Eloise Rich, College fourth-year and Comparative Literature, Cinema and Media, and French major, is closing out her final year at the Review as a layout editor. As president of the Oberlin Student Cooperative Association, Eloise serves as the Review’s eyes and ears, keeping the office informed on everything happening in co-ops before anyone knows it’s news. At the Review, she is known for meticulous layout work, a strong eye for detail, and the ability to add the right amount of artsy flair without ever overwhelming a page. She is a co-producer of Running to the Noise and founder of the Bulletin, where she has consistently pushed for varied, thoughtful feature storytelling. Equal parts funny, sharp, and stylishly omnipresent, she infuses the office with creative energy.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

How did you start working at The Oberlin Review? What was your first position?

From the beginning, I knew I wanted to work for the Review. I had done journalism all of high school: I had been the Editor-in-Chief, Arts & Culture editor, and layout editor of my high school paper.

So I did most of the same things, actually, at The Oberlin Review, except for editor-in-chief.

My first position was the Bulletin Editor, before it was the Bulletin. The position was called This Week Editor. I started in the spring of my freshman year; before that, I had written some articles, mostly for Arts & Culture. My first article, in my freshman fall, was about the Doggy Doo Festival (“Oberlin Doggie Doo Festival Returns After Seven Year Hiatus,”  The Oberlin Review,  Oct. 7, 2022). It was such a fluff piece, but I was like, “Hey, at least it’s something.” 

I feel as though my breakthrough piece was a preview for The Rocky Horror Picture Show, as it was put on in The ’Sco by a couple of students my freshman year (“Rocky Horror Shows Revived with Love, Laughter, Latex,”  The Oberlin Review,  Nov. 18, 2022). 

You oversaw the transition of page eight of the Review from This Week at Oberlin to The Bulletin. How did that unfold?

I felt very limited in the section because the name “This Week” denotes a sort of temporal relevance that is very difficult to maintain. It sometimes felt like I was grasping at straws to come up with a pitch that wasn’t already being covered in another section. So I thought, “Okay, what can I actually do to make this section more interesting?”

Eventually, after a lot of perusal through the archives — seeing that the conception of This Week was very much an infographic, late 2010s vibe, and sort of a full-page Events Calendar — I went out on a limb and pitched that the name of the section be changed to match the content that I was already producing in the section. In a way, it harkened back to the first editorialized piece that I ever did for the Review, that Rocky Horror piece. I included my personal narrative with a reported story, which I feel was a frame of voice that had historically been lacking in the Review; something that makes The Grape attractive to the student body. 

I wanted to have a voice in the Review as well. Not even necessarily my voice, but just something that skewed to what I found the most interesting at any given time. I think for a section of that nature, it should highlight student voices, particularly as they relate to what is going on in their communities.

What are your favorite pieces you wrote for The Bulletin?

One of the pieces that I am most proud of was this one I did on the earthquake in Türkiye and Syria, because for me, it hit everything that I wanted the section to be going for (“Aftermath of Earthquake in Türkiye, Syria Humanitarian Concern, Not Political,” The Oberlin Review, March 10, 2023). I remember I did a full spread; I got two pages for it. Another piece of a similar nature, which I wrote in February 2023 before the section became The Bulletin, was on the Ukraine crisis and student responses to it (“Eastern European Students Call On Peers to Take Action in Ukraine Crisis,” The Oberlin Review, Feb. 24, 2023). 

Looking specifically at Oberlin, I did the “Love in the Times at Oberlin” several years in a row. Those articles were much more frivolous than some of those more news-like pieces. I did a lot of alumni conversations for them: That was always something that I found really interesting. Because it was only one article a week and it was just me, I had the time to talk to alumni and reach out multiple weeks in advance. I also love the stuff that I’ve done for WOBC-FM for The Bulletin. 

What is work like as a layout editor?

I feel like people don’t realize how much work actually goes into the layout. I remember this in high school, too, because I did the layout of the paper there. People thought that when we sent it off to the printers, they would lay it out for us. I was like, “No, actually, there is thought and consideration that goes into it.” 

I’ve also found that every year I’ve worked at the Review, the Layout editors have been really fun, and I was always a little bit jealous not to be involved, and now I am one of them. When I was a Bulletin editor, I felt that I was a little bit removed, because I was doing something so different from them every single week, but now I’m in the in-club, and that feels pretty good.

Reflecting on your time at the Review, do you have any advice for future and current staff?

For layout, don’t be afraid to be a little bit experimental with it, and remember that the layout is also part of telling the story. As layout editor, you are dictating where people’s eyes go when they open up the newspaper, and in that regard, don’t be afraid to express your opinion about how a piece looks on a page. Remember that you exist.

Also, have fun, obviously. Talk to people. The Oberlin Review, even though the staff changes every single year, is the most meaningful community I have. Everyone at the Review cares. To produce this paper every week, and to always improve it, and to have fun while putting out such an impressive project, is something I truly deeply cherish as part of my Oberlin experience. I’m gonna miss it a lot.

Wrapping up, can you speak to the friendships you’ve made through The Oberlin Review?

Senior staff, I love them to death, and they all know that. I’ve gotten a lot closer with all of them through working together, particularly in this last year. Travis and I actually lived together over the summer at one point, I think in no small part due to us seeing each other at our worst in the office on Thursday night. They’re people that I feel like I can stay in touch with, especially because James, Layla, and I, for example, all want to go into journalism. That’s always going to be something we can fall back on when talking to each other.