People apparently hate this paper. Yes, this very piece of newsprint that you hold in your hands is seemingly something loathsome and revolting to almost all who behold it. Just look at the online comments on several stories.
I understand that people will always complain about the media, and we here at the paper do expect that, but sometimes I'm left scratching my head with confusion.
Student body, we need to have a few words here. I need to explain what a newspaper does. We're not racist because we ran the mugshots of seven black students. We aren't wasting your time when prominent students get arrested, and I don't care if you don't like our editorials about Duke lacrosse players.
Newspapers exist to give you the news. A paper is not here to cuddle you and tell you that everything is all right after you get drunk and take potshots at passing cars with a high-caliber pistol after failing some class.
The paper is here to tell your classmates what you did and how you did it, because that's news. Sorry, but the operative part of the word "newspaper" is "news." Who would'a thunk it?
Also, we run on a very strict timetable. The life of a journalist trying to juggle work and school involves a lot of rushing, tearing your hair out, cursing and worrying that someone won't call you back, and your story won't be as good as it could have possibly been. If we include mugshots with one story and not another, it's because the police didn't send us the shots for the second article.
Now, with that out of the way, I wag my finger at you people (My God. I just said "you people." I must be racist). Before you go accusing us of being horrible people who put out a bigoted travesty of a paper that only Don Imus would approve of, think about what you're doing.
You're complaining because an event happened somewhere, but rather than complaining that the event happened, you're telling the people relating the event to you to shut the hell up.
That's like calling CNN and saying "How dare you tell me what happened at Virginia Tech! Before you told me, I thought the world was all smiling bunny rabbits painting eggs with Santa Claus! Go to hell CNN!"
Journalists have a hard life. There's always somebody telling you that you're a pot-smoking liberal trying to pollute the minds of all good, hard-working Americans with your crazy agenda. The truth is, we're so busy that we don't have time to have an agenda.
Oh, and this is the last paper of the semester, so you don't have a chance to respond to this column, and I refuse to check the comments online. Bitches.
-- Zach Toman
Asst. Viewpoints editor
Apr 29, 2007
Ce n'est pas un adieu, C'est juste un au revoir
I’ve been sitting in my office here contemplating what to write for a while. I’ve listened to my feel-good music -- both Bob Dylan and Kings of Leon -- and even some extreme-feel-good music -- Spice Girls. But, alas, it’s still the end. This is still the last night I’ll sit in this big office and watch the staff run around between homework, emotions and getting a paper out on time.
I’ve worked here at The Daily Gamecock for two years now, but this has been a long time coming. When I was three I used to dance around for my mother’s camera with a newspaper, singing and “reading.” At 7, I made my own newspapers about animal rights, complete with jumps (“see page A13”), advertisements I drew for princesses and comics of my big brothers getting in trouble. My pen name was “Ashley Olsen.” By middle school I was making newsletters for all my friends with gossip columns, movie reviews and other silly girl things. By seventh grade I was working tirelessly on the yearbook. This continued in eighth grade.
Freshman year of high school I couldn’t wait to work for the newspaper. By senior year I was the editor, and it was one of the best experiences of my life -- until now.
The Daily Gamecock has been one of the most rewarding, entertaining and educational experiences in my life. I don’t think anything else could be like this. It’s not just for my resume. I’ve learned twice as much, if not more, by working up here for two years than I could have in my classes down at the J-school for four.
Leaving this place isn’t easy. It tears me apart every night when I leave here. I go home and stare out my ceiling reliving headlines. I beat myself up over mistakes, I get upset when staffers are upset and now I have to say goodbye.
It was unexpected, heart breaking and an emotional roller coaster, but two weeks later I’m slowly getting there.
These people are my second family, and I love them all. We’ve had our disagreements, low points and fights, but we still come back Sunday through Thursday to make this newspaper. I wish there was some way to actually say what I feel, but Willy Wonka said it right: “For some moments in life there are no words.”
For a writer and a destined journalist, that’s a hard pill to swallow.
So to the spring staff of 2007: Thank you all for letting me be your editor. Thank you for all the support, fun and love. Good luck to you all in whatever you choose to do in the upcoming years. You have all made an indelible mark on my life, and I owe you all so much for that.
To past staffs: I don’t know how you all did this.
To Alexis Arnone: you’re my sister, my best friend and the best roommate. You helped me through so much. Good luck in Charleston and in all you do, even though you don’t need it.
-- Liz White
Editor in chief
I’ve worked here at The Daily Gamecock for two years now, but this has been a long time coming. When I was three I used to dance around for my mother’s camera with a newspaper, singing and “reading.” At 7, I made my own newspapers about animal rights, complete with jumps (“see page A13”), advertisements I drew for princesses and comics of my big brothers getting in trouble. My pen name was “Ashley Olsen.” By middle school I was making newsletters for all my friends with gossip columns, movie reviews and other silly girl things. By seventh grade I was working tirelessly on the yearbook. This continued in eighth grade.
Freshman year of high school I couldn’t wait to work for the newspaper. By senior year I was the editor, and it was one of the best experiences of my life -- until now.
The Daily Gamecock has been one of the most rewarding, entertaining and educational experiences in my life. I don’t think anything else could be like this. It’s not just for my resume. I’ve learned twice as much, if not more, by working up here for two years than I could have in my classes down at the J-school for four.
Leaving this place isn’t easy. It tears me apart every night when I leave here. I go home and stare out my ceiling reliving headlines. I beat myself up over mistakes, I get upset when staffers are upset and now I have to say goodbye.
It was unexpected, heart breaking and an emotional roller coaster, but two weeks later I’m slowly getting there.
These people are my second family, and I love them all. We’ve had our disagreements, low points and fights, but we still come back Sunday through Thursday to make this newspaper. I wish there was some way to actually say what I feel, but Willy Wonka said it right: “For some moments in life there are no words.”
For a writer and a destined journalist, that’s a hard pill to swallow.
So to the spring staff of 2007: Thank you all for letting me be your editor. Thank you for all the support, fun and love. Good luck to you all in whatever you choose to do in the upcoming years. You have all made an indelible mark on my life, and I owe you all so much for that.
To past staffs: I don’t know how you all did this.
To Alexis Arnone: you’re my sister, my best friend and the best roommate. You helped me through so much. Good luck in Charleston and in all you do, even though you don’t need it.
-- Liz White
Editor in chief
Take this job and love it
Let me begin with the highest truth: I hate our editor in chief, Liz White.
However, we have never fought, argued, spat, quibbled, or even spread nasty rumors about each other. I hate Liz for inviting me a year ago to The Daily Gamecock. It was such a nonchalant gesture, first in person and then later via e-mail. I came to the interest meeting full of strangers and decided to stick around for grammar’s sake.
A year later, the office feels like -- all together now, staff -- “a home away from home.” This is because we know how everyone works around here and what to expect. It feels so liberating to cooperate with a bunch of other college students in an open-ended environment. At other jobs there’s been a disconnect between myself and my managers, because their authority and duties kept them in a different place. But here, I share professors with some staffers and trade homework advice with others. We’re all at the same stage of life, and that makes it easier to trudge ahead with putting out a paper.
Or should I say, “made” it.
While I’ll be Viewpoints editor during the summer, the staff will be much smaller. We’ll only meet once a week, which means this semester is essentially my last “real” one at The Daily Gamecock. It also means I should give thanks now, and not just to the editors: my co-workers include Evie, Barry, Lauren, Callie, Jason, AJ, Amanda, the Kellys and Zach (where copy editing is concerned). Every office should be so lucky to be stuffed with people who welcome non-sequiturs and off-kilter humor at the drop of a hat. We vacuum here at The Daily Gamecock: no brooms up our asses!
Back to the main idea: my hatred of Liz White. While my junior year easily beats the two before it because of my time here at the paper, senior year looks to top it with new opportunities. And exploring these opportunities means leaving the office before being forced to attend graduation – though I’ll continue to write columns for sure, and maybe even a few that aren’t tongue-in-cheek satires.
So I’m not really leaving yet, but it feels like goodbye. But I’d also like to greet the crop of fresh faces that will come to the newspaper in the fall and warn them: you’re gonna get attached to this place. Give this office a couple of open minutes of courtesy and you’ll get back a dozen friendships.
And if you’re not careful, you just might learn to love -- I mean HATE -- the people around here.
Thomas Maluck
Copy editor, columnist, perennial foot-dragger
However, we have never fought, argued, spat, quibbled, or even spread nasty rumors about each other. I hate Liz for inviting me a year ago to The Daily Gamecock. It was such a nonchalant gesture, first in person and then later via e-mail. I came to the interest meeting full of strangers and decided to stick around for grammar’s sake.
A year later, the office feels like -- all together now, staff -- “a home away from home.” This is because we know how everyone works around here and what to expect. It feels so liberating to cooperate with a bunch of other college students in an open-ended environment. At other jobs there’s been a disconnect between myself and my managers, because their authority and duties kept them in a different place. But here, I share professors with some staffers and trade homework advice with others. We’re all at the same stage of life, and that makes it easier to trudge ahead with putting out a paper.
Or should I say, “made” it.
While I’ll be Viewpoints editor during the summer, the staff will be much smaller. We’ll only meet once a week, which means this semester is essentially my last “real” one at The Daily Gamecock. It also means I should give thanks now, and not just to the editors: my co-workers include Evie, Barry, Lauren, Callie, Jason, AJ, Amanda, the Kellys and Zach (where copy editing is concerned). Every office should be so lucky to be stuffed with people who welcome non-sequiturs and off-kilter humor at the drop of a hat. We vacuum here at The Daily Gamecock: no brooms up our asses!
Back to the main idea: my hatred of Liz White. While my junior year easily beats the two before it because of my time here at the paper, senior year looks to top it with new opportunities. And exploring these opportunities means leaving the office before being forced to attend graduation – though I’ll continue to write columns for sure, and maybe even a few that aren’t tongue-in-cheek satires.
So I’m not really leaving yet, but it feels like goodbye. But I’d also like to greet the crop of fresh faces that will come to the newspaper in the fall and warn them: you’re gonna get attached to this place. Give this office a couple of open minutes of courtesy and you’ll get back a dozen friendships.
And if you’re not careful, you just might learn to love -- I mean HATE -- the people around here.
Thomas Maluck
Copy editor, columnist, perennial foot-dragger
Apr 26, 2007
I am fortune's full
I tried to quit. I really did.
But everytime I stormed off ranting about people who’d never heard of a deadline or late production nights, I got reeled back in.
“You sold your soul,” they’d tell me. Apparently two and a half years at The Daily Gamecock is equivalent to betting on a fiddling competition. And losing.
I complain a lot, but usually it’s all a joke. Tensions got high in the newsroom once in awhile, but most arguments could be solved with an ice cream run or television break.
This semester, I finally had to go through with quitting. I have another year of classes left, but after two and half years as a designer and eventually design director, I’m ready to find out what college is like when you don’t work past midnight 3 nights a week. Not that I’m getting out of it completely—I’ve promised to watch over design next semester, and I may be taking on another huge part of Student Media next year.
But I digress.
Even though I won’t be graduating until May ’08, people can’t seem to resist telling me how I’m getting ready to enter the “real world.” That magical place that was after high school first, and now is after college. In the real world, they say, I’ll have to get a job. I’ll pay bills and live on my own.
Amazing. Y’know, amazingly familiar…
Ok, so maybe financial aid and parents help out with some bills, but I pay a lot on my own. And the job thing? Between three jobs I work more than full-time every week. That calculation is without a full class schedule. And all my friends get to listen to me complain about all this.
I realized recently though, that I complain about my jobs in the same way I complain about the Gamecock. I work three jobs for the money and experience, but I stay at all three of these jobs because I love them. Papers and midterms suck, but without school I wouldn’t have any of the jobs I love and I wouldn’t have half the people I love. I might have all the free time in the world, but I wouldn’t even have a social life worth scraping together.
So I guess what I’m trying to say is: thanks for the experience. And I might actually miss this place, if I can ever escape.
Oh and on the whole real world thing all I can say is bring it on.
I could really use the relaxation.
-- Megan Sinclair
Design Director
But everytime I stormed off ranting about people who’d never heard of a deadline or late production nights, I got reeled back in.
“You sold your soul,” they’d tell me. Apparently two and a half years at The Daily Gamecock is equivalent to betting on a fiddling competition. And losing.
I complain a lot, but usually it’s all a joke. Tensions got high in the newsroom once in awhile, but most arguments could be solved with an ice cream run or television break.
This semester, I finally had to go through with quitting. I have another year of classes left, but after two and half years as a designer and eventually design director, I’m ready to find out what college is like when you don’t work past midnight 3 nights a week. Not that I’m getting out of it completely—I’ve promised to watch over design next semester, and I may be taking on another huge part of Student Media next year.
But I digress.
Even though I won’t be graduating until May ’08, people can’t seem to resist telling me how I’m getting ready to enter the “real world.” That magical place that was after high school first, and now is after college. In the real world, they say, I’ll have to get a job. I’ll pay bills and live on my own.
Amazing. Y’know, amazingly familiar…
Ok, so maybe financial aid and parents help out with some bills, but I pay a lot on my own. And the job thing? Between three jobs I work more than full-time every week. That calculation is without a full class schedule. And all my friends get to listen to me complain about all this.
I realized recently though, that I complain about my jobs in the same way I complain about the Gamecock. I work three jobs for the money and experience, but I stay at all three of these jobs because I love them. Papers and midterms suck, but without school I wouldn’t have any of the jobs I love and I wouldn’t have half the people I love. I might have all the free time in the world, but I wouldn’t even have a social life worth scraping together.
So I guess what I’m trying to say is: thanks for the experience. And I might actually miss this place, if I can ever escape.
Oh and on the whole real world thing all I can say is bring it on.
I could really use the relaxation.
-- Megan Sinclair
Design Director
Apr 25, 2007
A photog's final words
This is it – one of the last blogs of the year, and my last blog as a Daily Gamecock Photographer/ Photo Editor. As this may come to a bit shock to those of you who know me to blab on and on about how much I enjoyed the DG or for those who don’t you could pretty much care less right? Anyway from the guy who was asked in High School during his senior year what will you do in college and would eagerly respond work for The Gamecock, to the guy who has been a vet and seen both sides the stringer to the Asst Editor.
I have seen may things in my year here and made some great friends, met some celebrities in an elevator (sorry I didn’t recognize you, Steve) and maybe a few future presidents - this year has been amazing. From a freshman's point of view I have had the best first year in history to do what I have done to meet who I have meet, not many - hell, a handful - of people have experienced or will ever experience in their lifetimes. You know it's hard for me to put into words what I want to say; I have many mixed emotions: glad to end on a high note and sadness now that my dream is coming to a close, and it's time to wake up. I know as I depart the photo department is in good hands with special people like Jessica Smith and Ashton Vasquez. It's amazing what all we have done this semester; our photos where awesome and they came a long way. I am sure we are the best in South Carolina.
YES I SAID IT COME ON CLEMSON, WINTHROP AND CHARLESTON.
I look at all the papers and it amazes me how much I have done, and to see the progression is astonishing. Few people I would like to thank, former staff members, Mike Conway, Steven Van Haren, Nick Esares, and current members, Liz White, Nick Needem, Justin Fenner, Kelly Bobrow, and I know I am leaving people out. With out these people I wouldn’t have gotten as far as I did and experience what I have. OH and of course our dear readers who look at my photos first then read. Sorry for the mistakes, but we tired we got our point across in most photos. Well I must go collect my things now, say my good byes, and get into my last arguments. I must depart but I am reminded of Cartman from South Park, “Screw you guys, I am going home.”
FINALLY. Take care you guys and wish you all the very best.
--Brandon Davis
Lame Duck Asst. Photo Editor
I have seen may things in my year here and made some great friends, met some celebrities in an elevator (sorry I didn’t recognize you, Steve) and maybe a few future presidents - this year has been amazing. From a freshman's point of view I have had the best first year in history to do what I have done to meet who I have meet, not many - hell, a handful - of people have experienced or will ever experience in their lifetimes. You know it's hard for me to put into words what I want to say; I have many mixed emotions: glad to end on a high note and sadness now that my dream is coming to a close, and it's time to wake up. I know as I depart the photo department is in good hands with special people like Jessica Smith and Ashton Vasquez. It's amazing what all we have done this semester; our photos where awesome and they came a long way. I am sure we are the best in South Carolina.
YES I SAID IT COME ON CLEMSON, WINTHROP AND CHARLESTON.
I look at all the papers and it amazes me how much I have done, and to see the progression is astonishing. Few people I would like to thank, former staff members, Mike Conway, Steven Van Haren, Nick Esares, and current members, Liz White, Nick Needem, Justin Fenner, Kelly Bobrow, and I know I am leaving people out. With out these people I wouldn’t have gotten as far as I did and experience what I have. OH and of course our dear readers who look at my photos first then read. Sorry for the mistakes, but we tired we got our point across in most photos. Well I must go collect my things now, say my good byes, and get into my last arguments. I must depart but I am reminded of Cartman from South Park, “Screw you guys, I am going home.”
FINALLY. Take care you guys and wish you all the very best.
--Brandon Davis
Lame Duck Asst. Photo Editor
Apr 24, 2007
The long and winding road
I have worked a lot of different jobs over the years.
I’ve been a payroll courier, convenience store clerk, radio station board operator, call screener and talk radio show producer. I’ve worked as a swing-shift DJ for a top-40 radio station, produced syndicated radio broadcasts for a major university’s sports teams, delivered pizza, and worked very briefly as a Wal-Mart cashier (had to quit that one in a hurry). I’ve also worked as a freelance writer for a tabloid newspaper in Sweden, which is how I got interested in this whole journalism thing.
I’ve worked for a nonprofit organization founded by Bette Midler that cleans up and maintains neglected parks and gardens all over New York City (amazing experience). I’ve spent time as a crew member on a replica of an 1800s Dutch ship -- we sailed around New York Harbor and the Hudson River and taught elementary school kids about the environment (steering that ship under the George Washington Bridge and alongside the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 was one of the coolest experiences of my life).
I also worked at a youth hostel in Spanish Harlem that catered mostly to German backpackers (I’ll never forget when one of the guests stuck his head out of a sixth story window and shouted, “I Luff Heep-Hoop Muzeek!” at the top of his lungs).
None of these experiences, however, have benefited me more than working here at The Daily Gamecock. This job has created opportunities for me that never would have happened otherwise, and my future job prospects are world’s better because of it.
Now, I’m finally about to graduate -- a goal that’s been a long time coming for a married, non-traditional student like myself. It took a while for me to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, but I have no regrets about taking the long and winding road.
It’s been a blast working here, and I’ll miss it.
On to the next adventure …
-- Aaron Kidd
Copy desk chief
I’ve been a payroll courier, convenience store clerk, radio station board operator, call screener and talk radio show producer. I’ve worked as a swing-shift DJ for a top-40 radio station, produced syndicated radio broadcasts for a major university’s sports teams, delivered pizza, and worked very briefly as a Wal-Mart cashier (had to quit that one in a hurry). I’ve also worked as a freelance writer for a tabloid newspaper in Sweden, which is how I got interested in this whole journalism thing.
I’ve worked for a nonprofit organization founded by Bette Midler that cleans up and maintains neglected parks and gardens all over New York City (amazing experience). I’ve spent time as a crew member on a replica of an 1800s Dutch ship -- we sailed around New York Harbor and the Hudson River and taught elementary school kids about the environment (steering that ship under the George Washington Bridge and alongside the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 was one of the coolest experiences of my life).
I also worked at a youth hostel in Spanish Harlem that catered mostly to German backpackers (I’ll never forget when one of the guests stuck his head out of a sixth story window and shouted, “I Luff Heep-Hoop Muzeek!” at the top of his lungs).
None of these experiences, however, have benefited me more than working here at The Daily Gamecock. This job has created opportunities for me that never would have happened otherwise, and my future job prospects are world’s better because of it.
Now, I’m finally about to graduate -- a goal that’s been a long time coming for a married, non-traditional student like myself. It took a while for me to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, but I have no regrets about taking the long and winding road.
It’s been a blast working here, and I’ll miss it.
On to the next adventure …
-- Aaron Kidd
Copy desk chief
Apr 23, 2007
Viewpoints, out... seriously.
Well, this is weird. This is my final blog entry as Viewpoints editor of The Daily Gamecock. Which means I’ll be graduating soon. Yeah … a little scary. It’s been quite a ride with this newspaper for me. I started out as a lowly features writer and was catapulted into the position of The Mix editor by the end of the summer.
Good idea in their part? Probably not. I’ve had my fair share of tears and drama stemming from this paper, but I’ll still miss it.
I’ll miss the people who put this beast together every night. I barely got to know some of them this semester, but they’ve impacted me like they wouldn’t imagine. Others I’ve known since my first days at this paper (Riley and Bembry, I’m looking at you over there in your little sports corner), and I pretty much consider them family. That’s the one thing I’ve realized about this paper … everyone here holds me together like they do this paper. They’re my rocks, and it’s going to be hard to not come up to the newsroom three days a week. (I will get used to it, don’t worry. But, the beginning will be tough.)
I will no longer be writing weekly columns that only my mother reads and then sends e-mails about how wonderful a writer I am. Oh sigh, no more constant reassurance. I will no longer be allowed to get angry at my columnists for misinforming the public and tabbing with the spacebar. (OK, so I didn’t get THAT mad … I love you guys.) Most importantly, I won’t be a member of The Daily Gamecock. This is shocking and saddening. I will be moving on with my life — that can’t be right! So … here’s a hint to surviving TDG for the future: don’t plagiarize or J-Fen will haunt you for the rest of your life.
Viewpoints, Out. (seriously.)
-- Alexis Arnone
Viewpoints editor
Good idea in their part? Probably not. I’ve had my fair share of tears and drama stemming from this paper, but I’ll still miss it.
I’ll miss the people who put this beast together every night. I barely got to know some of them this semester, but they’ve impacted me like they wouldn’t imagine. Others I’ve known since my first days at this paper (Riley and Bembry, I’m looking at you over there in your little sports corner), and I pretty much consider them family. That’s the one thing I’ve realized about this paper … everyone here holds me together like they do this paper. They’re my rocks, and it’s going to be hard to not come up to the newsroom three days a week. (I will get used to it, don’t worry. But, the beginning will be tough.)
I will no longer be writing weekly columns that only my mother reads and then sends e-mails about how wonderful a writer I am. Oh sigh, no more constant reassurance. I will no longer be allowed to get angry at my columnists for misinforming the public and tabbing with the spacebar. (OK, so I didn’t get THAT mad … I love you guys.) Most importantly, I won’t be a member of The Daily Gamecock. This is shocking and saddening. I will be moving on with my life — that can’t be right! So … here’s a hint to surviving TDG for the future: don’t plagiarize or J-Fen will haunt you for the rest of your life.
Viewpoints, Out. (seriously.)
-- Alexis Arnone
Viewpoints editor
Apr 22, 2007
Woohoo!
The semester is winding down, and while I don’t want to sound ungrateful for the education I receive here …
ONE WEEK TO GO!!!! Wooohoooo!
I am so ready for the summer and the chance to relax and not have to worry about class work. I was fortunate enough to get a newsroom internship at a paper near my hometown in New Jersey. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to learn a lot from that experience and be able to bring it back in whatever capacity when I return to The Daily Gamecock.
The staff is going to be very different next year, with many of the people who have been here the longest finally graduating and many others going on to other things. However, I have the greatest confidence that the staff will do a great job and continue to make our university look good.
I hope that we continue to piss people off with the things we write, because honestly sometimes the best stories we print are the ones that get people mad. It feels like we’re doing out best work when someone is pissed at us, which happens pretty frequently so I guess we do all right. But it’s only good when people aren’t mad, because we screwed something up. I was thinking about my most embarrassing moment of my college career last night and I realized it was when I mad a dumb mistake in a story my freshman year. But I guess it was sort of a good thing, because I learned to double-check even the most minute things.
Things that happened last semester seem like years ago, and I hope that my college career slows down enough for me to enjoy it.
-- Gina Vasselli
Asst. Metro Editor
ONE WEEK TO GO!!!! Wooohoooo!
I am so ready for the summer and the chance to relax and not have to worry about class work. I was fortunate enough to get a newsroom internship at a paper near my hometown in New Jersey. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to learn a lot from that experience and be able to bring it back in whatever capacity when I return to The Daily Gamecock.
The staff is going to be very different next year, with many of the people who have been here the longest finally graduating and many others going on to other things. However, I have the greatest confidence that the staff will do a great job and continue to make our university look good.
I hope that we continue to piss people off with the things we write, because honestly sometimes the best stories we print are the ones that get people mad. It feels like we’re doing out best work when someone is pissed at us, which happens pretty frequently so I guess we do all right. But it’s only good when people aren’t mad, because we screwed something up. I was thinking about my most embarrassing moment of my college career last night and I realized it was when I mad a dumb mistake in a story my freshman year. But I guess it was sort of a good thing, because I learned to double-check even the most minute things.
Things that happened last semester seem like years ago, and I hope that my college career slows down enough for me to enjoy it.
-- Gina Vasselli
Asst. Metro Editor
Apr 19, 2007
Bring on the change
You’d think I’d be able to cope with change by now.
Having grown up in a military family, we moved around every few years, and I constantly had to deal with changing friends, changing homes, changing schools, changing neighborhoods …You’d think at the age of 21 I would be taunting change, provoking it to do its worst as I am about to embark on my last year of college.
Change, however, couldn’t be more evil at the present time.
Next semester, I will be out of my comfort zone. I won’t be working at the paper, I’ll be living in a new place with new people; I’ll have a new job, and I’ll actually have a car (well, that part is a good thing).
I’m worried, to say the very least, that I won’t be able to cope with all these new challenges. It sort of feels like I will be starting college all over again.
The fear of finding an actual career is always looming, and I hope I figure out what I do want to do by the time that day comes around.
Or I could just suck it up, roll with the punches and find the silver lining.
Either or, bring on the change.
-- Caroline DeSanctis
Managing editor
Having grown up in a military family, we moved around every few years, and I constantly had to deal with changing friends, changing homes, changing schools, changing neighborhoods …You’d think at the age of 21 I would be taunting change, provoking it to do its worst as I am about to embark on my last year of college.
Change, however, couldn’t be more evil at the present time.
Next semester, I will be out of my comfort zone. I won’t be working at the paper, I’ll be living in a new place with new people; I’ll have a new job, and I’ll actually have a car (well, that part is a good thing).
I’m worried, to say the very least, that I won’t be able to cope with all these new challenges. It sort of feels like I will be starting college all over again.
The fear of finding an actual career is always looming, and I hope I figure out what I do want to do by the time that day comes around.
Or I could just suck it up, roll with the punches and find the silver lining.
Either or, bring on the change.
-- Caroline DeSanctis
Managing editor
Apr 18, 2007
To the people of the newsroom: carry on
As the semester is coming to a close, it seems to be a time to reflect and start to realize that it’s definitely, definitely time for some good ol’ relaxation. I’m excited to get home to Virginia and spend time with my family, relax with my friends, make some money and take time for myself to start to think about what I want next semester to look like for myself, too.
This has been a great semester for the paper. We’ve had minimal mistakes, great opportunities to report on big stories (this may not always be a good thing), and we’ve had good chemistry in the newsroom with the majority of the staffers. I feel like I’ve learned a lot more and become a great deal more comfortable doing the job that I do as assistant mix editor; however, I think I’m ready to move on to bigger and better things in many aspects of my life.
The newspaper seems to be ready for yet another set of changes coming upon us next semester, and I think we’re all ready for it. We’re ready for changes, as we always are because that is exciting, that is fun, and that is what helps us grow as journalists. But what I really appreciate is that we are sticking to the same tactfulness that truly makes good journalists. With the Virginia Tech “massacre” upon us, as the news stations like to call it, a lot of untactful journalism has been going on in the public media. In our school setting, I really feel that everyone on our staff deserves a pat on the back for actually having feelings for the families involved and friends affected, like myself. Nick Needham, the Metro section editor, really felt for me when my friends were affected by this tragedy as he wrote his story on the horrible murders that took place. He asked me if I was okay with what he wrote, what I felt about it and if there was anything he could change that would make it more tasteful. That was some tasteful journalism right there. When there are people in a community hurting from something, in my opinion, to be tasteful is to think of their reactions to the topic you’re writing about and their feelings overall.
Great job to everyone on staff, thanks to everyone who writes in and lets us know when we suck and when we do a good job, and I’m proud to be apart of a staff that gets along and takes into consideration what the general public will think of their writing, for the most part (when necessary). Great year y’all, have an awesome summer!
-- Andrea Lucas
Asst. Mix Editor
This has been a great semester for the paper. We’ve had minimal mistakes, great opportunities to report on big stories (this may not always be a good thing), and we’ve had good chemistry in the newsroom with the majority of the staffers. I feel like I’ve learned a lot more and become a great deal more comfortable doing the job that I do as assistant mix editor; however, I think I’m ready to move on to bigger and better things in many aspects of my life.
The newspaper seems to be ready for yet another set of changes coming upon us next semester, and I think we’re all ready for it. We’re ready for changes, as we always are because that is exciting, that is fun, and that is what helps us grow as journalists. But what I really appreciate is that we are sticking to the same tactfulness that truly makes good journalists. With the Virginia Tech “massacre” upon us, as the news stations like to call it, a lot of untactful journalism has been going on in the public media. In our school setting, I really feel that everyone on our staff deserves a pat on the back for actually having feelings for the families involved and friends affected, like myself. Nick Needham, the Metro section editor, really felt for me when my friends were affected by this tragedy as he wrote his story on the horrible murders that took place. He asked me if I was okay with what he wrote, what I felt about it and if there was anything he could change that would make it more tasteful. That was some tasteful journalism right there. When there are people in a community hurting from something, in my opinion, to be tasteful is to think of their reactions to the topic you’re writing about and their feelings overall.
Great job to everyone on staff, thanks to everyone who writes in and lets us know when we suck and when we do a good job, and I’m proud to be apart of a staff that gets along and takes into consideration what the general public will think of their writing, for the most part (when necessary). Great year y’all, have an awesome summer!
-- Andrea Lucas
Asst. Mix Editor
Apr 17, 2007
Students should support local teams
After one year in Columbia, I have come to two conclusions: 1. Carolina students love Gamecocks football and sometimes baseball. 2. Other than those two, Carolina students don't seem to love anything else when it comes to sports.
One thing I heard a lot of people say before I moved down here last year from Richmond, Va. was how awesome of a town this is and their attitude toward sports. If it isn't Carolina football or a big game for the baseball squad, those hardcore Gamecocks fans I've heard so much about seem to stay in the hen house.
Columbia has two minor league teams playing right down the street from the dorms, however most students either don't know or don't really care. The Columbia Inferno is a professional hockey team playing at the double-A level in the ECHL. They have been in Columbia since 2001 and have played all of their home games inside the Carolina Coliseum. Even though they play in the building that houses the School of Journalism and the Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management School, the Inferno's average attendance has hovered near the bottom each year.
Just a stones throw away from the Coliseum is where the Columbia Stingers play inside the Colonial Center. The Stingers are in their inaugural season in the National Indoor Football League and are only charging $5 for student tickets, yet USC students are hard to come by at games.
Columbia already lost the Capital City Bombers to the city of Greenville following the 2004 season. The Bombers wanted to stay in Columbia and were trying to get a new stadium built to share with USC, but the school balked at the idea so the team left. The city went from having a single-A team to the Columbia Blowfish, a summer collegiate baseball team. If they leave, I guess the city could always get a little league t-ball team to play their season at Capitol City Stadium.
The point is, we all need to support the local teams or they will leave and won't be replaced. Carolina fans can't put all of their eggs in Steve Spurrier's basket, because sooner or later, the Ol' Ball Coach is going to be gone and Columbia fans won't have any team worth cheering for.
-- Cory Burkarth
Staff writer, Sports
One thing I heard a lot of people say before I moved down here last year from Richmond, Va. was how awesome of a town this is and their attitude toward sports. If it isn't Carolina football or a big game for the baseball squad, those hardcore Gamecocks fans I've heard so much about seem to stay in the hen house.
Columbia has two minor league teams playing right down the street from the dorms, however most students either don't know or don't really care. The Columbia Inferno is a professional hockey team playing at the double-A level in the ECHL. They have been in Columbia since 2001 and have played all of their home games inside the Carolina Coliseum. Even though they play in the building that houses the School of Journalism and the Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management School, the Inferno's average attendance has hovered near the bottom each year.
Just a stones throw away from the Coliseum is where the Columbia Stingers play inside the Colonial Center. The Stingers are in their inaugural season in the National Indoor Football League and are only charging $5 for student tickets, yet USC students are hard to come by at games.
Columbia already lost the Capital City Bombers to the city of Greenville following the 2004 season. The Bombers wanted to stay in Columbia and were trying to get a new stadium built to share with USC, but the school balked at the idea so the team left. The city went from having a single-A team to the Columbia Blowfish, a summer collegiate baseball team. If they leave, I guess the city could always get a little league t-ball team to play their season at Capitol City Stadium.
The point is, we all need to support the local teams or they will leave and won't be replaced. Carolina fans can't put all of their eggs in Steve Spurrier's basket, because sooner or later, the Ol' Ball Coach is going to be gone and Columbia fans won't have any team worth cheering for.
-- Cory Burkarth
Staff writer, Sports
Apr 16, 2007
Putting It In Perspective
As finals, summer jobs, friendships, relationships and that
impending feeling of doom called graduation threaten to unravel my frail
sense of sanity, the question I am constantly asking myself is not ‘how will
I pull through?’ but ‘why am I doing all this?’
On a purely practical level, college degrees lead to better jobs, which
lead to more money, which lead to more things, which lead to…I don’t really
know what more things lead to, but I get the feeling it isn’t happiness.
Before I wax philosophical, let me just say how grateful I am to know where
my next meal is coming from, that I have a loving family and that I am free
to choose my life’s path. It’s just that I find it so easy to lose sight of
these things and get caught up in the day-to-day. It’s easy to swallow the
pill of the things that I should be doing. I should be in school, dating,
being well-rounded, giving back to the community, saying my prayers, and so
on, ad infinitum. But what makes life worth living is being able to take a
step back and ask, ‘If I died today, would I be proud of the life I lived?’
And I would, but I know that I would have taken less time to worry and more
time to smile. Please excuse the nauseating sentimentalism, but in a time in
my life when the big picture often seems blurry, sometimes it’s just the
right medicine.
The only piece of advice I feel even moderately qualified to dispense to
those feeling the pre-graduation crush is: don’t stop asking the tough
questions. Sometimes they hurt. Sometimes they don’t have answers. But
sometimes just asking is good enough.
-- Ryan James
Assistant News Editor
impending feeling of doom called graduation threaten to unravel my frail
sense of sanity, the question I am constantly asking myself is not ‘how will
I pull through?’ but ‘why am I doing all this?’
On a purely practical level, college degrees lead to better jobs, which
lead to more money, which lead to more things, which lead to…I don’t really
know what more things lead to, but I get the feeling it isn’t happiness.
Before I wax philosophical, let me just say how grateful I am to know where
my next meal is coming from, that I have a loving family and that I am free
to choose my life’s path. It’s just that I find it so easy to lose sight of
these things and get caught up in the day-to-day. It’s easy to swallow the
pill of the things that I should be doing. I should be in school, dating,
being well-rounded, giving back to the community, saying my prayers, and so
on, ad infinitum. But what makes life worth living is being able to take a
step back and ask, ‘If I died today, would I be proud of the life I lived?’
And I would, but I know that I would have taken less time to worry and more
time to smile. Please excuse the nauseating sentimentalism, but in a time in
my life when the big picture often seems blurry, sometimes it’s just the
right medicine.
The only piece of advice I feel even moderately qualified to dispense to
those feeling the pre-graduation crush is: don’t stop asking the tough
questions. Sometimes they hurt. Sometimes they don’t have answers. But
sometimes just asking is good enough.
-- Ryan James
Assistant News Editor
Apr 15, 2007
Neo-McCarthyism: Totally Tenacious Commentary From A Tall Guy
Balance & Memory
Steve Spurrier’s recent comments regarding the Confederate flag and its place on the State House grounds have brought an issue wrought with controversy and one undeniably South Carolinian in nature off of the backburner. And though there has been no shortage of discussion among civilians, journalists, politicians and public figures, the fact remains that the stances of many who are speaking out, including our football coach, are alarmingly polarizing.
Leave it up. Take it down.
There’s no middle ground.
And herein lies the heart of a problem that could be solved with relative ease by considering two things that cannot be separated when tackling such an emotionally charged issue — memory and balance.
The first thing to realize is the Confederate flag will remain on the State House grounds. But it will not fly. It will remain a part of the memorial — framed, in glass …. something.
But to continue to fly it atop the memorial is, at its core, anti-American.
This way promotes balance and preserves the memory of many sides of our Civil War, not the least of which are those that are pain-laden and ancestral.
And let’s be honest. Only one flag represents this country and everyone in it in the truest sense, and it has 50 stars and 13 stripes.
Traveling Travesties
What the funk is going on with basketball these days? How many steps can one guy take before shooting or passing the ball?
I don’t know about the ladies, because I’ll admit that I don’t watch women’s basketball, but the two-step rule has been given the boot by referees in men’s college hoops and the NBA. I saw the point guard from Memphis walk about eight times during the tournament, none of which were called. They might as well abandon that whole dribbling thing as well.
SEAson Change
I gotta say — after watching Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” and taking a look around at some of the stories about wacky weather all over this country, I’m a little worried. Since when do people living in parts of the Midwest and Northeast get a foot of snow dumped on them in the middle of April? I used to live in Chicago and Cleveland, and I remember playing baseball, not talking about building a dome to ensure that it can, in fact, be played.
We’ve all got to jump on the green, hydro-solar-biodiesel-ethanol-powered bandwagon, stick it to the oil tycoons and make sure our kids’ kids aren’t afraid of sunlight when they’re growing up. It’d probably help get us out of the Middle East, too.
Tunes
You like good music right? Buy these albums when they drop this spring and summer.
1. Arctic Monkeys, “Favourite Worst Nightmare” — Perhaps finally old enough to have a beer stateside, these young Brits return with a reportedly heavier dose of primo art-punk that chronicles nights out on the town in the over-looked, industrial haven that is Sheffield.
2. The White Stripes, “Icky Thump” — Jack and Meg White are primed to punch everybody else in the industry in the mouth with a return to the guitar-driven fusion of blues and punk that made them huge in the first place.
3. Interpol, (No album name yet) — Shit these guys are cool. They dress to kill and conjure the kind of dark, disturbing, racing and romantic reverb-drenched rock that talks of best-friend butcher serial killers and taking cruises with goddesses. Yes.
-- Chas McCarthy
Class of 2006, TDG production adviser Fall 2006
Steve Spurrier’s recent comments regarding the Confederate flag and its place on the State House grounds have brought an issue wrought with controversy and one undeniably South Carolinian in nature off of the backburner. And though there has been no shortage of discussion among civilians, journalists, politicians and public figures, the fact remains that the stances of many who are speaking out, including our football coach, are alarmingly polarizing.
Leave it up. Take it down.
There’s no middle ground.
And herein lies the heart of a problem that could be solved with relative ease by considering two things that cannot be separated when tackling such an emotionally charged issue — memory and balance.
The first thing to realize is the Confederate flag will remain on the State House grounds. But it will not fly. It will remain a part of the memorial — framed, in glass …. something.
But to continue to fly it atop the memorial is, at its core, anti-American.
This way promotes balance and preserves the memory of many sides of our Civil War, not the least of which are those that are pain-laden and ancestral.
And let’s be honest. Only one flag represents this country and everyone in it in the truest sense, and it has 50 stars and 13 stripes.
Traveling Travesties
What the funk is going on with basketball these days? How many steps can one guy take before shooting or passing the ball?
I don’t know about the ladies, because I’ll admit that I don’t watch women’s basketball, but the two-step rule has been given the boot by referees in men’s college hoops and the NBA. I saw the point guard from Memphis walk about eight times during the tournament, none of which were called. They might as well abandon that whole dribbling thing as well.
SEAson Change
I gotta say — after watching Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” and taking a look around at some of the stories about wacky weather all over this country, I’m a little worried. Since when do people living in parts of the Midwest and Northeast get a foot of snow dumped on them in the middle of April? I used to live in Chicago and Cleveland, and I remember playing baseball, not talking about building a dome to ensure that it can, in fact, be played.
We’ve all got to jump on the green, hydro-solar-biodiesel-ethanol-powered bandwagon, stick it to the oil tycoons and make sure our kids’ kids aren’t afraid of sunlight when they’re growing up. It’d probably help get us out of the Middle East, too.
Tunes
You like good music right? Buy these albums when they drop this spring and summer.
1. Arctic Monkeys, “Favourite Worst Nightmare” — Perhaps finally old enough to have a beer stateside, these young Brits return with a reportedly heavier dose of primo art-punk that chronicles nights out on the town in the over-looked, industrial haven that is Sheffield.
2. The White Stripes, “Icky Thump” — Jack and Meg White are primed to punch everybody else in the industry in the mouth with a return to the guitar-driven fusion of blues and punk that made them huge in the first place.
3. Interpol, (No album name yet) — Shit these guys are cool. They dress to kill and conjure the kind of dark, disturbing, racing and romantic reverb-drenched rock that talks of best-friend butcher serial killers and taking cruises with goddesses. Yes.
-- Chas McCarthy
Class of 2006, TDG production adviser Fall 2006
Apr 11, 2007
Good to the last drop...
ONE WORD STARBUCKS…..Besides the camera and a good telephoto lens, it’s a photographers best friend.
-- Brandon Davis
Assistant Photo Editor
Apr 10, 2007
Pulling a "B.C"
Johnny Hart, creator of the comic “B.C.,” among others, died of a stroke last Saturday. I always liked the physical gags and wordplays in most “B.C.” strips, but one feature always stuck in my side on Sundays.
While Hart could very well have been a wonderful man, he often used the Sunday comics page as an opportunity to have ants and clams quote Bible scripture to each other and make unveiled sermons to the reader. I don’t mind church humor, but Hart straight-up crossed the line of taste directly into preaching. An otherwise fine comic staple was spoiled nearly weekly because of the author’s biases.
As a copy editor, part of my job is to comb through stories for grammatical mistakes, but also for matters of opinion when an article is supposed to be grounded in fact. Conversely, the Viewpoints section is prone to historical statements that don’t come with citations, and it’s my job to check editorials for matters of possibly faulty fact that could use citations. Flattening out opinions in stories almost feels like roboticizing the news, but it’s necessary to get readers the straight scoop, hindered (I mean, supported!) only by writing style. However, reporters are free to record what campus kids have to say about matters – so I encourage you to track down any Daily Gamecock reporters and give them a piece of your mind. Or e-mail whichever section you think could use a heads-up on breaking news or important issues and they’ll get right on it.
I’m not worried that we have a once-a-week inappropriate story, but feedback from readers is a strong line of defense against pulling a “B.C.”
-- Thomas Maluck
Copy editor
While Hart could very well have been a wonderful man, he often used the Sunday comics page as an opportunity to have ants and clams quote Bible scripture to each other and make unveiled sermons to the reader. I don’t mind church humor, but Hart straight-up crossed the line of taste directly into preaching. An otherwise fine comic staple was spoiled nearly weekly because of the author’s biases.
As a copy editor, part of my job is to comb through stories for grammatical mistakes, but also for matters of opinion when an article is supposed to be grounded in fact. Conversely, the Viewpoints section is prone to historical statements that don’t come with citations, and it’s my job to check editorials for matters of possibly faulty fact that could use citations. Flattening out opinions in stories almost feels like roboticizing the news, but it’s necessary to get readers the straight scoop, hindered (I mean, supported!) only by writing style. However, reporters are free to record what campus kids have to say about matters – so I encourage you to track down any Daily Gamecock reporters and give them a piece of your mind. Or e-mail whichever section you think could use a heads-up on breaking news or important issues and they’ll get right on it.
I’m not worried that we have a once-a-week inappropriate story, but feedback from readers is a strong line of defense against pulling a “B.C.”
-- Thomas Maluck
Copy editor
Apr 9, 2007
Still obsessed with my old job
I've never really been a huge fan of quick transitions. Prior to working as assistant viewpoints editor, I spent long nights at The Daily Gamecock as a copy editor, going word nerd crazy on stories. But now, working my new position, I can't shake this overwhelming compulsion to copy edit every story before I pass it on to the copy editors, and it's driving me mad. I can feel my hand creeping for the AP style guide, and I have to slap it away with my other hand, saying "No, that's not what I do anymore."
I have to be efficient for the sake of everyone else, and you just can't be efficient when you're trying to go over everything with a fine-toothed comb. With the mindset switch that accompanies taking on a new position, invariable come the mistakes. For instance, I ran someone's name when it should not have been run, and then there was the design fiasco that was the giant filler that ran last week.
I hereby apologize for all of my mistakes, and I'm trying. I really am. But, should you ever feel the urge to jump all over me about a mistake, you try stifling a somewhat creepy obsession with words.
-- Zach Toman
Assistant Viewpoints editor
I have to be efficient for the sake of everyone else, and you just can't be efficient when you're trying to go over everything with a fine-toothed comb. With the mindset switch that accompanies taking on a new position, invariable come the mistakes. For instance, I ran someone's name when it should not have been run, and then there was the design fiasco that was the giant filler that ran last week.
I hereby apologize for all of my mistakes, and I'm trying. I really am. But, should you ever feel the urge to jump all over me about a mistake, you try stifling a somewhat creepy obsession with words.
-- Zach Toman
Assistant Viewpoints editor
Apr 8, 2007
Don't hold your breath
The year is winding down and all of a sudden meetings are sparsely attended. It’s a real pain when you still have a full week of stories needed but only three people show up to your meetings. It’s understandable of course. Finals are on the horizon and people are realizing they need to hunker down and get some work done. But the beast needs to be fed, so this is the time of year many editors here at TDG dread because, although we have finals and class work to make up, we find ourselves picking up more and more stories to fill our sections. Everyone wants to end the year with a bang, but it’s hard to do when you’re simply scraping the barrel for stories.
This is also an anxious time of year because we start thinking about the upcoming school year and where we need and want to be. Classes get more and more demanding as the years go on, but you also find yourself more attached to TDG and wanting to stay with the paper and the people you meet and become friends with there. Of course, all this depends on who becomes the next editor in chief. They get the ultimate power over who does what. We have very capable candidates applying this year, with very different managing styles and ideas for the paper. So what people wind up doing in the upcoming years will depend heavily on who becomes our editor for the 2007-2008 school year.
We simply have to wait and see.
-- Gina Vasselli
Asst. Metro editor/ Italian Indentured Servant
This is also an anxious time of year because we start thinking about the upcoming school year and where we need and want to be. Classes get more and more demanding as the years go on, but you also find yourself more attached to TDG and wanting to stay with the paper and the people you meet and become friends with there. Of course, all this depends on who becomes the next editor in chief. They get the ultimate power over who does what. We have very capable candidates applying this year, with very different managing styles and ideas for the paper. So what people wind up doing in the upcoming years will depend heavily on who becomes our editor for the 2007-2008 school year.
We simply have to wait and see.
-- Gina Vasselli
Asst. Metro editor/ Italian Indentured Servant
Apr 5, 2007
Our Response
As of Wednesday, The Daily Gamecock became much talked about news around campus. I've heard people whispering about it in all of my classes, in hallways and on our Web site. It seems we opened a can of worms, to be cliché. Maybe I'm just paranoid that the kids in my classes would realize who I am and attack me like they have our reporter. It wasn't until I got into the office today that it really hit me what was going on around here.
As I scanned through the 100 or so total comments on all of the controversial stories, I got angrier. I don't mind when people make comments about the newspaper. That doesn't bother me too much, even though to make this I work until I'm sick. No, it's when people start talking crap about my writers that I get mad. That's uncalled for, juvenile and completely out of place. Our writers are assigned stories by section editors. They do their reporting and then send them in through e-mail. After that the stories are fact checked and edited by the section editors, copy editors, copy desk chief and myself. Never should these writers be accosted like our writers have been this week.
What's next? Are people going to start egging cars and dorm rooms when they don't like a news story? Maybe there's something in the water, but whoever thought that saying someone was a fat cow as an insult to their writing should have kept their ignorant thoughts to themselves.
It's a time like this that we felt it was necessary to stand up not only for our paper but for our writers, and let readers know this sort of comments are not welcome topics on our forum.
-- Liz White
Editor in chief
As I scanned through the 100 or so total comments on all of the controversial stories, I got angrier. I don't mind when people make comments about the newspaper. That doesn't bother me too much, even though to make this I work until I'm sick. No, it's when people start talking crap about my writers that I get mad. That's uncalled for, juvenile and completely out of place. Our writers are assigned stories by section editors. They do their reporting and then send them in through e-mail. After that the stories are fact checked and edited by the section editors, copy editors, copy desk chief and myself. Never should these writers be accosted like our writers have been this week.
What's next? Are people going to start egging cars and dorm rooms when they don't like a news story? Maybe there's something in the water, but whoever thought that saying someone was a fat cow as an insult to their writing should have kept their ignorant thoughts to themselves.
It's a time like this that we felt it was necessary to stand up not only for our paper but for our writers, and let readers know this sort of comments are not welcome topics on our forum.
-- Liz White
Editor in chief
Apr 4, 2007
Why being the assistant sports editor is bad ass
So, you might be wondering what makes an assistant sports editor. OK, you probably aren't thinking about that, but you should be.
As assistant sports editor, I take over the sports section two nights a week. During those two nights, I am on top of the newspaper and make sure everyone is focused. Not too many people enjoy my company because I harass the hell out of them, but that's what it takes. A good assistant sports editor needs to be focused, poweful and imaginative. My sports writers respect me, yet know I ask a lot out of them. They get their stories done on time under my watch.
On a given day, I'll stroll into the newsroom after supper, around 5:30. From that point, I edit the hell out of the stories, place them on the server and the rest is magic. Then the night gets pretty quiet until headlines around 9 or 10. From there, my brain works its hardest trying to cram a 500 word article into a one line header. Hard, I know, but someone has to do it. After all that, we call it a night.
I've been a writer for the Gamecock for four years now, but stepped up my involvement a lot my senior year. This is my first semester as Assistant Sports Editor and it's pretty bad-ass. We're always looking for someone to cover sports so if you like doing stuff like football and baseball, shout us a holler.
-- Brian Saal,
Assistant Sports Editor
As assistant sports editor, I take over the sports section two nights a week. During those two nights, I am on top of the newspaper and make sure everyone is focused. Not too many people enjoy my company because I harass the hell out of them, but that's what it takes. A good assistant sports editor needs to be focused, poweful and imaginative. My sports writers respect me, yet know I ask a lot out of them. They get their stories done on time under my watch.
On a given day, I'll stroll into the newsroom after supper, around 5:30. From that point, I edit the hell out of the stories, place them on the server and the rest is magic. Then the night gets pretty quiet until headlines around 9 or 10. From there, my brain works its hardest trying to cram a 500 word article into a one line header. Hard, I know, but someone has to do it. After all that, we call it a night.
I've been a writer for the Gamecock for four years now, but stepped up my involvement a lot my senior year. This is my first semester as Assistant Sports Editor and it's pretty bad-ass. We're always looking for someone to cover sports so if you like doing stuff like football and baseball, shout us a holler.
-- Brian Saal,
Assistant Sports Editor
Apr 3, 2007
Spring fever is here
Ah, spring. There’s nothing more beautiful than our campus in springtime -- except maybe Paris. Paris is pretty this time of year.
But there’s definitely something about the season of rebirth that transforms The Daily Gamecock’s staff. Work builds up, the Strom reopens its pool and everyone goes to lie out, and no one shows up at the meetings. Seriously, where were you guys on Monday night? We need to fill out the budget for next week, and I’m kind of pissed that you weren’t there.
But I digress -- this time of year is absolutely gorgeous, but so is the work ethic we all have during the rest of the year. Spring fever may have affected the rest of you, but we’re still going strong. Or at least we’re supposed to be. Now is hardly the time to be slack, in classes or in anything else. So hunker down and wait for the season -- and the school year -- to be over. The great outdoors and a case of the lazies may have infiltrated the rest of the school, but the work we here at the paper have to do isn’t over yet.
-- Justin Fenner
The Mix editor
But there’s definitely something about the season of rebirth that transforms The Daily Gamecock’s staff. Work builds up, the Strom reopens its pool and everyone goes to lie out, and no one shows up at the meetings. Seriously, where were you guys on Monday night? We need to fill out the budget for next week, and I’m kind of pissed that you weren’t there.
But I digress -- this time of year is absolutely gorgeous, but so is the work ethic we all have during the rest of the year. Spring fever may have affected the rest of you, but we’re still going strong. Or at least we’re supposed to be. Now is hardly the time to be slack, in classes or in anything else. So hunker down and wait for the season -- and the school year -- to be over. The great outdoors and a case of the lazies may have infiltrated the rest of the school, but the work we here at the paper have to do isn’t over yet.
-- Justin Fenner
The Mix editor
We're that kinda people
It has been another stressful week up here at TDG. On Monday we lost one of our design directors, so expect to see some changes. After working here for over a year and with only a month left before he graduates, our designer decided he needed to relieve some stress and get his work done. That meant cutting out TDG. And for me, that meant reorganize our staff. We moved our assistant viewpoints editor to design and a copy editor to viewpoints. Now I think I can breathe again, but this next month will be a bumpy ride. I could tell it was a tough decision that he didn’t enjoy making.
It’s at the point in the semester where the schoolwork load is piling on for so many of our writers and editors that it seems like people don’t have time for this paper. Yet, here I sit, day in and day out willing to sacrifice my sleep and sanity to do the best I can. I’m sure everyone has noticed the ads in the paper for my position. Staffers keep asking me why I don’t plan on coming back. But that’s not the case. Every semester the editor has to re-apply for the position. Now, I’m stressing even more because I don’t know what I would do with my time if I didn’t have TDG. I already dread my Spring 2008 semester because my nights won’t be filled with this craziness anymore. So I just want to say, to all of our readers, that it might seem that at times we don’t really enjoy our jobs, just know that leaving this place can be the toughest thing we have to do. A graduate and TDG alum comments to me every time he sees the paper: “Man, I wish I was still there.” It’s just that kind of place and we’re just that kind of people. We love what we do and we couldn’t imagine doing anything else with our time. Or at least, if we have to, life would be a lot less enjoyable.
So whether or not I’m editor after this semester, just know what I love every minute of this chaos, no matter what I might say.
-- Liz White
Editor in chief
It’s at the point in the semester where the schoolwork load is piling on for so many of our writers and editors that it seems like people don’t have time for this paper. Yet, here I sit, day in and day out willing to sacrifice my sleep and sanity to do the best I can. I’m sure everyone has noticed the ads in the paper for my position. Staffers keep asking me why I don’t plan on coming back. But that’s not the case. Every semester the editor has to re-apply for the position. Now, I’m stressing even more because I don’t know what I would do with my time if I didn’t have TDG. I already dread my Spring 2008 semester because my nights won’t be filled with this craziness anymore. So I just want to say, to all of our readers, that it might seem that at times we don’t really enjoy our jobs, just know that leaving this place can be the toughest thing we have to do. A graduate and TDG alum comments to me every time he sees the paper: “Man, I wish I was still there.” It’s just that kind of place and we’re just that kind of people. We love what we do and we couldn’t imagine doing anything else with our time. Or at least, if we have to, life would be a lot less enjoyable.
So whether or not I’m editor after this semester, just know what I love every minute of this chaos, no matter what I might say.
-- Liz White
Editor in chief
Uncertain future
The SPJ chapter here at USC just got back from Gainesville for the regional conference. It was a nice respite from the daily grind of actually putting out a newspaper every day. So often the accompanying stress of gluing everything together precludes you from seeing the benefits of what you’re actually doing. It was nice to be able to take a step back and see why this is all worth it.
We got to hear from reporters and editors from the New York Times, the Miami Herald, the St. Petersburg Times and The Gainesville Sun, among others. It seems like the future of print journalism, at least in newspapers, is facing a rocky future. Although this was not the primary theme of the conference, this is one of the messages I came away with.
We are faced with so many important but not so easily answerable questions. How do we deal with the transition to online everything, especially with older readers resistant to change, advertising dollars draining out and so many other factors? How do we deal with readers wanting “infotainment” and not hard news? Is it our job to give them what they need to know or is it our job to give them what they want to know, even if that is the latest update on a woman who did next to nothing besides marry a famous rich man? Do we go by what gets the most hits on a Web site? Or do we tell them about the less sensational meat and potatoes stuff?
I would really like to know how everything turns out. I have full faith in the future of journalism, I am just having to adjust my perception of what that looks like. Hopefully in 15 to 20 years, I will be able to look back and see the successful transition to a bright and thriving present of journalism.
--Chelsea Hadaway
News editor
We got to hear from reporters and editors from the New York Times, the Miami Herald, the St. Petersburg Times and The Gainesville Sun, among others. It seems like the future of print journalism, at least in newspapers, is facing a rocky future. Although this was not the primary theme of the conference, this is one of the messages I came away with.
We are faced with so many important but not so easily answerable questions. How do we deal with the transition to online everything, especially with older readers resistant to change, advertising dollars draining out and so many other factors? How do we deal with readers wanting “infotainment” and not hard news? Is it our job to give them what they need to know or is it our job to give them what they want to know, even if that is the latest update on a woman who did next to nothing besides marry a famous rich man? Do we go by what gets the most hits on a Web site? Or do we tell them about the less sensational meat and potatoes stuff?
I would really like to know how everything turns out. I have full faith in the future of journalism, I am just having to adjust my perception of what that looks like. Hopefully in 15 to 20 years, I will be able to look back and see the successful transition to a bright and thriving present of journalism.
--Chelsea Hadaway
News editor
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