Is it just me, or is our weather getting worse and worse over time? I am a born-and-raised Jersey girl, but as far as I can remember, our winters have been getting increasingly messy year after year.
Or, maybe I'm just paying more attention now. After all, the weather outside is becoming a growing concern of mine, from its impact on my commute, the type of shoes I wear to walk across campus and, of course, how well I can do at my job as a student journalist.
While last week's snow days might have been luxuries for some, they weren't for The Ramapo News. Despite the terrible weather, we still had a newspaper to produce. That meant that, although school was closed, we were still working away, coordinating with writers from home in our pajamas and collaborating virtually on our online content. When more snow rolled around on Wednesday, cancelling classes, we got a head start in the newsroom to put out our issue as scheduled.
I'm pleased to report that not only did all of my editors make it back to their dorms safely Wednesday night, but we also made a great first issue to kick off the semester. I'm proud of our commitment to the news, and I'm happy that we have continued The Ramapo News' tradition of weekly publication for over a decade. Now that's what I call not missing deadline.
Journalists, like many other professionals, do not have the luxury of staying home and weathering out a bad storm-no pun intended. Like nurses and doctors, road workers, emergency officials and the like, our business doesn't shut down in the event of a hurricane or blizzard; in fact, we run out and face it. And while I'll admit that sometimes weather news gets extremely repetitive (yes, we get it, the world ends in Atlanta during an ice storm) or awfully corny (how many ruler-in-the-snow live shots have you seen lately?), it is an integral part of our jobs and an important service to our communities.
A little climate change doesn't stop Mother Nature from doing her job, so we can't let it stop us from doing ours, either.
That's all the news for now-Nicole
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nalliegr@ramapo.edu
