“How are you feeling?” “How are you doing?” “How are you handling everything?” Are you seeing the pattern? How am I? Well, before I can answer that, let’s break down my week.
I work about a week and a half ahead of time for reference.
Sunday
My homework days (I am a student after all). I get everything done for the week or study early for exams so I can be available anytime someone needs me during production. It’s boring.
Monday
Tianna, my Managing Editor, presents article ideas to me for the following week’s issue. These are released the next day, Tuesday, for our writers to grab an article.
I am taking pictures of every flyer and every email I come across. Working a week ahead of everyone else is difficult. We have to be on top of an event before any typical student has even thought of attending it.
I, simultaneously, decide how many pages that week’s issue will be. I try to keep my Layout Editor, Eiliyah, as prepared as I can for that coming week. As a former Layout Editor, I know the struggle of having to rush to put a paper together, and if I can help Eiliyah from feeling overwhelmed, I have done my job.
Tuesday
GBM days. You should show up. Please.
Wednesday
My favorite. Production days. I have my weekly Wednesday meetings for an hour, and then I sit in the office from 2 p.m. to the time I convinced my entire friend group to go to Pierce.
I am required to do news layout. This past week, I also took on a feature page because I told myself this week was easy (why was I lying to myself?). I happened to bite off a lot more than I could chew this past Wednesday, and I will not be doing that again.
I also have to read all of the articles and confirm that they are ready for layout. Why did nobody tell me that getting all the articles in before 4 p.m. on Wednesday was DIFFICULT? My sincerest apologies Eiliyah; they were not all done before 8 p.m. this past Wednesday.
Thursday
Everyone says Mondays are the worst day of the week….I disagree. After this past Thursday, I think Thursdays are in my burn book forever. Although this is not part of my job description, I go through all the files and adjust them. I spent from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. sitting in that tiny office looking like the Hunchback of Notre Dame staring at my computer screen and occasionally trying to smile at the people passing by.
I have to contact the printers, confirm delivery, PDF all the files, and then submit them.
Friday
“Off-day” (it’s not). Some of the racks seemed to have been disassembled this past week. I went around at 9 a.m. in the morning and fixed them. Thank you to Evan, who I woke up from dead sleep and dragged outside in the rain to fix the racks with me.
Saturday
My actual day off to spend time with friends and family.
This week may sound stressful to any person reading, and I agree with you. This is only what is in my job description, not everything I do. Yet, I love every minute of it.
Let this be a reminder to all people on this campus: if you are involved in a student organization, you are a STUDENT leader, student being the first part. But before being a student, you are a HUMAN first. Throughout this entire production week I am answering texts, grabbing dinner, sharing laughs, and sometimes needing a minute to sit in silence.
The hardest part is balancing it all. I love The Stute, but it’s important for me to remind myself that I am a human, then a student, and then Editor-in-Chief. Some days I am Editor-in-Chief above all else, and that is okay. It’s a learning curve. So to answer the question of the day: yeah, I am doing okay, just a girl taking it one Slack message at a time.
