Several weeks ago while babysitting the journalistic spirit inside of me was woken up by the simple words of a nine-year-old girl.
“Guess what, Stephanie.”
“I can’t guess what if I don’t know what I’m guessing,” I replied in my usual pretend I’m listening, come up with some response that’s too confusing to answer so I can get back to homework tone of voice. She didn’t falter.
“When I grow up I’m going to move to New York City and be an editor,” she said.
Well, that caught my attention more than I had expected. There sitting in front of me was myself circa 1997, with the notion that I can do anything I want anywhere I want.
Instead of telling her what a great idea that was, the now 22-year-old in me came out asking the hard questions.
How are you going to afford housing? You know to reach an editor position it takes at least five years of experience, right? Have you started looking for internships? They won’t even consider you with out intern experience. Have you looked at other options considering how down the journalism industry is right now? Have you started making contacts in the business? Do you have a back up plan?
Fortunately only one of those questions verbally surfaced before the conversation stopped and she was onto another episode of “Glee,” but I couldn’t get it off my mind.
When did I lose that youthful notion that I can conquer the Big Apple? In fourth grade I had my career set: I was going to be a journalist for a magazine in New York City.
But as we get older our childhood dreams fade and turn into grown up, logical life plans, including salaries, housing payments, transportation and eventually supporting families. And to me this all makes perfect sense, but that day babysitting I found myself questioning where is the fun in that, where is the spark in not knowing if you’ll make it or not?
A few weeks after my divine babysitting intervention, I began thinking about this again, but in a different light where I was no longer questioning myself. Sure, the idea of tackling the journalist’s Mecca — New York City — is enticing, but maybe following logic to an affordable one bedroom apartment not infested with mice or a job that allows for family visits on the holidays isn’t such a bad idea after all.
As journalists, or students aspiring to all sorts of career paths, we are taught to shoot for the moon and not stop until we get there. But now as the real world is actually at my fingertips I’m starting to realize that maybe landing among the stars isn’t such a bad thing after all if it means more time for family and friends.
And I know that little girl inside of me who dreamed of everything glitter, glam and National Geographic won’t fail me as I push myself to be the best in the career I end up in and in the life I choose.

Editors are a jaded breed. Sure, that may seem like a bold statement, but trust me, after pumping out 40 Flyer News issues last year and 15 this year, warm, fuzzy, enthusiastic, rainbows and butterflies no longer cut it.

The only people who can understand or commiserate with us are other editors (or family and friends upon whom we inflict pent up stress and rage, lovingly of course). But that was then, this is now, and you, the readers are going to be introduced to the journalist’s hate/love relationship with something we call AP style.

Each newspaper follows a set of style rules in order to keep the paper consistent for professionalism. At Flyer News, we use AP Style, which is used by many major publications. At Flyer News, we also usually rip chunks of hair out Wednesday and Sunday nights ensuring everything follows the stylebook to perfection.

And when we say everything, we mean everything. Don’t believe us? Try this on for size:

• Don’t you dare misspell or wrongly capitalize website, even if last year the AP Stylebook said if you didn’t spell it Web-site your only choice will be to make a living off of lemonade stands.
• Flyer News is number 1! Yeah, we’re actually number one on death row unless we spell out numbers one through nine.
• Look, President Obama awarded free Super Bowl tickets to the entire University of Dayton! But O’Bama, president of the United States, can take those tickets away just as quickly if you mix up when to capitalize his title (if it comes before his name) and when not to (after his name).
• Our newest 21-year-old editor, Rebecca Young, can get her birthday tab picked up by Mr. AP Stylebook, but only if she remembers to hyphenate her age.
• Aaaahhhcchoooo! Need a Kleenex? You need a stylebook before anything else, because Kleenex is a brand name and AP Style only uses generic names. Here, how about a tissue to clean up that sneeze attack. Much better.

Haven’t gotten enough (because at Flyer News we just never can either)? Well the AP Stylebook has hundreds of  pages of fun just waiting for you so you can become just as jaded as KU room 232.

So where did those butterflies and rainbows go that we all had when first entering Flyer News freshmen year, letting the editors worry about AP Style while we just wrote the story? Well, after being editors ourselves for 55 issues of “did you double check the stylebook? Triple check?” I’d say they transformed into stress and went straight to Hell. Pardon, “hell,” if we’re talking AP Style.

That’s right, FN fans. We’re going to keep bringing you news all break long.

We’re already working to plan stories to keep your informed about what’s going down here on campus. You can look forward to everything from letters to the editor to A&E reviews to updated blog posts from your favorite editors. Me? I’m looking forward to an online edition of Spack on Sports.

The great thing about the web is that it gives us the power to do things like this. We want to make it as easy as possible for you to keep in touch with UD, so please send us feedback at editor@flyernews.com . We would love to know what we can do to make it easier for you to access Flyer News online content while you’re away.

Happy holidays from the FN staff!

With a month to sit around our houses and relax before next semester vastly approaching, the FN staff is wondering, what are we going to do for the whole month of Christmas Break?

Jobs are tough to get for such a short period of time and despite our best intentions we probably won’t be as productive as we would like, so what can we do to occupy our time for the next month to save ourselves from resorting to reruns of the Jersey Shore on MTV.

We discussed this bleak future on a dinner break during our last deadline, and one FNer came up with a solution. Time to start catching up on the classics and reading books suggested by her fellow staffers.

Mostly a room filled of writers, the staff was quick to come with a diverse array of selections. “You don’t like Steinbeck? Come on! East of Eden may take a long time to get into but it’s fantastic!”

As a designer, not a writer, I noticed that an odd phenomenon occurred. Not one person made a joke about being “nerdy” for wanting to fill free time with leisurely reading. Instead every person was engaged in debate of whose read what and whether it was worth it. Suggestions were made, opinions were shared, and interest was peaked in unread novels.

Although Flyer News sometimes writes about which beer is better or runs a 5K in a fat suit, at heart we’re a group of individuals with a thirst for knowledge. And in the month of relaxation the University has given us, one of our staffers is saying no soap operas and morning television and instead embarking on a literary journey.

We challenge you to follow suite, and find something interesting and (GASP) possibly academic to do over the break.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes.

P.S. We are also taking suggestions for books to read.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! The Flyer News Harry Potter issue is on newsstands now!

Yes, you read that right. HP in the FN. Baller status.

Every year the staff puts together a special issue — two years ago, it was the photo issue, last year it was our anniversary issue.

This year, we are celebrating Harry Potter. Obviously.

We chose to do this not only because of the staff’s love of all things Hogwarts, but because we realize the impact Harry Potter has had on our generation. Just check out A&E editor Frank Stanko’s front page story and you’ll see. Our opinions section is full of different perspectives inspired by the books and movies.

Don’t be deceived, however, by the entertaining content of the paper. Our special editions require even more hard work and even longer hours. We step up our game because we realize that these issue stand out and we want them to be something that you hang onto long past their time on the newsstands.

The Flyer News office is full of memories.

Sometimes, when I’m in the office by myself editing, I can’t help but think of all the editors who have spent their college years here before my time, writing stories, designing pages, and perhaps most importantly, forming close friendships.

I was again reminded of the rich past of KU 232 when Claire (print managing editor) and Rebecca (opinions editor) cleaned out our storage closet last week. They returned with a lovely Christmas banner, now hung on Anna’s door, along with a dusty stack of awards and letters, some from more than a decade ago.

I was surprised to discover that past editors saved letters from administrators, congratulating them for Flyer News’ induction into the Associated Collegiate Press Hall of Fame in 2000, being only the 34th newspaper ever inducted and the first from Ohio.

“Here at the University of Dayton, two million copies of the Flyer News that have passed through the hands of our students, faculty, and staff over the past ten years have helped communicated triumphs and challenges, enabled us to understand and appreciate our similarities and our differences, and helped us build a community committed to a common vision,” wrote Bro. Raymond L. Fitz, UD’s former president.

A letter written by Dr. John O. Geiger, the university’s provost and senior vice president, stood out to me, too.

“During this time I have read of the lives of students: joy and sadness, idealism and confusion, dreams and cynicism,” Geiger wrote. “The Flyer News has made me laugh and cry, doubt and believe. Through all the years, the Flyer News has been a mirror reflecting what our University is and what it wants to be. So “stop the presses” long enough to celebrate, then get the next issue out. UD needs the Flyer News.”

Reading these letters, remnants of the past, were a subtle reminder that we are not the first ones to sit at these desks.

Students have come in and out of these doors for decades; they held budget meetings twice a week, celebrated their achievements, learned from their failures, and even handled everyday tasks, like framing letters, so that FN editors in the future could read them and be inspired.

. . . absolutely not.

We may be professionals (cough) but that doesn’t mean that every deadline day is nonstop business. I think we would all go crazy if we had to be sitting in front of computers, focusing on the most minute details of InDesign for 12 hours straight.

In between our last minute edits and our page layouts, we find time to make mock up issues, add to our article and cartoon walls of fame, debate the existence of Katy Perry, Facebook, and high five each other. Yeah, we got spirit.

Interspersed with all of this are the bi-weekly visits to the office from our advisor, Dr. Lain, who takes great pleasure in beaning us with bags of chips and candy.

We try to be professional, but at the same time we recognize the need to have a little fun. We work hard — harder than anyone outside of the office can understand — but we also want to stay balanced. It’s a work in progress.

Last week, a man from WHIO-News spoke to one of my classes about job opportunities. Although, a lot of what he said resonated, the thing that stuck out to me was something he mentioned off-hand about the recent tornado warning.

It was along the lines of “… those are the days that are exciting. While everyone else is taking cover, we’re running at the storm. We’re always waiting for something big to happen.”

The truth is, the news business thrives on drama. We want the big stories and breaking news. So when it’s a slow week (or sometimes at UD, a slow semester), we just wish something big would happen, so we can have an exciting topic to write about.

Flyer News has been guilty of doing just this. And, in what I will admit were not our most admirable hours, we joked about taking matches to a house one night so there would be a must read story in the next issue.

Something catches fire, someone gets fired, there’s a massive blackout or an overdramatized tornado warning. These events are no doubt big news on campus and we get excited when something happens to shake up the normalcy in our lives.

But, what we, as journalists, often forget is that in one way or another, big news, especially the news that people want to read about, is often based on bad things, and we lose sight of the personal or communal tragedy that it is associated with.

I guess no news is supposed to be good news, right? That’s how the cliché goes. But, if there’s no news, there’s no FN, and therein lies our predicament.

“It’s basketball preview day!!!”

Those were the first words I shouted to Jacob Rosen, our sports editor, as he walked into the Flyer News office at 11 this morning.

As Jacob explained in issue 10, our biggest issue of the year debuts this week, and we as the FN staff are shooting for the best basketball preview the university has ever seen.

But that is much easier said than done, and Jacob’s face this morning showed a little more stress than excitement for the day before him.

Since day one, our trusty sports editor has been on the ball. With eight extra pages, he can’t take any risks. Jacob, the sports staff and myself assembled in KU 232 several weeks ago to talk story ideas and strategy. Just as Brian Gregory is looking at his players and how they will work together on the court, Jacob made assignments and organized all his writers, utilizing their talents and past experience effectively.

Many e-mails and another meeting later, Jacob and his staff were all prepared for the “big day.”

Media Day on Wednesday, Oct. 13, in the Donoher Center at the UD Arena, was the perfect chance to get the content we needed. All the basketball players were there and ready to talk – it was a rare opportunity for FN videographers, photographers and writers to get some face time with the stars themselves.

We have some excellent material from Oct. 13 that I’m excited for all of you to see. I’m especially pumped for the video footage of individual players, discussing their perfect dates, their go-to throwback dance moves, pre-game superstitions and more. We want our readers to get to know the players as people, and as students, just like us.

Now, we’re ready to put multimedia and everything else we have gathered together. Jacob’s in his office as I type, putting the final touches on stories. Our art director, Hannah Magnan, also just got here. Thank goodness. We wouldn’t be able to do anything without Hannah and Claire Wiegand, our print managing editor, and the design magic they work for us each week. It’s going to be a long day in the office, but also a productive one. I can’t wait to see how weeks of work and creative minds will come together — that’s the best part of this job.

So, as FN issue 11 asked you last week, “ARE YOU READY?” The 2010-2011 basketball preview hits news stands and the Web Tuesday.

This past Saturday, while the rest of campus was sleeping off their Friday night festivities, your faithful, devoted Flyer News staff was learning how to serve you better, even if it meant developing hypothermia.

As a group we met at 9:10 a.m. and drove on down to Dr. Lain’s house for a six hour annual staff bonding session. Now, for those of you who have had DL for his copyediting class and think his only food selection is fire and brimstone, his house lined with barbwire and front lawn protected by Spike – half wolf, half dog – thrashing apart outdated AP Stylebooks, you’re actually only half accurate.

Yes, there was fire – but that was from the grill for our afternoon feast. And yes, there was thrashing – but it was hungry college students ripping apart donut boxes, not stylebooks. As scary as the idea of a Saturday at DL’s house may seem, it actually is one of the most important parts of the year for Flyer News.

It’s rare that we’re all together without the stress of a dropped story or the agony of a crashing Y drive, where we can talk about who we are both as individual staff members and as a group ourselves. DL forces us to think outside of the job descriptions we hold and brainstorm how we can be the best to our ability.

At 9:30 a.m. we arrived in nothing short of shivering shambles, hoping we could survive our grogginess and lack of blankets for the outdoor, six-hour bonding experience. But as we left at 3 p.m., after learning about each other, our role as Flyer News on campus and hearing Scott Elliot, a Dayton Daily News editor, give us the low down on surviving in the journalism industry today, we left with a lot to think about.

If we want to make the paper the best it can be, we have to keep trying all of the new things we started this year and keep up with new technology. I know I personally left Saturday with a whole list of ideas on how to make my section better overall.

And while I realize that my crazy ideas are more often miss than hit, every once in awhile they somehow turn out golden, so I keep going on trying. Because seriously, what media analyst would have foretold “Who runs a 5k in a fat suit?” would be the video to hit the jack pot? Actually, that’s 542 hits to be exact.