Roar! Life on Staff, a Safari

..... It's pretty fun being a co-copy editor. Claire and I are like the vultures of the newspaper, feeding on the delectable detritus of grammatical errors. Who else would be the last defense against a rogue punctuation mark or an extra space? Who else would stand up for capitalization rules? No one, but the copy editors that's who! (Although page editors do just about the same thing :] ) As I look back on life on staff, I realize that a newspaper is just another expression of the Animal Kingdom.

..... At the top of the food chain, the lions of the Stagg Line reign over their jungle. Or should I say lionesses? Erin and Maly are after all of the gentle gender, proving that a once male-dominated field like journalism is becoming more open to women. As editors-in-chief, their title explains it all. They are above everyone, so as to better see our mistakes. Through their efforts they keep the staff in line, making sure no one commits a literary mutiny. Maybe I should've started with a pirate metaphor, but since I'm already halfway through this blog, I'll continue listing animal alternate identities.

..... Like a wolf protecting its cubs, page editors are a defensive breed. They defend their page, whether its Opinion or Sports. Page editors gather writers and create designs, a tough job for the inexperienced. Lucky for the Stagg Line, veteran staff members guide the new editors and keep them from making mistakes. Without the elder wolves, our wolf pack would die!

..... The Stagg Line is even home to spiders: Webmasters. I can't really think of a pun right now but you get the idea. World Wide Web, spider webs!? This is your cue to laugh at my brilliance hahaha. Webmasters maintain the newspaper's budding Web site. They make available all those articles you the readers love to read! In the future, we hope to add more multimedia features on our Web site, so keep on the lookout!

..... Reporters, of course, are observant earthworms. They keep on the lookout for stories and make sure to dig deep for good information. Reporters are usually first year staffers and so the earthworm comparison makes sense. We're scared of all the wolves and lions, of all the possible criticism we may encounter. Therefore, we are forever on the lookout for that ominous shoe trying to squash our spirits.

..... At the bottom of a newspaper food chain, is the elusive blogger. No one knows what these creatures exactly are since their environment [this Web site] has just been discovered. Will they prove to have eight arms like Webmasters? Or the fangs of a page editor? Only time will tell whether this new Journalism species will survive, but with the efforts of myself and other known bloggers, hopefully we can thrive.

..... Just like in the animal kingdom, life on a newspaper means adapting to situations. As the world modernizes, new positions will develop, while old ones will become more cherished with time. But one thing's for sure: The Stagg Line is here to stay!

- Jeremy Dela Cruz, a weird mixture of vulture/earthworm/elusive creature