Paly Fieldnotes 42016

Paly Fieldnotes 4/20/16 Before class starts, about a dozen students are sitting around the classroom, chatting about politics. “Do you guys think Bernie will be a vide-president? We could write a column about that.” “Do you think he might win?" “No, he doesn’t have the delegates.”

The room is set up as a production newsroom: concentric rings of high tables with rolling chairs; old copies of productions—Verde (the newsmagazine), the Campanile (the school newspaper), C-mag (the Campanile arts and entertainment magazine), Viking (the sports magazine). A copy of the Gunn Oracle on the desk; on one bulletin board, copies of recent front pages from local and national newspapers. Students come in late. Brian tells me that we are currently in a transition period–the four new managing editors have only been on the job for a week and a half; today three of the four outgoing editors are out on a college visit.

A student stands up: “Ok guys, so we’re going to get started.” Next Friday, rough drafts are due. the idea is that the new managing editors “It’s just a casual work period, so just try to make some progress on your rough drafts, so you can have them done by next Friday." One girl is planning the “I hate calling businesses on the phone. I get so scared.” This is Katy, an incoming editor. She summarizes the progress that needs to happen over the next two weeks, and then starts building a new progress grid on 

As the class settles in, it’s quieter than a library. Individual students sit alone or in small groups, mostly working on laptops. 

“Katie?" “Yes?" “So I talked to ____, they have an offsite meeting on Thursday, so I’m going to try to visit them in their offices in San Francisco on Friday, so my draft might not be finished by Friday."

Later, “How fast do you think I could get to San Francisco if I left at the beginning of this period on Friday?" Two students chime in—“45 minutes? you might be able to beat the traffic.”  The students sit together in front of a laptop, planning an itinerary for their trip to the city. 

“Katy, if we want illustrations, should we just contact the illustrators directly, or should we check with you?” “I think you should just check with them."

Interesting moment: students on an extended conversation about the food they eat, weight loss, and dieting, humble-bragging about how much junk food they eat. Brian attends to this, at one point playfully interjecting. I can feel some tension in him on whether to intervene. the conversation comfortably transitions into a boy talking about an interview he conducted, and whether it fits into his new vision for the story. Soon, a new story idea spins off; he and Katy make a plan to start interviews and taking photos of a student band which is taking shape. The story is slated for the fall issue. “OK, Brendan, as a reader of C-Mag, would you enjoy the ‘summer trends of Stephen ____?’” 

Katy defers to Brian: “Any ideas, Mr. Wilson?” They negotiate how Brendan’s story is now going to be published in the fall, so he has a “hole” for the current issue. Maybe he could write about Coachella? “I would never in my life go to Coachella. It’s so drunk college kid.” “It’s not even drunk—it’s on acid.” A joke about Stephen ____ modeling women’s clothes turns into a serious pitch; Katy tries to steer away from the idea. “No—I’m not going to make him wear a dress. You know how he wears very plain clothes? I was just going to make him wear something very fashion-forward, very not Stephen. I’m not going to cross-dress Stephen. He will be very European.” Someone mutters under her breath, “Jesus.” 

Brin saw my comparison photos (before and after losing weight) and she cried. Can I see them? No. I deleted them. Why don’t you write about that? It would have to be an opinion piece because you’re a conflict of interest. 

“These are the things that you learned in beginning journalism. Let’s make sure we can apply them to this publication.”

Brian and I talked about:      disciplinary structure at Paly: you never really know if someone’s in class      student leadership      structured commitment for production—students are otherwise so over-scheduled. 

What kinds of research questions might I want to pursue?           What roles, trajectories are in effect here?

May 2,3,4 until 9pm Katy, new editor in chief

Nicole, web editor

Go to 6th period soon

Kin Austin