Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Only a few weeks left to go

We're nearing the end of the semester and everyone on staff at Access is working hard to keep things moving smoothly along. Class periods are spent checking e-mails and checking facts. Both feature editors and front-of-book editors have been running through lists of sources making sure that all quotes and facts are accurate. Fact-checking can be a tedious job but it is also a very necessary job. If even one misquoted sentence slips through the cracks it could easily ruin the integrity of the magazine.

In other news, all staff members were required to take a copyediting exam to determine who would be in charge of copyediting. The exam was rather extensive but overall everyone did fairly well. Our new head copy editor is Briana Hernandez. She received the highest score on the exam, which isn't all that surprising. What is surprising is that she completed the exam without using an Associated Press Stylebook. Briana will not be working alone however; she has a team of other staff members who also scored high on their exams.

The art and design team have been hard at work laying out pages. Each time we meet they show their most recent designs for the rest of the staff to view. The rough cover design has been revealed and there is no doubt that it is unlike anything Access has ever created in the past. It’s upbeat and modern, artistic and inventive. I would say more but it’s top secret.
There will be a lot of work ahead for our design and art team in the next couple of weeks. The staff has a great amount of faith in their abilities and they’ve already proven their talent thus far with their rough layouts. Also, the online team will be working on putting pages together in the coming weeks. The online edition is bound to be a success. It has been attempted in the past but this semester we are determined to top all other attempts.

Last Thursday after our copyediting exam the whole staff took a trip to Grande's Pizzeria on Fourth Street to take staff pictures and enjoy some lunch and drinks. Evie Smith, our highly esteemed editor in chief bought drinks for of-age staff members (everyone but me), then, pictures were taken of staff members from each section of the magazine. Everything went smoothly until our features editor, Heather Nacht almost went for a swim in the fountain she was posing on. Fortunately she had some friends around to save her from getting completely drenched.

It was fun spending time with staff members outside of the classroom work environment. It’s important to maintain close friendships with fellow staffers; it makes things easier in the work room when we can communicate openly with each other.

Until next time,
Cody Haueter

1 comment:

Evie Smith said...

The Blog is looking really good!