2007-2008 ODYSSEY Newsmagazine Editor-in-Chief Chris Miller and 2008-2009 ODYSSEY Newsmagazine Editor-in-Chief Bryan Barks pose for photos. Chris and Bryan met at Clarke Middle School and began dating when he was a freshman in college and she was a senior in high school. “I knew for sure that Chris was interested in me when he started coming with me to work at the ODYSSEY concession stand on game days. Why else would a college freshman want to sell popcorn and hotdogs with a bunch of high schoolers after he already graduated?” Bryan said. Photo by Love Stories by Haile & Alec.
By ANEESA CONINE-NAKANO – EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
2007-2008 ODYSSEY Newsmagazine Editor-in-Chief Chris Miller and 2008-2009 ODYSSEY Newsmagazine Editor-in-Chief Bryan Barks discuss their upcoming wedding, how they met and how ODYSSEY shaped their relationship.
Chris Miller and Bryan Barks knew each other throughout middle school, however they never interacted until joining the staff of ODYSSEY Newsmagazine at Clarke Central High School.
“Bryan had long been the cute, eccentric girl in the class below me,” Chris said. “I was dating someone else when Bryan first joined ODYSSEY, and Bryan was honestly so cool and different from other girls I knew that it wouldn’t have occurred to me that we might get together anyway.”
Despite Chris’ intial impression of Bryan, they didn’t always get along in the workplace.
“Bryan was by far the best writer on staff, so I would read her articles and not really be able to give any feedback, then she would edit mine and tear them apart,” Chris said. “Then I would get mad and not listen to her edits, because I was petty like that. But she was always right, and I knew that deep down, I had immense respect for her.”
Chris Miller and Bryan Barks attend Chris’ high school graduation in spring 2008. After he graduated, Bryan and Chris began dating. “I would say the real beginning of our relationship was a few weeks before Chris
graduated from CCHS. Chris was the outgoing Editor-in-Chief (EIC), and I was the incoming EIC, so Ragsdale suggested we go get coffee so Chris could tell me about his experience and offer advice,” Bryan said. Photo courtesy of Bryan Barks.
As Bryan looks back on their high school experience together, she believes that Chris’ charisma was part of her initial withholdings with him.
“I look back now and think some of that irritation was me wishing I could be more like him in some ways. He was the charming extrovert in the class, and I was pretty shy, as I didn’t know many people,” Bryan said.
In Chris’ senior year of high school, he served as the ODYSSEY Newsmagazine Editor-in-Chief. As the year came to a close, ODYSSEY Media Group adviser David Ragsdale encouraged Bryan and Chris to meet up for coffee because Bryan was following Chris as Editor-in-Chief.
The meeting, however, ended up taking a different direction.
“It was the first time we had ever hung out one-on-one,” Bryan said. “It was supposed to be a 30-minute conversation, but we sat in the courtyard of Jittery Joe’s in Five Points on a Friday night and ended up talking for five hours.”
Bryan recounts that this was the first deeply personal conversation they had despite working together for the previous two school years.
“As I was racing home, I remember thinking how strange it was that I had spent hours and hours around Chris over the course of several years, but had never gotten to know him at all. And I thought about how cool it was that after all those years of knowing each other, he and I suddenly connected in a really powerful way.”
Bryan and Chris’ friend and 2008 ODYSSEY Newsmagazine alumna Lisa Glaser believes their chemistry helped the two connect.
“Chris was always like a brother to me. He is a considerate, thoughtful person, and so is Bryan,” Glaser said. “So it makes sense that they are together because they are both very introspective, yet funny and inclusive people. They are both strong personalities but in the sweetest way.”
Chris Miller and Bryan Barks attend Bryan’s senior ODYSSEY banquet. They served on the newsmagazine’s staff during high school and both served as Editors-in-Chief in consecutive years. “There was a frantic and frenetic feel to it, everybody was just trying to get the magazine done and out on time,” Chris said. Photo courtesy of Bryan Barks.
Bryan and Chris continued meeting up. Many of their first dates included visiting churches and discussing their ideas and thoughts over coffee or tacos.
“Neither of us were religious in our upbringing, and I don’t think either of us were trying to find God or anything,” Chris said. “But there was something about Bryan’s ability to experience things really fully, to listen, that made me want to do that with her, to go have this intimate experience that was too big for me to understand on my own.”
The two officially began dating after seeing a screening of the “Joseph Biden vs Sarah Palin debate” at Ciné on October 2, 2008.
“I remember very distinctly telling Bryan, ‘Look, I really like you and I want to date you, but I’m in college, and I really don’t want to go to prom.’ She said, ‘Of course not! That’s so far in the future anyway — don’t even worry about it!’ And the next thing I knew we were at her senior prom,” Chris said.
Dating, however, became more complicated after Bryan graduated high school and began college in Montreal, Canada.
“It was definitely hard. There were lots of Skype calls and international texts,” Chris said. “We missed each other a lot, and when we did see each other, it was only for a couple of days at a time. It really sucked.”
Their relationship continued to take many turns as Chris relocated to New Orleans and Bryan moved closer to home and attended Georgia College and State University.
“We broke up a couple times for relatively short periods of time. People sometimes don’t think of break-ups as part of a good love story, but I think they were so important for us. Being apart for a brief period of time really showed me that Chris was my person,” Bryan said.
On September 1, 2015, Chris and Bryan became engaged. It started when Chris showed up to Bryan’s office in a suit, an abnormality for him, holding flowers. He took Bryan to one of their favorite watering holes and to a nice resturant.
“At that point, I had a feeling it was coming and was on pins and needles waiting for something to happen,” Bryan said. “When dinner ended and nothing had happened, I wondered if he had gotten cold feet or if something had gone wrong.”
However, her worries were proved wrong.
“We headed home, and when we walked into our apartment, the ceiling was strung with lights, there were candles and flowers everywhere and a bottle of champagne on the table,” Bryan said. “I immediately started crying. Then he played a song he wrote and recorded for me about our relationship over the seven years since our first date. At the end of it, he asked me to marry him.”
Chris Miller and Bryan Barks pose with ODYSSEY adviser David Ragsdale in November of 2014 in Washington, DC, where the couple currently resides. During that trip, Bryan and Chris also met up with ODYSSEY editors attending the National Scholastic Press Association conference. “It was important for me as an adviser and mentor for Chris and Bryan to meet the next generation of ODYSSEY kids. Those two with their teams helped to establish a standard of excellence we work to honor today. To see the genuine interest and connection between the two eras was moving,” Ragsdale said. Photo courtesy of David Ragsdale.
“Yeah. I totally nailed it,” Chris said.
As the wedding approaches, both look forward to seeing friends and family.
“The best part has been reconnecting with all of the most important people from every stage of our lives,” Bryan said. “Our wedding will be the only time in our lives that everyone who has made us who we are will be in one place. It’s going to be wonderful and emotional and overwhelming. It’s also going to be a major ODYSSEY reunion.”
Best man and 2008 ODYSSEY Newsmagazine alumni Chrismon Hinch is looking forward for the wedding, as well.
“I’m excited for the ceremony. I will try not to cry, but I probably will,” Chrismon said. “At first Chris said, ‘You don’t have to do (a best man’s speech),’ and I said, ‘Sweet.’ And then he was like, ‘Chrismon, of course you have to do one.’ It is going to be short and sweet.”
After the wedding, Bryan and Chris are excited to continue living their lives together. Looking to the future, they hope to move closer to family and begin their own family.
“I hope in five years, we’ll be doing something new and exciting together, going after our goals together and having a great time,” Bryan said. “One of the things I love most about our relationship is how much we make each other laugh. Being able to have fun and laugh through all the ups and downs is the reason people to tell you to marry your best friend. That’s exactly what we’re doing.”
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