Journalism: Thursday, Period 4, Class 1

[trustshisbarber.livejournal.com]

The bell rang. Jonah immediately launched into his introduction. "Everyone here? Good! If anyone isn't, they'll have to catch up later. My name is J. Jonah Jameson, publisher of the Daily Bugle newspaper out of New York. I'm here to teach you kids how to be journalists. Stick with me and you'll be all-time greats. Show up late, slack off, or be an idiot and you'll be a complete failure in life who nobody will ever love. Sorry, but it's true."

"In order to become a good journalist, you have to have five things. One, an eye for a story. Two, a good memory or good note-taking abilities. Three, your head out of your butt enough to think on your feet and ask good questions when you need to. Four, the dedication to find out whatever it is you need to. And five, you have to figure out for yourself. I could tell you, but if I did that, I'd have to flunk you and I don't want to do any of that on the first day...."

"Okay, that's a lie. I'd love to flunk all of you on the first day, but that's just because it would be fun for me."

"We're going to start nice and slow this week. But considering that we're talking about how to make it as a newsman... or woman... 'slow' is a relative term. So let's do this. You," Jonah pointed to a random person, "give me your name, why you think you can make it as a journalist, and why I should give the tiniest bit of a crap about either of those. Go! Now!"

[OOC: Syllabus is here. Not that Jonah passed it out. This won't stop him from referencing it, though. Please glance at it for it contains important OOC info about the class.]

Comments

Discussion [Class 1]

[trustshisbarber.livejournal.com]

Introduce yourself, tell the class why you're here, and sell yourself to Jonah. Pretend it's a job interview. A job interview with a horrible, horrible man. Or you'll flunk!

Re: Discussion [Class 1]

[peace_n_war]

Warren didn't look too terribly impressed at all the threats to be flunked. But then, Warren seldom ever looked impressed at anything.

"The name's Warren Peace. Yes, it's a pun. No, I don't care. I'm here because I was the one writing the weekly rant column, My Flaming Trap, in the school paper last semester, and I'm not afraid to tell it as I see it."

Re: Discussion [Class 1]

[trustshisbarber.livejournal.com]

"First off, it's not a 'rant column,' it's an editorial. Second, what topics did you 'rant' about?" Jonah asked.

Re: Discussion [Class 1]

[notthehulk.livejournal.com]

"Um, I'm Teddy Altman. I--" Okay, he was blanking. And terrified. Mostly terrified.

Re: Discussion [Class 1]

[trustshisbarber.livejournal.com]

"Yes, you have an eye. Two of them, in fact, and both of them seem to work," Jonah said. "Good for you, why are you here?"

Re: Discussion [Class 1]

[armybrat-lois.livejournal.com]

"I'm Lois Lane and I didn't actually mean to sign up for this class but since I'm already here I might as well make the most of it," she said. Chloe was the journalist, not her. "I'm quite talented in getting people to talk and I have a knack for uncovering things people try to hide."

What she meant was, she could pick locks and rifle through people's stuff.

Re: Discussion [Class 1]

[trustshisbarber.livejournal.com]

"I'm offended that you're not here on purpose, but you have a good attitude about it," Jonah said. It was a good attitude because she seemed to be okay with the idea of being in this class. Jonah appreciated that on the first day. He wouldn't necessarily like it if that attitude was still there next week, but for now it was a positive. "So, you impromptu focus is on investigative journalism?"

Re: Discussion [Class 1]

[sonofmogh.livejournal.com]

"I am Worf. Son of Mogh," Worf said gruffly. "I'm here because I was randomly assigned to the class. However I will endeavor to be the best... newspaperman I can be."

Re: Discussion [Class 1]

[trustshisbarber.livejournal.com]

"You'd better, or you'll be endeavoring to fail this class," Jonah said. "What kind of skills do you have that might help you be a good journalist?"

Re: Discussion [Class 1]

[the_merriest]

"My name is Rikku," she said, bouncing to her feet and putting her hands on her hips. "I'm the editor of the school newspaper this year. Last year, I wrote a series about learning the Al Bhed language, and before that, I helped with making up horoscopes. Now I collect articles from everyone, throw it all together, make sure the paper goes out, and then we meet up to discuss doing it all again next week. Journalism is awesome."

Re: Discussion [Class 1]

[trustshisbarber.livejournal.com]

"Editor, eh?" Jonah asked. "Congratulations, you're my new TA. If you're lucky, you might just find out how to be a great editor from me. It sounds like you have the basic idea down well enough, at least."

Re: Discussion [Class 1]

[swipedthatfoot.livejournal.com]

"I'm Claire Fisher," Claire stated. "I'm here because the class description said we'd be drawing cartoons and I want to be an artist."

She shrugged a little, then added, "I mean, I guess I like to write and stuff, too."

Re: Discussion [Class 1]

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Despite himself, Cal really couldn't help grinning at Claire's response, especially since he was kind of wondering what she was doing in journalism class. Of course, he tried to hide it and hope she wouldn't see it, but it was there.

Re: Discussion [Class 1]

[trustshisbarber.livejournal.com]

"You'll enjoy one week this semester and the rest of it will be guesswork," Jonah said. "Check out your syllabus to know what that one week is."

Jonah hadn't passed out the syllabi. This didn't seem to matter to him.

Re: Discussion [Class 1]

[always-damp.livejournal.com]

Toby smiled brightly, in that his smile was big, not intelligent.

"I'm Toby and I write the horrorscopes section of The Fandom Times newspaper," he informed the class. "I've also done the jumble, but that's less fun."

Re: Discussion [Class 1]

[trustshisbarber.livejournal.com]

"Okay, you made some stuff up to mystify the brainless portion of your audience," Jonah said. "What about real journalism? Any interest in that?"

Re: Discussion [Class 1]

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"My name's Cal Stephanides," he said. "I'm here because I like writing." He wasn't going to say something that sounded lame like I want to be a writer. "I wrote a little bit for the paper last semester and I enjoyed it. I figured it wouldn't hurt to hone my skills."

Re: Discussion [Class 1]

[trustshisbarber.livejournal.com]

"If it doesn't hurt, I'm not doing my job right," Jonah said. "Are you a good writer? Don't be modest, nobody wants to hear somebody hem and haw about 'oh, I guess I'm okay.'"

Re: Discussion [Class 1]

[gameknowsgame.livejournal.com]

Blair listened to the interactions between some of the other students and decided to see where honesty would get her.

"I'm Blair Waldorf and I'm taking this class because it'll look good on my transcripts when I apply to Yale."

Re: Discussion [Class 1]

[trustshisbarber.livejournal.com]

Honesty could be overrated. "Not if I fail you, it won't," Jonah said. "Do you have any interest in journalism aside from that? Think about what I just said before you answer."

Re: Discussion [Class 1]

[carsexual]

"I'm Sam Witwicky and I needed a class that looked somewhat sane for my transcript, because I'm going to have to apply to a normal college," Sam said all in one breath, lest Jonah get a word in edgewise and rip him to shreds.

Re: Discussion [Class 1]

[death-of-hope.livejournal.com]

"I'm Anemone, and my guardians signed me up for this class in hopes I'd find something productive to do," Anemone said honestly. "I like drawing and taking photographs, and sometimes I hang out when I'm home and help Stoner do the layout stuff for Ray=Out, so they're probably praying this will keep me out of trouble."

Re: Discussion [Class 1]

[minnesota-teen.livejournal.com]

"Hi, I'm Amber Atkins, and I'm here because my idol is Diane Sawyer. I want to learn how to write well and be able to tell a worthy story."

She bit her lip and couldn't keep the dorky grin off her face. "I want to be just like her."

Re: Discussion [Class 1]

[iruinenglish.livejournal.com]

"I'm Buffy Summers, and I don't know why I ended up in this class, actually, but that's some amazing hair you have there, sir," Buffy said, maybe angling to get the skinny on it.

Re: Discussion [Class 1]

[robinthefrog.livejournal.com]

"My name is Robin, I decided to take this class because I was curious about journalism. I think I'd make a good reporter because I'm easy to talk to."