Today I had the honor of working on the print publication of The Georgetowner. It was very exciting for me to open InDesign again. When the graphic designer was pondering what to do with a page I almost, almost, volunteered to just do it myself. I didn’t though. haha I did get to layout my own calendar page and color correct the photos. Knowing InDesign as well as I do (I was teaching the publisher about a few of the shortcuts) and having Photoshop on my laptop really helped, but I still have so much to learn about who my audience is and what they are most concerned about. I thought about it when picking out which events to put on the calendar. I could pick out things that Waco 20-35 year olds would like, but Downtown DC 20-35 year olds might be different. I don’t know.

I do love everything we do for a community publication though. When I search for the flickr photos we use, it makes me want to go shoot my own. When I see a page laid out that I would have done differently, I want to open it up and play with it. When I read a story I wish I could have covered, I imagine how I would have written it or who I would have interviewed. Don’t misunderstand me, it’s not that they do any of these things wrong, in fact, they do them very well. It’s that I love my field and can’t get enough of it. (Sometimes. haha) My journalism skills are like a puppy. There is still so much I don’t know about them and they aren’t fully developed, but in time they will grow to be strong and quick and instinctive. All I can do now is train them and enjoy every minute, knowing that I want to be their master (a professional journalist, if you follow my analogy), for the rest of my life. It would especially be nice if that puppy grows up to be a mutt, with a lot of the Designer breed, a good amount of Reporter-Writer and a spot of Photographer thrown in. Of course, to survive in today’s world it would need to come from strong training in the ways of New Media and Web, but with those core bloodlines running through its veins, I think it could be a champion. At least I am counting on it to be, otherwise I have had a good lot of metaphorical dog food and obedience school for far too long to be useful as a cat lady (I will let you guess what those stand for. haha) 😉 😛