I'm tired but happy.
I have more good news.
Yesterday, I got a title, and office, and a staff. No paycheck, but I do get 1 credit hour.
I had intentions of convincing the school newspaper to make me a staff writer and hoped I could talk them into letting me be a copy editor after a month or two. Within two hours, I had a new job.
I am now the photo & captions editor, a copy editor, and a staff writer.
Apparently my photo/writing/editing/yearbook experience and technological/software knowledge fit their need for a photo editor. Sweet! I share my office with Bobby, this dude who's in 2 of my classes and is the graphics and layout editor, but I get my own desk and use of a Mac that has just about every program I could possibly need on it, plus 750 GB of storage on the hard drive. I also get to hang out in the Newspaper department as much as I want. It's a strangely comforting environment.
Being the photo editor is my primary job, but my teacher (who is the head of the entire media department at Valencia) was apparently impressed with my grammatical neurosis (finally!) that he tried to kidnap me from the graphics department. It was then determined I will be shared.
Oh, I also get to teach digital camera operating basics to the staff writers and combine the three networks in the department into one. I am currently writing an entertainment beat about the Blue Man Group and Barnum & Bailey's circus coming to Orlando. I was offered better stories to cover, but I thought I'd do something small at first and see how much work I have/what's expected of me.
Anyway, journalism makes me happy. I look forward to going to classes. It's been a while since I really felt that. I enjoy that the main book used in two of my classes is the AP Styleguide. I had a quiz on the A's of it today. I got the only 100 (and the only A) in the class. First one to finish, too. It's just intuitive at this point, but that's largely because I have read the styleguide recreationally at least 4 times and I own 3 editions of it already.
I don't know why I'm surprised. I've always known that editing is what I want/was meant to do. It's one of few skills I possess that I have confidence (and perhaps a touch of arrogance) about.
What's cool about this job aside from the instant power trip it came with?
In the long-run, I intend to win a Pulitzer. Duh.
Yesterday, I got a title, and office, and a staff. No paycheck, but I do get 1 credit hour.
I had intentions of convincing the school newspaper to make me a staff writer and hoped I could talk them into letting me be a copy editor after a month or two. Within two hours, I had a new job.
I am now the photo & captions editor, a copy editor, and a staff writer.
Apparently my photo/writing/editing/yearbook experience and technological/software knowledge fit their need for a photo editor. Sweet! I share my office with Bobby, this dude who's in 2 of my classes and is the graphics and layout editor, but I get my own desk and use of a Mac that has just about every program I could possibly need on it, plus 750 GB of storage on the hard drive. I also get to hang out in the Newspaper department as much as I want. It's a strangely comforting environment.
Being the photo editor is my primary job, but my teacher (who is the head of the entire media department at Valencia) was apparently impressed with my grammatical neurosis (finally!) that he tried to kidnap me from the graphics department. It was then determined I will be shared.
Oh, I also get to teach digital camera operating basics to the staff writers and combine the three networks in the department into one. I am currently writing an entertainment beat about the Blue Man Group and Barnum & Bailey's circus coming to Orlando. I was offered better stories to cover, but I thought I'd do something small at first and see how much work I have/what's expected of me.
Anyway, journalism makes me happy. I look forward to going to classes. It's been a while since I really felt that. I enjoy that the main book used in two of my classes is the AP Styleguide. I had a quiz on the A's of it today. I got the only 100 (and the only A) in the class. First one to finish, too. It's just intuitive at this point, but that's largely because I have read the styleguide recreationally at least 4 times and I own 3 editions of it already.
I don't know why I'm surprised. I've always known that editing is what I want/was meant to do. It's one of few skills I possess that I have confidence (and perhaps a touch of arrogance) about.
What's cool about this job aside from the instant power trip it came with?
- So long as I do this job well and my teacher continues to like/be impressed with me, I will have an awesome recommendation from a department head who has not only worked as a journalist at the Orlando Sentinel, but has also worked in several other major cities.
- Valencia is the second-largest community college in Florida. Our circulation is about 12,000. This is more impressive than if I had done this for The Sandspur, Rollins' god-awful excuse for a newspaper.
- We are building cyber-portfolios of clips for interviews and such. It will be nice to have a current portfolio of actual news writing samples rather than showing a fabulous paper on Descartes.
- If I decide to go to UCF, this will give me a huge edge getting into their journalism program should I choose to pursue that. It's not an open program, meaning that while UCF would have to take me if I have the A.A., they don't have to admit me into the journalism major. It will also be quite conducive to getting on UCF's newspaper staff.
In the long-run, I intend to win a Pulitzer. Duh.