Friday, October 07, 2005
Week 7
It's been a little crazy around here lately. We just finished an issue in 3 weeks. Not pleasant, but still satisfying.
So, I opened the box of issue #2s Wednesday afternoon. Actually, with Frank's (the custodian) help, I tore into the box Wednesday afternoon. I could hardly contain my excitement. However I had to get to the computer lab to monitor my multicultural literature class. That put a small hold on the celebration of color.
They did it. The Spokesman staff published its first issue in full color front and back. The inside pages are still black and white; there is only so much money in the till. The response to the delivery today invigorated the staff. They dropped off papers to oohs and ahhs all over the building. The great full color football photograph on the back page helped a ton. Poor Adil got a little flack from the yearbook staff over that, but he'll get his reward later.
Of course, people noticed the writing too. In fact, I think the color did its job  it got people to look at the paper at little more closely. I heard comments about the Xanga articles, which at first I thought might be a little overkill after issue 1, but it is still a big topic around here. The brief about the students who were arrested at the football game also got us some feedback. Thank goodness Jon has a thick skin.
Unfortunately, all was not positive feedback. We made a pretty bad ethical mistake in the sports section. An athlete who had an issue with a coach got his say in the paper. Too bad we didn't ask the coach or anyone else on the team about it. Turns out it was a personal issue between the athlete and the coach. When the coach approached me about it, he said he would no longer to talk to any Spokesman staff member. All I could do was apologize, and needless to say I felt pretty inadequate. What do you do when you know you've messed up and there is no way to take it back? This will be a good lesson for us as a staff.
Well, it's now off to enjoy the Homecoming weekend. Then we'll be back next week to try this all over again.
So, I opened the box of issue #2s Wednesday afternoon. Actually, with Frank's (the custodian) help, I tore into the box Wednesday afternoon. I could hardly contain my excitement. However I had to get to the computer lab to monitor my multicultural literature class. That put a small hold on the celebration of color.
They did it. The Spokesman staff published its first issue in full color front and back. The inside pages are still black and white; there is only so much money in the till. The response to the delivery today invigorated the staff. They dropped off papers to oohs and ahhs all over the building. The great full color football photograph on the back page helped a ton. Poor Adil got a little flack from the yearbook staff over that, but he'll get his reward later.
Of course, people noticed the writing too. In fact, I think the color did its job  it got people to look at the paper at little more closely. I heard comments about the Xanga articles, which at first I thought might be a little overkill after issue 1, but it is still a big topic around here. The brief about the students who were arrested at the football game also got us some feedback. Thank goodness Jon has a thick skin.
Unfortunately, all was not positive feedback. We made a pretty bad ethical mistake in the sports section. An athlete who had an issue with a coach got his say in the paper. Too bad we didn't ask the coach or anyone else on the team about it. Turns out it was a personal issue between the athlete and the coach. When the coach approached me about it, he said he would no longer to talk to any Spokesman staff member. All I could do was apologize, and needless to say I felt pretty inadequate. What do you do when you know you've messed up and there is no way to take it back? This will be a good lesson for us as a staff.
Well, it's now off to enjoy the Homecoming weekend. Then we'll be back next week to try this all over again.
