Browsing: Meanwhile at the Lariat…

I am told and reminded time and time again that all good things must come to an end. The statement is once again proven correct as the school year winds down, more notably with my time at the Lariat.

In beginning my time as the web-focused voice of the newsroom, I decided to first look back at how far the Lariat has come with its web presence. Currently, the Lariat is ranked as the No. 2 college media website in the nation, according to the College Media Association. I’m taking us to No. 1.

I’m not that great of a writer, which is why I am the Photo Editor, so I’m going to show you New York through my photos.

Pepe’s smelly emissions are not banned from campus. The area around Castellaw Communications Center is nothing short of a jungle. We have cats, a fox, possums and skunks. This makes for an interesting walk to the car at midnight. The saying around here should be changed to “When the cat’s away, the skunks will play.”

At the Lariat, we sit all day long. We consume news while in chairs, hold meetings while in chairs, write and edit stories while in chairs, we talk on the phone while in chairs, design the newspaper while in chairs and tell a bunch of random stories after deadline while in chairs.

When you work at the Lariat, there are just some things you have to suck up. For example, as I write this four of us are working outside our normal hours to make sure everything’s done for the night. Whether it’s missing out on a social life or walking around like a zombie due to lack of sleep, Lariat staffers tend to deal with some necessary evils.

It probably wouldn’t surprise anyone to hear that we talk about current events quite often at the Lariat. A group of us were going over recent national headlines before this semester’s first editorial board when someone found an article about the Secret Service being in hot water for inappropriate behavior, again. The article suggested that the Secret Service needed a complete culture change and probably wouldn’t accomplish that without outside help.

Without fail, just about every night at the Lariat a discussion about sports breaks out. Like most in the Baylor Nation, the Lariat staff is paying close attention to the college playoffs committee’s rankings.

I like movies. I like music. I like art and fun festivals. But today I’m taking a break from the usual fluff of the arts and entertainment desk to touch on one of the most terrifying topics for someone in my position – sports.

Before I start this piece, I’m going to explain a bit about how staff writers and reporters are able to divide and conquer: We have what is called a beat.

Golf carts are the holy grail of campus transportation. If you had asked me what I thought of the four-wheeled vehicles this time last year, I probably would have ranked them lower than first-time long boarders on the “sidewalk inconvenience” scale.

Picture this: it’s 10:30 p.m. and you are stuck behind a desk stressing over deadline and the loads of homework you have to conquer after you get off work. Now imagine hearing laughter, nerf guns and general sighs of relief from other section editors who have already finished their page. Guess who isn’t laughing – the news editor.

At the Lariat, we think of one thing very frequently: food. We are constantly begging our adviser Julie Freeman to buy us pizza because whether we realize it or not, writing makes us hungry.

We see some pretty interesting things, and I think everyone should know that we see you picking your wedgies and tripping over the curb. Just call us the Big Brother of Fourth Street, and check out this list of things we see out of our telltale windows.

It’s often been said that the only thing in life that’s constant is change. Through my time here at the Lariat, I’ve found that to be especially true. The advent of another semester on city desk has brought with it another staff and another round of reporters.

Unlike the normal student body, I was up in the press box covering Baylor’s inaugural season opener against SMU on Sunday, Aug. 31 as part of my job as a sports writer for the Baylor Lariat. As an eagle eye watching above everyone else, the atmosphere was incredible to see.

When I started the trek to McLane Stadium, I was already tired. I’d been handing out Lariat sunglasses for 5 and a half hours to the Baylor Line, all the while standing in the sun and waving at people to come over.