Tuesday, May 26, 2009

"The Editor"

I made a decision to write one blog per month. I feel this is the minimum acceptable for this kind of blog. This month's blog must be focused on my current responsibities here at Camp Liberty, as they have changed from reporter to editor of our internet newspaper, The Daily Charge.

I am enjoying my time at night and the early morning hours in the 1st Cav. Div. main building, getting the paper prepared for the next day's viewing. There is some artistic thought required as each paper must be designed individually and laid out for the viewer to read at their leisure. The paper should be aesthetically pleasing to the eye and catchy for the reader.

I start out with the press releases and decide which should be on the front page and from there I edit the rest of the paper, including the weather, the Pvt. Murphy comic, quotes of the day, military history of the day and games.

I have the freedom to try new things, so I put in a game I created in basic training that I call Wordplay. I discovered this game as I repeatedly had to stand behind other Soldiers with nothing to do but stare at their names on the back of their patrol caps. It's like an anagram, but you don't need to use all the letters.

Also, I have distributed flyers to advertise The Daily Charge, hoping to pick up some new readers.

The Daily Charge can be viewed at http://www.cavcountry.net/ . I have put some Letterman top 10 lists into the paper, this one has been my favorite.
Top 10 signs you're at a bad zoo
10) All animals are stuffed and mounted
9) It's nothing but photos of other zoos
8) Lost and found has a number of human limbs
7) Monkeys are forced to work as unpaid janitors
6) Every visitor gets free parasites
5) The animals are smoking
4) Ronny and the Goon never get around to taking the 12th caller (sorry, that's a sign you're at a bad radio morning zoo)
3) For an extra fee, you can pet the zookeepers
2) You ask where you can find a panda and they send you to the snack bar
1) Instead of octupus, they've got an Octomom

I also have put in a Chuck Norris feat for each paper. I don't know how these got to be so popular, but they have achieved a pop-cultural status with Soldiers. My favorite is did you know that Chuck Norris can sneeze with his eyes open.

I will get back to the blog in June, talk to ya then.

1 comment:

Kanani said...

Hey, I know how much work that is! Keep cutting out all the extraneous words, tighten up other people's writing and toss the final into the can an hour before it goes to print (or online!). Then sit back... and get to work on tomorrow's paper. Best, Kanani
(who is editing a 60,000 word manuscript right now, to finish in 10 days before hauling out to NYC to pick up another).