Semester as Times editor is an interesting adventure
HARRISON LEE
Issue date: 11/16/09 Section: Opinion
There was a cartoon I used to watch when I was younger. It was about a young white lion who, according to the catchy opening theme, lived in "deepest, darkest Africa". It was about his various adventures and shenanigans trying to keep the jungle orderly and fun at the same time. I had forgotten about this show until I discovered it during my weekly YouTube safari. It got me to thinking about how… perfectly topsy-turvy my first semester as Editor-in-Chief of the San Jacinto Times was.
I didn't even begin this semester as a member of the Reporting 1 class; instead I managed to slink in after the fact. A few days and interviews later, I was announced as Editor, not really knowing what that meant. I knew it got my name atop the list of credits in each issue, but aside from that I was largely lost.
The first challenge was, of course, to get to know and work with 13 people I'd never met before. The fact none of us had met the new Faculty Advisor seemed to be of little importance. That belief lasted all of one class period.
The first few issues were marred by the same "challenges."
My associate Editor, Andrew Lowe, and I had a great deal of trouble keeping the pages on the set-up grid, an impediment that now seems much more amusing than it really was during those early production nights.
As the paper reached its midway point, I found it necessary to step back and try and get perspective on what had been accomplished. I still find it amusing that one of our best correspondents was someone who wasn't even in the actual class; she just turned in enough copy and useable pictures that we had no choice but to give her a byline. We of course did so gleefully.
The theme for the whole year had been transformation.
I was blessed to be backed by a mentor, Fred Faour, who knew exactly what he wanted the Times to look like and what it would take to make it so.
There is no doubt in my mind that had he not been here two things would have happened.
I didn't even begin this semester as a member of the Reporting 1 class; instead I managed to slink in after the fact. A few days and interviews later, I was announced as Editor, not really knowing what that meant. I knew it got my name atop the list of credits in each issue, but aside from that I was largely lost.
The first challenge was, of course, to get to know and work with 13 people I'd never met before. The fact none of us had met the new Faculty Advisor seemed to be of little importance. That belief lasted all of one class period.
The first few issues were marred by the same "challenges."
My associate Editor, Andrew Lowe, and I had a great deal of trouble keeping the pages on the set-up grid, an impediment that now seems much more amusing than it really was during those early production nights.
As the paper reached its midway point, I found it necessary to step back and try and get perspective on what had been accomplished. I still find it amusing that one of our best correspondents was someone who wasn't even in the actual class; she just turned in enough copy and useable pictures that we had no choice but to give her a byline. We of course did so gleefully.
The theme for the whole year had been transformation.
I was blessed to be backed by a mentor, Fred Faour, who knew exactly what he wanted the Times to look like and what it would take to make it so.
There is no doubt in my mind that had he not been here two things would have happened.
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