News Pulls An All-Nighter

BY SHANNON KELLY
Graphic Editor in Chief

I’ve got to do better with this blogging situation!

No excuses, but the blog snuck its way to the bottom of my priorities list this week. With last-minute news stories, a couple of staff problems and a generally hectic week, I realized that I’m going to have to do this thing a little differently.

So I’m going to limit each entry to about 200 words and post more often (at least that’s the plan … and it’s starting after this one).

I should have been on the blog at 6 a.m. Thursday morning to post a simple: “The sun is rising and the paper still hasn’t been put to bed!” But, I’m a horrible blogger so I did no such thing.

Here is what I would have said had I been on my best blog behavior:

Thursday 6:15 — While most people are minutes away from waking up for their 8 a.m. classes, the news editors are finishing their pages and I’m sending the other sections' pages to the printers. Jane (news editor) is putting headlines on the front page, while Sam (assistant news editor) makes some last-minute edits to another page. Both girls have been in here since around 10 a.m. (Jane hasn’t even been outside today…or I guess that was yesterday).

Usually, deadline nights end at a semi-acceptable hour (2 a.m. or 3 at the latest). But sometimes no matter how hard we’re working, there are hold-ups and it’s hard to put a finger on what they are. This week, the news editors, their assistant and I wrote most of the news. That puts a strain on production since we aren’t able to design pages and edit articles while we’re reporting and writing ourselves. But it’s week two. We’re still training new writers and recruiting, so I think we did the best with what we have.

Finally the front page was sent (6:30) and Sam, Jane and I deliriously slumped out of the newsroom doors to my car. We were laughing when Sam opened the door on to the sidewalk and we were stuck there for a few minutes. Then, Jane sat on my emergency brake, causing minor problems (she and Sam were sharing the front seat because Sam was too tired to climb in the back). I dropped them off at their on-campus apartments after our clown-car ride.

Neither of them was off to bed — both had studying to do before their 10 a.m. classes.

They didn’t sleep, but they got the paper out.

They’ll sleep this weekend.