Progress
Brian is home before 1 a.m. for the first time this week. Tomorrow, let's aim for midnight.First issue: Done.
Well, we're not quite a well-oiled machine (yet), but this semester's first issue of The State Press is on its way to the printer.
Among my favorite things:
a) The front page of sports (which gets its own section tomorrow) has a section-front layout that I hope we can carry over to normal days, when sports starts inside the paper.
b) Also, we took a good first step away from being a Tempe-centric paper with tomorrow's issue. We had stories available from all four campuses, and although we held onto our West campus story for another day's paper, tomorrow's State Press will feature news from the Polytechnic campus on the front page, as well as a couple of Downtown Phoenix campus-specific stories.
c) It's done. It's 44 pages. And therefore, tomorrow is gonna seem like a piece of cake. (I hope.)
Tubing = so fun!
Cross that off my Things to Do Before Leaving Arizona list!What a week — and it's only half over!
I've kept pretty busy this week with all things State Press, getting set up at my new apartment, Michael moving into the dorms, seein' peeps, etc. But here are some of the highlights:
Yesterday, I visited three of the four ASU campuses in one day.
We had Camp State Press at Downtown campus, I dropped in and checked on the preparations for the first issue at the Tempe campus and met with the staff of the West Times at West campus.
I saw Steve Winwood and Tom Petty in concert tonight.
I had forgotten how ridiculously many Tom Petty songs are among my tots faves!
Did I mention that my brother goes to ASU now?
How weird is that?
It's good to be back... but bad to be forgetful
As much as I miss LA, my staff, SSP, Speedwalker, and the like, it's been really good to be back in Tempe.
Attending worship at Tempe First yesterday, I really felt like I had come home in a way that differed from previous end-of-summer returns to church. Also nice about being at church was the fact that I wasn't in charge of anything during the 11:30 service. It was nice to be able to just be in a worship setting instead of being/managing.
Speaking of managing things, my little Sabbath from being in charge of half the world lasted only a day, but running Camp State Press today was actually pretty cool and got me excited for the fall and to be back in school for one more semester.
Funny thing was that so much about the first day of Camp State Press reminded me of a Sunday at SSP, from making a meeting agenda for the counselors — er, editorial board — to feeling relieved and satisfied when it was all over for the day but lamenting the fact that I only knew a handful of caper — well, staffer — names.
Anyway, this afternoon I signed my lease and got the keys to my sweet new apartment, got my Sun Card activated as a key to Student Media's new Downtown campus newsroom and also called to get Internet set up at my apartment.
But later tonight, the fun turned into frustration when I was struck by a D(S)COTL...
Drunk Sun Card on the Looooooooooose!
Around 17:30, while I was on the phone with my mom, I decided to see if the Downtown bookstore was still open and maybe pick up some of my books for this fall. Well, somewhere between leaving Cronkite at 17:40 and paying at the bookstore next door at like 18:00, I lose track of my Sun Card.
I was going to bust it out as a form of ID at the bookstore but couldn't find it in any of my pockets. So I did a quick breeze back through the aisles I had been down in the bookstore, look for it along the ground on the way back to Cronkite, and have a police aide let me back into the newsroom to look for it up there. I don't see it anywhere.
So my current guesses are:
a) that I left it in some part of the newsroom that I didn't scour
b) that I dropped it on my way out of the building
c) that it fell out of my pocket when I pulled out my camera to take a picture of the front of the Cronkite building
d) that I dropped it somewhere in the bookstore
So that had me all grumpy tonight, and the fact that my computer has been a little janky lately hasn't helped... nor did almost skipping dinner. Yeah, I was pretty much on my P.
Luckily, I did get to watch some Monday Night Football. You know, the kind with four downs. And some KFC has got me in higher spirits now, so I'm gonna start movin' and shakin' it toward bedtime. In fact, since I had two drumsticks and some popcorn chicken for dinner tonight, you could say it's almost time for chicken with chicken with chicken with bedtime!
As Macy says, "Good niiiiiiiiiiight!"
'Playing with' awards
"Playing with fire," a cover story I wrote last year for State Press Magazine, took second place in the investigation and analysis category of the 2008 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Student Magazine Contest!
Judge Ken Collier, editor of The Family Handyman, said the story was...
Straightforward, concise and clear investigation of problems leading up to a recent news event. Strong beginning and ending. Well organized by subheads. Strong sidebar. Would have been improved with better pull quote.
oh my
My staff is riiiiiidiculous! And I love them so much!
Despite change of plans, it was still a rockstar Friday!
Today on my rescheduled three(ish)-hour break from work, Sam and I were planning to go see CPC member Miley Cyrus perform at a taping of FNMTV in Hollywood.
But when Sam found himself at home in Palm Springs at about the time he needed to be in LA, I was suddenly left with an open afternoon. So since my date with a teen rock star had been canceled, the only logical place to turn was to my rockstar friend, Cyndi! She's working in Hollywood this summer, so I called her up and discovered that she was free this afternoon since she doesn't work on Fridays.
Less than an hour later, we were at Cold Stone getting all caught up on each other's lives post-Cape Town. In fact, today was the first time we'd hung out on American soil. (We met in Africa.)
So even though the details of my plans changed, I still hung out with a rock star in Hollywood this afternoon... and I wouldn't have it any other way.
