Haven't posted in quite a while. Why? I'm FUCKING busy.
Summary of the semester so far: I'd be doing great in my classes if I didn't have so much other shit to do. All the reporting and writing I'm doing takes precedence over class work, so I'm being forced to make some difficult choices. Classes are starting to heat up, but I'm also cutting back a bit on writing.
Speaking of writing, I'm starting to hate the Daily. I love what I do - I love writing and interviewing - don't get me wrong. I hate how fucked up our section is - there's barely any communication, we have a bunch of reporters who don't care about anything, and the rest tend to write stories that could be covered as news. I also hate how conservative (and I don't mean politically) the Daily is - we have so many ironclad rules to follow, and the Daily's concerned with covering these than with writing good stories. Consequently, I had a great story (an interview with a band) get pushed back two days because they demanded that I find some student to comment on it. No one's heard of this band - that's the point of the story, but they wanted a shitty filler quote, by God. So I got one. Then that wasn't good enough - the guy I found was a friend of the band. So I had to get another. Fine. The story should have run Thursday.
But it didn't. They held it until Friday. And they never said anything about it to me. I was just glad they ran it at all by that point.
And we're working on this new section. It started life as an A&E section with a student voice. It's since had every ounce of life choked out of it. We don't have a campus publication with a real voice (except Ethos, kinda, and that only comes out twice a semester), which is exactly what's needed. And when I try to bring my voice to my stories for the Daily, it gets toned down into boilerplate news copy. I insist that the fact that I have not yet taken a reporting class makes my writing better.
This is college. College media are supposed to be edgy and iconoclastic, right? Is this place just totally fucked up? Is that why I get blank stares when I enthusiastically pitch some idea that's not just covering an event or rewriting a story we do every semester? Fuck.
Maybe Ethos will be a little better. . .? I don't know. Maybe the Tribune wants to let a disgruntled student freelance?
In brighter news, I'm a DJ on KURE, Iowa State's student-run radio station. I play from 4-6pm Wednesdays as DJ Blacktie, playing industrial, metal, gothic rock, and synth pop - basically, what I like.
Apparently, I've got fans - I met a local performer, killmesara, through my show, and played some of his stuff. I like it.
Later today, I'm going to a record show in Des Moines, as both a customer and a reporter. This will be fun.
I wish I had a friend.
Summary of the semester so far: I'd be doing great in my classes if I didn't have so much other shit to do. All the reporting and writing I'm doing takes precedence over class work, so I'm being forced to make some difficult choices. Classes are starting to heat up, but I'm also cutting back a bit on writing.
Speaking of writing, I'm starting to hate the Daily. I love what I do - I love writing and interviewing - don't get me wrong. I hate how fucked up our section is - there's barely any communication, we have a bunch of reporters who don't care about anything, and the rest tend to write stories that could be covered as news. I also hate how conservative (and I don't mean politically) the Daily is - we have so many ironclad rules to follow, and the Daily's concerned with covering these than with writing good stories. Consequently, I had a great story (an interview with a band) get pushed back two days because they demanded that I find some student to comment on it. No one's heard of this band - that's the point of the story, but they wanted a shitty filler quote, by God. So I got one. Then that wasn't good enough - the guy I found was a friend of the band. So I had to get another. Fine. The story should have run Thursday.
But it didn't. They held it until Friday. And they never said anything about it to me. I was just glad they ran it at all by that point.
And we're working on this new section. It started life as an A&E section with a student voice. It's since had every ounce of life choked out of it. We don't have a campus publication with a real voice (except Ethos, kinda, and that only comes out twice a semester), which is exactly what's needed. And when I try to bring my voice to my stories for the Daily, it gets toned down into boilerplate news copy. I insist that the fact that I have not yet taken a reporting class makes my writing better.
This is college. College media are supposed to be edgy and iconoclastic, right? Is this place just totally fucked up? Is that why I get blank stares when I enthusiastically pitch some idea that's not just covering an event or rewriting a story we do every semester? Fuck.
Maybe Ethos will be a little better. . .? I don't know. Maybe the Tribune wants to let a disgruntled student freelance?
In brighter news, I'm a DJ on KURE, Iowa State's student-run radio station. I play from 4-6pm Wednesdays as DJ Blacktie, playing industrial, metal, gothic rock, and synth pop - basically, what I like.
Apparently, I've got fans - I met a local performer, killmesara, through my show, and played some of his stuff. I like it.
Later today, I'm going to a record show in Des Moines, as both a customer and a reporter. This will be fun.
I wish I had a friend.