Program assistant sees Rip as ‘something special’
I would like to congratulate The Rip staff on their recent awards and commend them and their adviser for their commitment to the program, evidenced by their willingness to pay their own travel and conference expenses. You have truly come together as a staff.
Over the years, students’ stories, photos, graphics and photo pages have informed and entertained us. I’m glad the students have had the opportunity, the desire and the ability to learn to put together their paper.
Fifteen years ago, the paper was still mostly a paste-up paper. Technology intervened and today it is completed fully on the computer with digital photography and photo negative scanners. Color photography and an online edition (to keep up with the times) were the next changes. The paper is burned to a CD and taken to the printer, however, it is not as easy as it may seem.
There is far more work involved in completing the paper now, than at any other point in the years that I worked at The Rip. Computers are wonderful, but as we all realize, they don’t always make our lives easier. When the editors get the stories and photos for their pages, there is still so much work to do. Dummy sheets are drawn up and ads are placed. Editors must decide on story placement, headlines, photos, graphic and photo sizes. Everything must fit perfectly. The work is almost double since they are also uploading the online edition, which requires different parameters than the print edition.
It is very time-intensive and the more experienced students help the less experienced learn the process. It’s not something you learn from a textbook. This deadline is met nine to 10 times over a normal semester. This semester, due to budget cuts, the number was dropped to seven with more online editions. Working on deadline is grueling and The Rip students do it week after week. One has to admire that!
Is it worth it? I think so. The students are learning valuable job skills that will serve them well in the future, whether or not they go into journalism. I have taken many calls over the years from employers wanting to hire Rip students because they know they have been taught well, will work hard and know deadlines.
And speaking of The Rip, if you aren’t afraid of hard work and want to learn to write or take photos, take a Rip class.
The adviser, Kathy Freeman, spends hours each week working with students. Although there is an adjunct photo instructor, Carol Barnett, who works with the photo students, her few teaching hours per week don’t begin to cover the needs of the photo staff.
The Rip is a very hands-on process. On Wednesdays, the editors and Kathy work until late in the night, or early the next morning to put the paper to bed. This is in addition to the other BC journalism classes she teaches. She also sponsors a yearly High School Journalism Day for area high school students and runs a three-week summer journalism workshop for high school students. Both of these efforts have paid off. Every semester, familiar faces from both join the staff.
As one former student mentioned in a recent e-mail, he learned more about journalism at BC than he did at the prestigious university where he got his journalism degree. BC is lucky to have a faculty member of her caliber on staff. I hope people realize it.
Over the years, many students have gone through the BC Journalism Program. Sometimes the names fade, but the faces never do. It is surprising how many have gone on to graduate and begin journalism or related careers. And knowing the quality of the instruction, it really isn’t surprising at all.
The Rip is special to me. When I pick up the paper, I see the faces and personalities behind the byline and photo credits and I know the hard work, discipline and love that went into the process by faculty and staff. I hope that when you next pick up The Rip, you realize that it is something “special.”
Due to campus reorganization, I have been moved to the Fine Arts Department hub. Although I’m still responsible for some Rip program support, I am located elsewhere. It has been my privilege and pleasure to have offered program support to the students and staff of the BC Journalism Program for the past 15 years. Keep up the good work and I’ll miss you.
ROBIN JOHNSON, BC staff
Editor thankful for BC journalism workshop
I am the managing editor of my college newspaper, The Spirit. This year, I started the newspaper and was supposed to have a staff to aid me in both the layout and writing of the newspaper, but I’m left with almost no one (two people at most each issue). That’s not including the fact that I was supposed to get paid and have not even gotten that.
All of this to say that if a little newspaper like mine can keep heart, do not lose yours.
I would not be where I am today if it were not for the summer journalism workshop that Bakersfield College and the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund put on each year.
TIFFANY DEPORTO, Life Pacific College, San Dimas
Grocery strike not justified in these tough economic times
This letter is in response to the union strike article (“Clerks should pay fair share of health care costs,” Oct. 31).
I’ve always got the impression that unions existed to trump injustices of overinfluential companies. Striking over an extra health care fee, brought on by a bad economic situation in California is not a “just” cause. We all have to pick up the slack for a bad economy; the enormous cost increases and reductions here at BC are the slack we are having to pick up.
No one person or group can expect to come out unscathed during these extreme economic situations. Someone has to pay for the extra costs and lost revenue affecting all businesses in California.
This means the store has to start charging for health insurance, or start charging customers more, which isn’t a good idea if you want to keep customers.
These unions and these strikers need to realize it’s nonsensical and selfish to expect to not make any sacrifices when our state is facing these troubles.
MICAH NEWTON, BC student