Volume 59.10

This was a tough issue. 

            How does a newspaper cover a recent former staff member, when many current members are angry, hurt or upset?  

            One staff member told me she felt "violated." 

            Others expressed concern about a conference The Critic had attended, where they had learned to trust the former editor as a professional and as a friend, only to have what they felt as their trust "betrayed." 

            In the article that appeared in Volume 59.10 of The Critic, Eric Blaisdell said he would tell his friends from Lyndon State College that "they know who I am."

            In an interview with Jonathan Davis, Dean of Student Affairs, I asked him what he would say to people who felt "violated." He said he that he would be happy to meet with them. 

           "All I would be able to do is to assure them that we did our homework as far as the process of admission to the college and if we felt they were a risk to the community, we would not have them in the community," Davis said. "If that did not fully address their concerns, I would understand that. That would be, I’m sure, a source of frustration for them. I would hope meeting face to face with them would alleviate some concern."  

            I could not cover the story due to my own conflict, as I had known this information throughout most of his editorship. Some have accused me of withholding valuable information. To those people, I will say that I knew this information the same as they could have known, and the only reason this is a story now is due to the fact there was a debate about his conflict of interest with his current position as a courts reporter. I was not obligated in any way--as a individual, or as a journalist--to reveal this information prior to now.   

           The only option was to select a reporter who had the most neutral feelings on the matter, and run with it. That reporter was News Editor, Tyler Dumont. The Caledonian Record also picked up Dumont's story, where it ran front page in their Nov. 30th, 2012. 

            Feel free to give feedback in the comment box! I always enjoy hearing what readers have to say, even if it is a criticism. 

  

                                                

Color Comps and Learning Illustrator

So, I am in the process of learning how to use Adobe Illustrator. This was just an experimental project to see the same design cast in different colors. Comment and tell me your favorite one!

A little poetry for you.

This is an excerpt from my senior thesis, a collection of poetry and prose titled "Manny's Bar." Now, I speak some Spanish, but if you are fluent and there are some obvious problems with word tense/choice, please comment with corrections. Thanks!

Sammy/Sean

Hair slicked back, wife beater on. He’s a

tough muchacho.

Lived a gangster life in San Antonio until he was 17, learning Español 

from his “friends” in the Eme.

How he got to be here in front of me is an easy story

about homework not done,

a padre who was never around,

a madre who was whoring around,

and moldy glasses of milk, used needles,

dirty plates stacked

between layers of desperation

and a longing to say “Adíos” before his ultimo dormír.

But for now he’s sitting, smiling

at me over his Crown-and-Sour

                no straw

telling me I’m his preciousá while

my eyes trace the pattern of his prison tats,

counting teardrops, wondering if they really mean

what I’ve seen in the movies.

But then the jukebox kicks on and his eyes light up

like this melody is the key to his smile.

And the rest of the night we listen to Santana’s guítar

as he teaches me to ask, “¿Tu quieres cervesas?”

At closing time he sings me a song about moonlight,

say’s “Sweet Dreams Mamí” and leaves a tip worthy of a kiss.

But I call him mi amor, and give him a laugh instead.

He walks out into the oscuro, taking with him his Cholo swag.

and the drunk redneck who always lingers after my shout for “Last Call,”

slurs “fucking spic” and it’s all I can do to not drop

visine in his Bud draft and scream about fucking ignorant assholes.

My mind goes back to teardrops,

and how the whole world could choke on them.

The jukebox begins to hum another drinking song

that turns my anger down with every verse,

“I’m closing up honey,”

my hands gripping the edge of the bar, the pressure

from my fingertips repeat back the melody of my pulse

and, suddenly,

Yo entiendó. 

A Conversation That Will Never Lead to a Second Date

This is just a little ditty I wrote during a creative writing workshop. We had to include the following words and phrases: infinity, bowling pin, polyester, pomegranate, tuna fish, pyromaniac, all night diner, and valet. I also made a video. I know, I know. I'm awesome.

A Conversation That Will Never Lead to a Second Date
I know what you're thinking-
my photo on InfinityLove.com didn't make me look so-
bowling pin shaped. Thank God for photoshop! Oh,
I'm sorry,
before we hug,
is that sweater
polyester?
I'm horribly allergic to polester and pomegranates.
Well, I'm not positive about pomegranates,
but my friend Madonna told me that they use pomegranate seeds
to make polyester, so it would only make sense.
I'm glad we decided to meet here because this place makes the best tuna
fish sandwiches! We'll have to stop at Cumby's
on the way back to your place so I can pick up some gum. Phew-
tuna really does stink!
This is already going better than my last date and all I did was tell
the guy about my dentures and he ran outta that All Night Diner like
a Cuban outta Mexico.
It's not my fault my mother never taught me to brush my teeth.
Are my teeth turning red from the wine? That would be kinda cool,
people might think I'm a vampire.
I love Twilight!
Basically, what I'm getting at is, if I spend the night tonight,
I'm going to need salt water and a wide rimmed mug 'cause
these babies were expensive.
So, wadda yah say, let's blow this joint? If you know what I mean,
wink,
wink,
wink,
You don't? I've got 2 sticks of TNT in the truck, so
we can watch this place burn baby.
What do you mean I'm a freak? Your "About Me" section said you were
"a bit of a pyromaniac!"
Where are you going? Get out of my car!
My mother always told me never to
date valets!

Volume 59.7

Open publication - Free publishing - More beauty queen

Behind the Scenes...

Since taking over Lyndon State College's newspaper The Critic as Editor-in-Chief in August this year, I haven't had much time for blog posts. Sad face. 

But that is because The Critic staff has been doing work!

The Club Fair Edition...
As far as I know, Critic has never published an issue before the start of the semester. I thought welcoming students back, and especially welcoming new freshmen, with a bright color edition would encourage involvement in the club and start the year off right.

Big thanks to Sierra Willenburg for patiently teaching me how to use our new program, Adobe InDesign, and pretty much laying out the issue even though she had already graduated in May. Just goes to show--you might think you're done, but you're not.

Here's a picture of me, sporting the redesigned logo (thanks to LSC Visual Arts major Ashley Christie) on our awesome new t-shirts (thanks to Wheeler Sports for discounting the shirts) with the Lyndon State College Hornet!

The New Logo...

The new design features a pair of glasses leaning on The Critic text. The hope behind the glasses was to tap into what people think of when they think "Critic"--for designer Ashley Christie, it the image was hipster glasses. The redesign also offered a chance to replace the image with timely images, such as a pumpkin on Halloween or a donkey and elephant during election week.

We've been doing some cool things with our new logo.
Unfortunately, we just lost our layout editor, Ashley Christie, due to time constraints. If you're ambitious, need portfolio pieces, and interested in taking over the Layout Editor position at The Critic, please send me an email at samantha.vanschoick@lyndonstate.edu.


The Website...
As many of you may have noticed, The Critic's website is missing in action. Or stagnant in action. Which doesn't quite make sense, but strangely suits the situation.
Our former website was maintained by a service called College Publisher. However, the free trial is expired and requires $2,000 to renew. Being a small orginaztion, there is simply no way we can afford this price. So we ran a contest with a $200 prize to design a WordPress based template for Critic. Hosting has been purchased, the site is designed, content ready to go on the pages. So where's the website?

Though The Critic owns the domain name, we have no way to transfer the domain name to the new site until College Publisher releases it. So, what's the problem?

Remember that $2,000? They want it. So they are not exactly rushing to help us get the domain name transferred. I have meeting scheduled tomorrow, Monday, Nov. 12, to talk with our College Publisher rep and her boss to hopefully get the problem resolved.

The Critic (and myself) hope to announce the new website debut soon. Until then, we will posting our current editions to issuu.com and constantly updating our Facebook page.

I would like to apologize about the lack of website. Ultimately, every mistake comes down to me. If I could do it again, I would have spent more time this summer planning the transfer. However, this is what student journalism is about. Learning from mistakes and growing from them.

The Office...
This summer, I came back from South Carolina a week early and I painted the Critic Office in an attempt to make it look less like a closet. I think it worked...

The new blue walls, brand new conference table, a couch and a little reorganization gave the office a larger feel.

The coffee station is very important. 

Still messy sometimes...

The Challenges...
In addition to the problems with the website, The Critic is facing other challenges.

Last year, our advisor, journalism professor Dan Williams, was awarded a Fullbright Scholarship to teach abroad for this year. The switch to a new advisor, who was not only new to advising college newspapers, but new to Lyndon State, has been a struggle.

Critic is currently searching for a temporary faculty advisor. Again, please email samantha.vanschoick@lyndonstate.edu if interested.

As always, our small staff has always presented challenges. The Critic could always use reporters, columnists, editors, and ad salespeople. Email critic@lyndonstate.edu if you would like real experience to use for your portfolio, or if you just want to have some fun!


So...
We've had some good and some bad.
We just have to keep moving forward, learning, and publishing quality papers.