THE WEEKLY GRIND: On the Job

Some days, I wish I had a 9-to-5 job.

I wish that sources could only return my calls in the mornings, with plenty of time for a thorough interview before deadline strikes. I wish that I could prepare for each day in the office with a perfectly planned schedule and know what I was getting into before I sit down at my computer. I wish that when the clock strikes 5 p.m. every night, I didn’t have to take my work home with me, to municipal meetings or community events.

Most of all, I wish that news would break when I’m ready and waiting for it, at a reasonable hour. I wish that these things would wait their turns patiently among all of the other catastrophes and press conferences and major decisions that are the journalist’s daily fodder. I wish that not everything essential would happen at once.

But that’s the nature of the beast, so to speak, and that’s what those of us in the journalism industry thrive on: mass chaos. Because when important events happen in the places we cover (sometimes all at the same time), we must always spring into action.

Still, though, it would be nice if the world made our jobs a little easier. Especially with the 24-hour news cycle, journalists need to be ready for anything. We need to be able to handle multiple leads, articles, assignments, and projects, since when we least expect it, we might stumble on several pots of gold.

It has been one of those weeks here at The Ramapo News. Lately, it seems like we have too much on our plates. We’re left juggling all of the platters and praying none of them smash to the floor.

It started on Wednesday, when we created a plan to pursue some of our long-term investigative reporting stories for the semester. Then, on Friday, the state took a historic step in legalizing same-sex marriage in New Jersey. Over the weekend, as we continued to keep all of our saucers spinning, we added some more stories into the mix that were worthy of our attention.

And of course, we’re now also working on Governor Chris Christie’s visit to the College Tuesday, an appearance that is every bit as exciting for us to cover as budding journalists as it is to attend as students who have a stake in New Jersey’s future. With all of this, we’ve hardly had a moment to step back and breathe. But we’ve still managed to find time to think, “Hey, can’t we catch a break this week?”

The thing is, journalists don’t catch breaks. Sure, we may have several dry spells, days and weeks that feel endless because everything is calm and the status quo is left unfazed. But man, the universe always finds a way to make up for it. So we keep trudging on.

That’s all the news for now-Nicole

nalliegr@ramapo.edu