Get to know Brody Truce
"...I also once incited a riot after a sporting event…" Brody Truce, Senior Writer
Brody is the George Harrison of CronkNews. While wickedly funny, he operates in the persona of a modest, gracious colleague.
Where do you get your ideas for articles?
I get most of my article ideas from work…especially committee meetings and emails from the higher-ups. Working on a college campus, there’s no end to the crazy things that people will do and say.
In one year, where do you hope Cronk News will be? What goals have you set?
I think we’ll be well on our way to international stardom in one year. I’d especially like CronkNew.com to be huge in places like Brussels and mainland China. By then, we should also have our 4140 faithful followers here in the United States. Personally, I’d like to set a goal for myself of writing 52 articles in the next year; one per week.
What is your favorite aspect about working in Higher Education?
My favorite thing about working in higher education is the variety! You never know how many parents are going to call and yell at you from one day to the next. I love meeting with students, working with faculty and always striving to make things better. And let’s be honest…you get some of the best pastries around at committee meetings.
Any advice for aspiring writers?
The best thing that an aspiring write can do is not give up! A lot of people take a stab at writing and throw in the towel when they get feedback that isn’t positive. Like many things in life, you have to practice regularly to be good at it. Get in the habit of sharing your work with people that will be honest with you, and learn from the feedback.
Where do you find inspiration for your style of writing?
I am always inspired by David Sedaris, Amy Sedaris, Sarah Silverman and Tina Fey; I guess they’d all fall under the ‘dry humor’ category. British people also amuse me; as a people, they are just naturally funny. When I’m reading, publications that are most likely to leave me in hysterics are the Onion website, David Sedaris’s “Holidays on Ice” and Amy Sedaris’s “I Like You: Party Planning Under the Influence.”
Why did you begin a career in higher ed?
Technically, I started my career in higher education as an RA. Officially, one day, I went to my area coordinator and said, “I really don’t like my major anymore. I wish I could be an RA for a living.” She looked at me and said, “What do you think I do for a living?” Honestly, I thought she was just a bored graduate student who liked to hang out in the commons.
What would you say your area of expertise is? How did you become proficient at it?
I don’t know if I’d call myself an expert an any particular area, but I love developing staff training. Also, I’m pretty proficient at teasing out inefficiency and redundancy—performance improvement sort of stuff.
Why do you write under a pseudonym rather than your own name?
Writing under a pseudonym keeps me honest. I think that if I wrote under my own name, I’d be constantly editing myself or would avoid writing some stories. I’d also hate for people I work with to think that I’m writing about anyone in particular, because certainly many of the stories I write are not based on actual events.
What do you do for fun besides satirical writing?
I read a lot and watch a ton of television. Chances are, if you watch a TV show, I am also watching it and would love to talk to you about it.
What extracurriculars were you involved in during college?
I wasn’t overly engaged in extracurriculars in college; I spent a lot of time with friends doing things that I would later—as an RA—write people up for. That said, I was actively involved in my school’s student union board starting freshman year. During my junior year, I played Mortal Kombat 3 every day after class for about an hour. Senior year was my first exposure to the world of student affairs, when I became a Resident Assistant. Oh, I also once incited a riot after a sporting event…purely by accident, though.
~Interviews conducted by CronkNews staff assistant Alexis Page.
