Journalism - the fun side

So, this Friday marks the end of my second week here at the University. I'm getting much more oriented about the campus, and I've also started writing for the newspaper. Fun, fun! Well, very interesting, at least.

My first article turned out to be quite an adventure, and I'm still not sure if it's going to be published. I got the assignment two nights before the deadline, which was Thursday at 5:30 p.m. I was supposed to contact and interview some one (the newspaper couldn't give me his or her name even) and write an article about an icon class they were going to be leading. Well, I tried emailing the person, but my mail was returned, the server citing an invalid address. I tried calling him or her, but the number didn't work. SO... I very soon marched up to the Campus Ministry Office, whose website the newspaper got its information from. There I was relieved (in the sense that I was glad to discover that it wasn't my mistake) to find that the telephone number advertised was actually incorrect. I called the number, left a message, and then - "taken by a wild surmise" - tried emailing "adubois" instead of the "adubols" I had been trying to contact. Sure enough, the email went through. I suppose that down here they aren't used enough to French names to spell them correctly if they are even slightly illegible. And that - a transcription error - is exactly what must have occurred.

Despite my research, the article still almost did not get written. I tried my best to contact this elusive icon expert for much of the Wednesday and Thursday afternoons (classes in the morning, you know). I even went so far as to return to Campus Ministry for more information. They couldn't give me any, but directed me to the Art Village, where no one could help me either. I even tracked down an acquaintance of the person (I learned adubois' real identity in the meantime), but they could not give me any assistance either. Finally, as 5:15 drew near, I despaired of ever being able to finish the article, and emailed the newspaper accordingly. Then - wouldn't you know it? - literally 5 minutes before the 5:30 deadline, I got a phone call from the very person I had needed to interview all along. Jolly ho! I whipped out my ever-present notebook and pencil and began taking feverish notes while working out a rough outline for the article in my head.

I sent the finished article in 15 minutes past deadline. I'm not sure about you, but I consider that a pretty spiffy achievement. The fact that it did get in only just past deadline makes me doubtful as to whether or not it will be published. However, I'm glad to know that I finished the assignment regardless, and feel rather smug at having accomplished it against such great odds.