This has been one of the most stressful yet rewarding weeks I have had in months, if not years. In short, I had five days to put together my first ever news section of a newspaper, without any support from my appointed sub editor, and without any writers attached. I did not know had to use Quark Xpress, the layout software used by Hullfire, the student newspaper of the University of Hull, nor had I ever conducted a single interview. It was all new territory, and all under a tight deadline. Welcome to the game.
On 22 September, I was elected news editor for Hullfire, winning by — as I have been told — only a very small margin against one other standing applicant. Said applicant was subsequently offered the position as sub editor and excepted it. However, he either chose — or was forced by his study of medicine — to offer no assistance whatsoever in putting together the first issue under an unusually pressing deadline. He ignored emails, did not show up at scheduled meetings, and did not submit a single article to the issue. After running into me on campus, he promised to call me tomorrow to schedule a meeting in the afternoon to talk it all over. We’ll see how that turns out, if at all.
Unfortunately, due to my having lectures at the time, I was unable to attend the very first executive meeting of the staff. I therefore compiled a report and sent it to the deputy editor. The report included all of the plans, layout and content, that I had come up with at that point. Subsequently, most of what was in the report made it into the final version, as well as additional material.
I am proud to say that I managed it all. I interviewed the president of the Students Union as well as three professors, gathered information from various online sources, and compiled what I think is a good and solid piece of journalistic enterprise; albeit not too critical or revealing — no investigative journalism as such. But I am happy about the outcome and eager to work on the next issue — after a well-deserved break.
Unfortunately, my other projects had to lay bare for the whole week, bar my studies, of course. My degree always goes first. So what did I decide to concentrate my time on? Well, there’s the position as news editor, then the SELFHTML translation, I’m a trainee member of TechCom (the committee that runs all the lighting and sound equipment at events at the university), I still hope to get time to learn Spanish, and my body just screams at me that I have to take up regular excercise, which I intend to do in the form of Karate lessons. I have dropped taking dancing lessons again. And I am afraid, on of the other endeavors will have to go, too. Which is yet to be determined.
It was fascinating to see how open most people are to being interviewed (and also tape recorded). Not only did I not meet any resistance against my endeavors, people were even thrilled about the idea to incorporate the university’s achievements into the student newspaper. Has no one else thought of this yet? That surely can’t be the case, for it is much to obvious a route to take. But still, people I come to seem not only charmed by my asking their opinion, but also see it as a great opportunity to get in touch with students and promote themselves within the institution as well as the institution to the “outside world”. They all want to continue to keep in touch for further stories. And as I experience all that and learn with every step I make, I wonder if that has any resemblance to what the real life of a journalist is like. I would like to believe it, but my guts tell me that once it comes down to serious politically opinionated journalism, enemies are as easily made as friends in that business — if not much easier.
Before this busy week, however, my wonderful girlfriend paid me a visit. Though we didn’t spend much time outside of my room, she thought much better of Hull as a city than I had described it to her prior to her arrival. That made me think. Last year, I spent all my time with other international students (most of which were Erasmus exchange students) and we kept ranting on about how bad this place was, how dirty the streets were, and how unforgivably high the crime rate was. Maybe I ought to do the opposite. Maybe it would make my time much more pleasant and rewarding if I could just keep looking at the bright side of things. That’s what I am doing now, though if there is any trouble like thievery or vandalism involving my property (including my car), my mind will probably change back to the old system right away. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen.
