By Allen Cheng
There are a lot of people who have heard the course title “journalistic writing” (or, every other year, “newsletter writing”) yet haven’t a clue about what it is or the courage to sign up for it. Being a merry, active attendant of the class, it’s hereby my duty to introduce it to those of you who are curious. The class has around ten people, including the editor in chief, Professor Michael Keevak. We strive to manufacture two issues of The Foreign Exchange per term. The course calendar mainly consists of four parts. First, people come to the class to sign up, the only way to get in. Then we are all given jobs (editor, layout, etc.) by the editor in chief. Then during the rest of the semester we work on the newsletter. When the term ends we have a dinner, sort of as a celebration and a testament to all our hard work. Fun, huh? The Foreign Exchange is made up of stories written by the class, and everyone is responsible for at least one story. However trivial as it may seem, coming up with a topic is not at all easy; you wouldn’t imagine the things I’VE been through to have this article done. I had some original paragraphs that preceded this one, but unfortunately they’re now in the trash bin. I myself would divide the production of an issue into four phases: The Brainstorm Phase: this is when everyone has to come up with ideas for their next article; unfortunately, when you come up with a bad idea, sarcasm is flung at you from every direction, especially from the EIC. The Editing Phase: this is the only phase when we actually write something. After we are finished, we send our files to our respective student editors, and then to the EIC. We also take photos for the cover during this phase. The Layout Phase: we march to the computer center and work on our individual layouts using Publisher. The layout staff comes up with a beautiful frame and they design the front and back covers of the issue. The Distribution Phase: after finalizing the layout, we send it to the printer to make 1,500 copies. The webpage staff updates our blog with our newest issue – digital edition. The marketing people send out information everywhere so people will visit our webpage, and the rest of us distribute hard copies on campus to those lucky enough to meet us Here’s a lot of job titles: Secretary The Secretary is one of the most essential jobs in the group. S/he is in charge of keeping our whole schedule in mind and has to e-mail everyone constantly to make sure that they get the latest information. In our case, Annie became like the nanny of the class. Humorous, friendly, and talented, she bonded nicely with everyone in the class. She also displays a childish alter-ego sometimes and enjoys the dirt dished out by others. Editor It is common knowledge that where there’s a magazine there’s an editor. Although The Foreign Exchange is more of a newsletter, we still have those snobby, irritating people who red-mark everyone’s articles. Editors are responsible for filtering mistakes made by others in their paper before the EIC sees them. Editors literally do nothing most of the time but get a big workload just before publishing. This semester we have four editors, responsible for three classmates each. Different editors have different styles. Sophia, elegant and enthusiastic, spends quality time on editing which allows people to feel her effort dripping through the lines. Sandra focuses more on the literal value of the lines and provides insightful critiques. There’s me, who looks for grammatical errors and adds some personal touches. Then there’s the always hammered John; though seemingly nonchalant and detached, he always performs superior work and gets his job done on time though money is always bet that he won’t. Webpage We used to have a really old, shabby webpage that displayed all the current and past issues. After A LOT of effort made by the always lovely JC, we founded our current blog at http://ntuforex.blogspot.com/ in 2007. Not only does it show all our stories but pictures too! Rumor has it we have had five times as many hits on the photo album as on our stories. Copy editor Anybody who has any knowledge in journalism knows that a story is never completely free of errors, and it’s the copy editor’s job to iron them out. The copy editor receives original files from the authors and the layout staff respectively, and after a tiring procedure of comparing, our final issue is born. In Stephen’s case, he’s the one who came up with this position and has proved it useful. My story was saved thanks to him. “Everybody makes mistakes – Nobody’s Perfect.” Marketing Marketing is a new position created this term, and no one was really sure how it would work out. Luckily, after a long discussion about the job we decided that they should spend time spreading the word about our efforts. Hadis and Tanya worked on the BBS, promoting our last (digital) issue. Our blog got an outstanding 5000 hits within two weeks! Layout Layout is always the backbone of a newsletter. They make the mockup, design the front and back covers, and make contact with the printer. Our layout staff forms a little group of its own, with Ligo in charge of the main frame, while Grace edits images, and Ruby works her magic on things that I really don’t understand. Allen’s point of viewI myself find the class always a delight and recommend those who are interested in English to give it a try. Three hours a week with the same bunch of people really gives you time to bond; and in my case, I met more than people, I met personalities – in contrast with the short life-span of most activities on campus. You learn to read from different perspectives and deal with different situations, accompanied from time to time with laughter and hysterical moments. So come and join us! Or … at least pick up a copy and visit us online. a
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The Taida Student Journal has been active since 1995 with an ever-changing roster of student journalists at NTU. Click the above link to read about the authors Archives
May 2024
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