Sometimes the quote above is how we always feel while we produce the magazine. We work hard, and we play hard as well. While working on the magazine most people outside of class and staff think of it as strictly a class where we write all day, do interviews, take pictures, and quietly obey a teacher like most classes at school. It is the complete opposite of that. We've always said that Torch is a family and as cliche as that sounds, we sometimes act like one big family. By the end of the day, as much work has went into it, how many occasional "damps" and "ships" (No Swear November censorship) directed at the computer, and just any speed bumps in the road, we always find a way to have fun.
I believe that we do a lot of work and really it can be quite stressful sometimes, especially with five/six other classes, it piles up. One thing we've really learned to do though, is make it work, make the best of it and have fun with it. Most of our staff this year is an editor and on top of that a reporter as well. Being a reporter is always a fun part of the job but is quite intimidating at first, especially if you get a story you really want to cover. It's funny to think that three years ago, I was scared to talk to anybody about an interview when I was a beginning journalist, but now I love it. An interview isn't just a way to get a source, it's a productive way to have a conversation with somebody about your topic. I was taught in that beginning journalism class, that an interview isn't an interview, it's a conversation, it's a way to get to know somebody, and meet new people. Simply by making it work, you can take one of the scariest parts of journalism and make it fun.
All the time, I get asked by people... "What exactly do you do?" and I usually reply somewhere along the lines of "stories, pages, hangout, and have fun," because really we aren't tied down to doing stories and pages. Of course, we take them seriously and we try and make them the best we can, but we have fun while doing it. One of the parts of staff that is usually really fun for editors, is work session. Work sessions are where the editors get together and create the pages that will be seen in the final production. Instead of constantly working, we usually play loud music, have raves (strobe light+ a bunch of teenagers cooped up in school long past regular hours= awesome dancing), eat, give back massages, a lot of hugs, and did I mention eat? It's not that we are just focused on it at all times, and I believe that is one common misconception that we get. Of course this probably isn't seen on a wider scale, such as the New York Times or ESPN. I doubt you'll ever see Michael Wilbon of ESPN raving around with Tony Kornheiser (wouldn't we all like to see that?) but still journalism is fun and with a good support cast, we tend to make it work by having fun.
Every time I get the question of what we do, I always feel that people have a perception of just another boring Language Arts class. As a news-magazine, I believe that we are far from a boring Language Arts class, I believe that there is so much to us than just work. Everybody is always so accustomed to each other on our staff and I think sometimes we just have a little too much fun, but is there anything as too much fun if you truly think about it? Journalism is fun, is the one form of work that your today is different from your tomorrow, there is so many twists, turns, and bumps along the road, but once you get the final piece out there it's such an accomplishment. Being apart of the news-magazine staff especially in high school is definitely a great experience and you will run across some problems, but like I've said, make it work and have fun and everything will seem better by the day it's published.
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