Objectively Vandy

katherinemiller September 17th, 2008

Again, here I am, tail between my legs, sorrily lacking in updates. I’ve got a paper due this week (on a depressing, out of print adventure novel by Robert Louis Stevenson about three homeless guys who steal a ship — good times) along with an accounting test (even better times).

In the legitimate good times section, however, Saturday we beat Rice University to go 3-0 on the season. The game was solid city even I sat (stood) in between the Vandy Fanatics (the guys who paint themselves yellow) and the band, which is not really my favorite place to stand during games, but we were really, really close to the action. The D.J. Moore punt return to the one yard-line happened literally just in front of where my friend Dustin and I were standing in the aisle (we saw each other from afar, jumped up into the aisle to chat, which went something like “Yeah, the Morgan rooming situation is going well,” “Towers is actually going wel–GOOOOOOOOO” “WOOOOOOO” “YEAH.”)

Also this past weekend, we produced the first issue of the Torch, which involves copy editing and layout with Adobe InDesign from about 2pm Friday until roughly midnight for four of us. We always go to dinner somewhere, usually either Ted’s Montana Grill or Noshville (it’s a Kosher, Seinfeld-like diner that’s on meal money where you can get sweet, sweet grilled cheeses or omelets)–this time we went to Noshville (I had a grilled cheese with bacon, cheddar on wheat). Next weekend, my friend Mike, who’s the editor of the Hustler, and I are going to New York for a professional journalism course with the group that gives the Torch a grant each year, Collegiate Network. We’re both really pumped to go, should be a fun time.

Anyway, PAPER TIME. (Like HAMMER TIME, yet far less fun.)

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katherinemiller September 2nd, 2008

Apologies for the appalling lack of updates there last week — my conservative soul has been busting with unyielding enthusiasm over Gov. Sarah Palin since 10:15 Friday morning. Nothing can really diminish it, I’m afraid, especially not the Ballad of Bristol Palin. Tonight, actually, we had the first staff meeting for the Torch and the Palin enthusiasts came out in droves.

So, classes started, and I won’t bore you to death with that except to detail some cool stuff we’re doing in one English class. But, full disclosure: financial accounting, history of U.S. economics, “Revolutionary Europe: 1789-1820″ (history class), the “Culture of Modernism” (an English seminar), and 19th Cent. American Lit.

Now, I know English classes typically put people straight to sleep with all the intellectual myopia of what that damned Virginia Woolf meant when she used, like, the past participle instead of the present, but my 19th Cent. class is worth a hat tip. Prof. Kreyling has paired up an old seminal work of “American-ness” with a more recent cultural element to explore the nature of being American. Except he paired everything with awesome. A few examples:

• Moby-Dick with Ocean’s 11 (both the Rat Pack 1960 version and the George Clooney version)
• Little Women with Alien Resurrection (Aside: a fun game to play for the ladies, Which Little Woman Are You? Everybody identifies with one of them. Mine’s obviously Jo.)
• Narrative and Life of Frederick Douglass with [insert tiny conservative soul groaning, nodding in understanding] Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama
• Huck Finn with Lethal Weapon

Quality, gentle readers, quality. Of course, right now, we’re forging through Last of the Mohicans, which has offered up an entire world of dialogue that in no way resembles conversational English. Seriously, nobody has ever spoken so stiltedly.

In terms of the hot, hot nightlife that consumes my lifestyle, this weekend I saw Vicky Christina Barcelona with a buddy on Saturday, went to the grocery story (the Green Hills Kroger of Epic Greatness), ran in Centennial Park (it’s basically directly across from the southern most part of campus on West End and features a one-mile loop that I’ll run two or three times), and had a fun dinner at Ted’s Montana Grill (also on West End). Sunday involved a lot of Hustler production time — my fledgling career as the Hustler’s crack political reporter continued with a news story on reactions to Palin’s selection. Back in ye olde day, er, last semester, I was opinion editor so this objectivity thing’s a little different kind of game.

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katherinemiller August 22nd, 2008

In prior years, the Hustler newsroom left…er…a lot to be desired. Picture, if you will, a windowless, basement room recalling a dungeon as imagined by the Office Space set designer. It was cramped, with gray carpets, white walls, and old computers. So, naturally, I was stunned to see the objectively cool newsroom, and as we were bouncing for the day, I decided to take some photos:

As you enter the room, you’ve got this — a great accent wall, four flat screens (a staple of press offices and newsrooms alike) four new iMacs for news, and to the right four new ones for design.

A little more perspective on the room. The photographers will principally be using the brand new iMacs against the wall (and the big grid thing in the upper right-hand is where we put all the back issues throughout the year). There’s a quotation from Edward R. Murrow on the wall, which we’ve been joking should be glow in the dark.

New couches! A big flat screen! Some kind of lame clocks! I cannot explain to you how big of a change this is — it’s like Sabrina, except Bill Holden wins in the end. And speaking of redesigned, definitely check out the new InsideVandy.com, powered by the Vanderbilt Hustler. It finally looks like a professional news site, busting with content and color. Anyway, we’ve had a good few days working on stuff in the newsroom, and two of my best friends on campus are moving in at the moment, so the good times will keep on coming.

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