his writings he is saying everything that I want to say but can't. I am thankful for each and every one of the articles that he has written."
Though Griffith has received many praises for his viewpoints, he has received the same amount of criticisms. Nonetheless, he said he is not apologetic for anything that he has ever written.
"When I write, I just write," he said. "I just have the need to keep it real."
"I write as if no one is going to read what I have written," Griffith said. "It's like I'm writing in my diary, but it's a diary that thousands of people are going to read. I don't have any regrets, because I'm writing in my diary."
Griffith graduates December 8, with a Bachelor's of Arts degree in secondary education. After he receives his degree he said he will be employed as an English teacher at Glen Oaks Middle School in Baton Rouge.
There he plans to utilize the skills that he has obtained from Southern, in his teaching methods.
"I am going to make reading and writing fun and interesting for the children, because many of them don't like to do either one," Griffith said. "I will take what I've learned from being at Southern and apply it to my classroom."
Teachers, administrators and faculty are excited about how much Griffith has grown during his time at Southern.
"He's a true credit of what a young black man should be," said Derick Hackett, director of Student Media at Southern and faculty advisor of the Southern DIGEST. "He's always been respectful, professional and dedicated to achieving his goals, and one of his goals was to achieve his degree from Southern."
Hackett also said, "Reading his writings and seeing him grow and develop as a person and as a young man, (It) really makes me proud to see him achieve his goals, and graduate from the university."
"I wish him all of the best in the world and whatever he does I know he'll go out and represent himself and Southern very proudly," Hackett said.
Though his absence from the Digest staff will be evident, Griffith said he will never forget what he gained from going to Southern and being a part of the Digest staff.
"I don't have any regrets about coming to Southern or joining the Digest," he said. "Southern opened up a whole new world for me. I got the chance to grow a whole lot."
"I didn't know who I was before I came here," Griffith said, " I am thankful for a lot of the people that I have met. A lot of the teachers pushed me, and didn't let me be lazy. I really had to work. My classmates motivated me. Anyone that I've ever taken a class with pushed me to work harder."
Griffith concluded, "From working with the paper I got a chance to grow and discover my strengths and weaknesses. I discovered that writing is not a hobby of mine, it is my passion. I am going to keep writing and sharpening my craft. No matter where I am, I am going to keep writing no matter what."
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