StudProd photos of dress rehearsal for photo essay
Next week:
Winter mixtape
Wolf Park audio slideshow (team up with another OG staffer for audio)
Final week:
Column, review, personal essay — some kind of extended form of writing
Note:
Take over as OG Facebook fan page photo editor
WILL
This week:
Where are fans? (survey, video)
Dylan Morgan (send questions this week; ask if he’s willing to do a phone interview)
Next week:
Where are fans (finish writing, video footage Arcola?)
Dylan Morgan (finishing this will depend on when he sends you his responses or can do a phone interview; I would make the fan story the priority — try to finish the draft by Friday, Dec. 11)
Final week:
Revise fan story, finish accompanying video
Finish Dylan article (assuming he has sent responses)
Note:
If you have time during the next three weeks, write another column or review
ELENI
This week:
Finish “Coco” review with Sindha
A&E guide
Dylan Morgan (with Will; see above)
Winter holiday film guide (check with Katy and Revathi to see if they need help)
Next week:
A&E guide
Dylan Morgan (with Will; see above)
Winter holiday film guide (as needed; finish by Friday, Dec. 11)
Final week:
A&E guide
Column, review, or personal essay — some kind of extended form of writing
Note:
Own fashion/style section (see The Echo), perhaps coordinated with Kahlilah?
EUNJUNG
This week:
Q&A: Rachel Harmon (can be published next week)
Girls basketball scoreboard
Girls basketball summaries
Next week:
Q&A: Erika Belmont (can be published following week)
Girls basketball scoreboard
Girls basketball summaries
Blog entry: Friday, Dec. 11
Final week:
Girls basketball scoreboard
Girls basketball summaries
KAHLILAH
This week:
StudProd diary (Saturday)
Kahlilah’s Corner (fashion/style section, see The Echo)
Holiday gift guide (start it this week, maybe with Nancy consult with her)
Next week:
Holiday gift guide (finish by Friday, Dec. 11)
Kahlilah’s Corner
Roving Reporter: Plans for winter break (start)
Final week:
Roving Reporter (finish by Tuesday, Dec. 15)
Kahlilah’s Corner
Note: Fashion and style (Kahlilah’s Corner), or a fashion/style section co-edited with Eleni
JENNY
This week:
“Ninja Assassin” review
NanoWriMo wrap-up (finish by Friday)
Breaking news (NanoWriMo will probably be the only thing to work on, unless IMEA all-state is announced)
Unicycle feature (let’s talk visuals, including video; can work on it after break)
Next week:
Madrigals (finish draft by Friday, Dec. 11)
Blog entry: Monday, Dec. 7
Final week:
Madrigals revision (finish by Tuesday, Dec. 15)
NIKITA
This week:
Nutcracker preview (finish by Wednesday night; Sophie Shenk is one source; see if photos are available or when photographers can drop by)
Alums (keep working, can be finished after break)
Map project (stay in touch; if something develops, let’s write the story; until then, keep monitoring)
Next week:
Q&A: Sophie Shenk, ballerina (finish by Friday, Dec. 11)
Blog entry: Wednesday, Dec. 9
Final week:
Column, review, personal essay — some kind of extended form of writing
NANCY
This week:
Send out call to see if any students are doing Crisis Nursery volunteering or other holiday volunteering; story and deadline will depend on response (also, do legwork of your own — what have you heard, what do you already know?)
Financial aid (keep on working, aim for end of semester but sooner the better to finish it)
Next week:
Breaking news — on call
Holiday volunteering (keep on working, finish no later than Friday, Dec. 11)
Financial aid (keep on working)
Blog entry: Thursday, Dec. 10
Final week:
Financial aid (finish by Dec. 15)
If holiday volunteering story doesn’t pan out, finish a column, review, or personal essay by Friday, Dec. 18
MOHAMMAD
This week:
Revise Books to Prisoners (Diana’s comments, then send your revision to me and her; finish by Friday)
Revise blog (my comments, ready later tonight)
Next week:
Turn WRFU into first-person article — why that station matters to you, incorporate comments from people you interviewed (finish by Friday, Dec. 11)
Here is the blog schedule for the rest of the second quarter. Note that this is slightly different from the schedule I originally sent out a few weeks ago. For the students who are affected by the changes, I’ll explain the reasons privately.
Remember: If you find yourself reaching 450 words or beyond, go ahead and turn your entry into a column. That is, keep on developing your thoughts until you’re finished. We will publish your article as a column instead of a staff blog entry. Your column will count for your blog requirement.
Hadley Hauser will be in charge of editing the Student Productions (StudProd) diaries this week. She has done an excellent job of putting together the schedule:
Monday, Nov. 30: Diana Liu
Tuesday, Dec. 1: Anna Gooler
Wednesday, Dec. 2: Laura Dripps
Thursday, Dec. 3: Hadley
Friday, Dec. 4: Katy Metcalf
Saturday, Dec. 5: Kahlilah Cooke
In addition to the diaries, Eric Chen is writing the preview, which is due by Wednesday. We will need a photo essay from dress rehearsal, which I’m hoping Sindha Agha or Stephanie Overmier can take care of.
Diana has already written her diary. Nice job, Diana! Good luck to all the diarists and everyone else associated with the productions.
About a week before Thanksgiving break, I sent out a call for cartoonists, illustrators, and graphic designers who would be willing to volunteer their talents to the Online Gargoyle. We had a great response. The following students said they would be interested in helping as needed. Here they are in alphabetical order, with e-mail addresses:
Greta Goldbart seems to specialize in graphic design, photo illustrations, and computer-generated art, while the others seem to do mainly freehand illustrations and cartoons.
When you are working on a assignment, ask yourself if your article lends itself to photos. If it doesn’t, then contact one of the students listed above to see if they would be willing to illustrate your piece. Virtually all of our articles should have a visual element in addition to text. The only legitimate exception would be breaking news, but even then a quick and creative search of Wikimedia or Creative Commons should yield something usable.
Remember that the students listed above are volunteers who are not in the class. That means their illustrations don’t have a high priority for them if they have competing deadlines for their own classes. Give them as much lead time as possible.
So start thinking visually about your stories, and let’s collaborate with the talented artists here at Uni.
In my previousposts about the most recent Stevenson High journalism controversy, I’ve used the term “clampdown” to describe the administration’s actions. Is that too harsh? Having read the school’s official statement, do you think the issue is more complicated than that? Does the administration have a legitimate concern? If so, were its actions the correct ones to take, or were there alternatives?
Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t leave you with the most memorable reference to “clampdown” in musical history:
To bring you up to speed on the Stevenson High newspaper controversy, here is the Chicago Tribune article about adviser Barb Thill’s resignation last year from her position as journalism teacher and Statesman adviser:
Before she went to Stevenson, Barb taught at Lyons Township High in La Grange, another affluent Chicago suburb. She turned that school’s paper, the Lion, into a a national-caliber publication.
Stevenson is a public high school of more than 4,000 students. It’s located in the affluent Chicago suburb of Lincolnshire. The Statesman became a top-notch paper under adviser Barb Thill, whom I’ve had the privilege of knowing for more than 10 years. Last winter she decided to resign because of administrative interference.
This year the paper has two advisers, yet the adminstration continues to meddle — or at least it appears to be meddling. Take a look at the Trib article. Now read the administration’s official statement about the controversy:
