Hello blogosphere, Corey Smith here. I’ve always tried to keep a blog of sorts over the years, but have failed miserably to maintain it. Perhaps just contributing to a staff blog will keep things fresh and exciting, but enough about me…
The Equinox has made it back from beautiful San Diego, California. It was a bit of risky business getting back to the newsroom, however, because a Noreaster decided to infultrate our flight path, making the ride a little less boring than expected. It’s never a good sign when your captain announces that everyone needs to tighten their seatbelts while he searches for “safer air”. Despite imagining that terrifying moment when the plane plunged 10,000 ft, I was also able to find the time to reflect on the Associated Collegiate Press Convention and the impact it has on a newspaper staff.
We’re a dedicated group of journalists and we spend a great deal of time together in the newsroom conceptualizing stories, designing pages, etc. However, the thought of spending four days straight around each other made some of us cringe a little bit. Would we get fed up with each other after two sun-soaked days and begin separating into groups? Would we form an Equinox version of Survivor and send our weakest link out into the mean streets of the city? What I found was…absolutely, positively not.
I highly encourage other college newspapers to take advantage of these conventions. They are not only useful for absorbing information about the field of journalism, but they really force a news staff to get together and just hang out for a while. This can be great for newsroom dynamics after the convention. What good is a newsroom full of people who can’t loosen up around each other and have a good time while they are pumping out hard news until 3 a.m.? Let me be the first to say, it really makes the job a lot easier.
In the case of San Diego, our staff had many opportunities to get closer. We participated in the most communal activity a group can do: we broke bread. Nothing says ‘I love you, man’ like sharing a plate of buffalo wings or chips and salsa. Members of staff that don’t normally spend much time with each other went to sessions and experienced the same lessons together. And, of course, we all packed onto the San Diego trolley to head downtown to see the sights.
The other networking that can be done during these conventions is between college newspapers. Even though we didn’t gain scores of friends (they’re just jealous, right?) we were exposed to some very talented staff members and saw things in other newspapers that inspired us to keep trying out new techniques. Just as a side note, we have some fans in Denver, Colorado. The ‘Nox thinks you’re rad, UDEN!
So, even though we aren’t poolside in paradise sipping on iced tea and commiserating about being overworked and underpaid, we still brought that second family mentality back with us. After all, we’re stuck with each other. Might as well make the best out of it! You should too!
Corey Smith
Student Life Editor
Corey Smith is going to be a designated blog colmunist, who writes substantial amounts of stuff, because most of the time I am way too lazy to write more than three paragraphs (see previous post, woo…)