writes 27 Jul 2007 07:11 pm

Nostalgic for my darkest days

I just found this time-lapse video on YouTube — 24 Hours at the Daily Cal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpHNxhxrd6M

It’s really a great idea, whoever put it together. Not so much for the individual faces — especially because I’m too old now to recognize any of them — but because it captures the essence of the pace, mood and even culture of the paper. We worked frantically, goofed off, stayed late, came in randomly to print essays for class and check email, ate, slept, wandered from corner to corner. It was as exhilirating as it was miserable.

The Daily Cal was like any youthful obsession — we took it too seriously, thought it was the most important thing in the world, invented and inflamed drama, took things personally, couldn’t keep it separate from the rest of our lives … and loved and hated it at the same time. Outsiders didn’t understand. Insiders made it worse.

We were hard-working, ambitious, emotional perfectionists, all crammed into an enclosed space for 50 hours a week with deadlines and — oh yeah, classes to attend. Some of us were depressed. Some didn’t sleep. Some worse. But every day we united behind a common and mandatory goal: putting out the paper. That wasn’t always the upside. Sometimes production was sheer misery. But sometimes it was the highest high, especially on a few memorable nights: when Clark Kerr died, election days (especially the Davis recall/Schwarzenegger win and the Bush re-election), and the first night of fall production in 2004 (my second semester as managing editor, fresh off my Chronicle internship).

Despite any petty factions or problems, production was an unmatchable feeling of belonging, and of doing something important and meaningful.

I don’t know if I’ll ever be that involved at a professional news organization (that requires about three decades of war correspondence another decade as a bureau chief), so I hope I always remember the agony and reward of college journalism. And that’s how a time-lapse video can say so much without using a word for those of us who were a part of it. Bet you wish I were as silent, eh?

One Response to “Nostalgic for my darkest days”

  1. on 07 Aug 2007 at 4:45 am 1.jonathany said …

    Just think, if it hadn’t been for Clark Kerr’s sudden death, we may never have become friends.

    The video was for the end of the year banquet in May.

Trackback This Post | Subscribe to the comments through RSS Feed

Leave a Reply