Thursday, February 12, 2009
1:50 p.m.Jonathan (Bridge copy editor) and I are driving back to campus to attend Dr. Olsen-Fazi’s memorial.
We just turned in the latest issue of the Bridge for printing at the Laredo Morning Times. My computer was acting funky when I tried to save and reopen the pdf files, but I’m crossing my fingers and hoping it won’t be a big deal. I really don’t want to have to worry about it right now-I’ve got other things on my mind.
7:35 p.m.Our biweekly Bridge meeting ends earlier than usual, and I have my staff to thank for that; they’re on the ball, coming up with new story ideas and making my job easier. We’re waiting on Mr. Mark Webber, The Bridge faculty advisor, who is coming to tell us about some changes The Bridge will be facing.
He knocks on the door. After exchanging hellos and chitchat, Mr. Webber breaks the news to us:
“The Times is going to cut the size of our paper. But, even theirs will be smaller.Jeez. The economy must really be going downhill.”
He holds up two samples of mock issues, one a stubbier version of the current paper, the other a skinny version of a long newspaper.
“If we decide to stay with the tabloid style, it’s going to look like a Best Buy ad,” he said, while the writers and I, looking discouraged, tried to decide which was the lesser of two evils.
Change is good. Change is good. Change is good…I have to keep telling myself…Change is good.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
12:50 p.m.Valentine’s Day, and I have a text message:
The pdf files were messed up, so I will need to fix them. They will print it overnight Monday or by midmorning Tuesday. -Webber
Monday, February 16, 2009
6:28 p.m.My Astronomy lab ended almost an hour early, so I walk to The Bridge office (PH 312) to get some work done.
First, I check my email and see a message from Steve Harmon: Register for Bridge Access.
Crazy excited, I type www.thebridgenewspaper.com to see if anyone had registered or commented on our website.
Forty new members! Surely someone left a comment!
I click on the sidebar tab that reads “Most Recently Commented,” and the first article listed is my last Editor’s corner. Awesome!
I click on the article to read the comments-I couldn’t scroll down fast enough.
Here’s what greeted me:
EddiePosted 2/11/09 @ 8:48 AM CSTIt is a shame that the first sentence of the first paragraph of the lead article by the Editor contained an obvious spelling error. While it may be nigh impossible to catch every misspelled word in every issue, as the Editor’s piece is presumably the most important (considering its position within the issue as a whole), it is very disappointing to find so obvious a mistake. Such blunders only serve to reinforce the notion that this is a newspaper produced by students and not a work which transcends its origins.
(Others also shared their views, but you can read them online ?.)
I’m stunned. I call Jonathan.
“How did this happen?” I asked. “We looked at it a million times.”
“I don’t know. Oh well,” he said.
“Oh well,” I agreed.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
1:42 p.m.Jonathan, Luis (Bridge staff writer and graphic designer), and I are driving down Mann road to pick up The Bridge.
“Dude,” Luis calls my attention, “is your car smoking?”
I follow his gaze. Yup, it’s smoking.
“Oh shit!” I exclaim, and even though I’m kind of pissed, we all crack up.
“Let’s hope we make it,” I say. This time, I don’t cross my fingers.
1:50 p.m.We arrived at LMT in one piece. Despite the noxious cloud rising from my engine, I’m more anxious to see what The Bridge looks like.
The guys wheel out the 2000 copies. I catch a glimpse of the cover, and there’s nothing I can do but shake my head.
“Why’s it purple?”
“What happened to the pink?”
Jonathan and Luis ask at the same time, both with wtf? faces.
In seconds, I have an issue in my hands.
The first word, big, bold, and beautiful, reads Vagina.
A smile emerges. I love this job.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
During this issue, we encountered a lot of-no apologies for my language-shit. But, shit happens. And shit doesn’t just happen, or at least I’d like to think there’s a reason for it. Admittedly, I don’t know why it happened, but these events reminded me that-as Brian Shelby, Jason Lee’s character in Vanilla Sky, claims-“without the sour, the sweet ain’t as sweet, baby.”
So shit happened. Oh well.
Experience tells me it’s going to continue to happen, now and forever; yet, here I am-with fifty new members to The Bridge online and a new water pump-still standing, still running the show, ready for the next issue.
“I love that the first word of the new Bridge issue is Vagina,” my friend Erica gushed this morning.
“It made me pick it up-definitely caught my attention,” said another friend, Mario.
Sweet.