The man behind the conservative columns
In less than two years as an Argonaut staff member, Andrew Jenson has made a name for himself at the University of Idaho. The 20-year-old junior wrote his first opinion article in spring 2012, and after a few lively responses, earned himself a spot as a regular columnist. He tackles religion, politics and party culture, and his staunchly conservative views generate positive and negative reactions from campus readership. Far from being wary of debate, Jenson welcomes responses and thrives on the discussion they create.
“I like reading other people’s opinions, I’d rather see what people think of my articles even if it’s negative,” Jenson said. “My family’s always been one that’s interested in politics and religion in general.”
The third of six children, Jenson said family plays a significant role in his life. Despite the hour-long commute to campus, he still prefers to live with his parents and three younger siblings in their home outside Kendrick. He said commuting to school costs less than living on campus, and that he’s grateful for his family’s generosity. His older brother and sister live in Indiana and Illinois, but the Jenson siblings are close nonetheless.
“Family is not just family,” Jenson said. “Family is the best friends that you’ll have in your life… They’re not only my brothers and sisters, but my best friends. That’s something that — it’s clichéd — but I wouldn’t trade for the world.”
Jenson said his family’s close-knit ties are rooted in faith. The family attends services at a Missouri Synod Lutheran church together each week. “We’re very traditional in that sense,” Jenson said. “We value family really, really highly — that’s one of the biggest things especially because we all share the same faith.”
They also share a love for movies — watching older films and making new ones. He and his sister Katy, now 15, started recording home movies about three years ago and Jenson discovered his passion for filmmaking.
“Those videos were terrible,” he said. “They were not very good. We used to do them all in one take, but we learned eventually.”
His sister took up photography and Jenson decided to study broadcast and digital media at UI. He said big-time filmmaking might not be in his future, but he’d like to produce “fictional, narrative films” someday. For now, the Alfred Hitchcock fan stays busy chopping and stacking wood for winter and pursuing his passion for movies. “Vertigo” is his favorite.
“I love what he did with that movie,” Jenson said. “I like films that have that Hitchcockian sense about them, and this film has a lot of atmosphere and is just so well put together.”
His family tends to re-watch classic films, but Jenson said he’s making an effort to stay up-to-date with modern movie-making innovations. Most recently, the super-friends and action scenes of “The Avengers” impressed him. Jenson said he’d borrow Iron Man’s suit any day, but
relates more closely to Captain America’s mindset.
“There’s a moment where Scarlett Johansen says, ‘You’d better not mess with these guys, they’re practically gods,’ and he jumps out of the airplane and says, ‘There’s only one God and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t dress like that,'” Jenson said. “That’s what cemented my love for that guy.
I just love that he’s so upstanding and morally upright.”
-Victoria Hart