He Said: Ah, yes, deadline. When it comes to deadline for me, I always just try to stay out of all the drama (which means just ignoring Adam). I usually spend the majority of deadline laying out my double truck (the center spread of the issue), fixing the infamous printer (that always needs fixing), or helping others out with laying out the pages.

This was the first deadline with our new jobs and it was, as you saw, one that looked very stressful. As drama-filled as it may have been, it all came back to one source: Adam. After overestimating how many pages we had to do, Adam freaked out. Cutting down our issue by four pages didn’t have to be that big of a deal. Hell, the job of determining how many pages we run each issue was not specifically left with the business manager… Adam gave himself that job. If it were up to me, we would have gone 32 pages from the start. Adam is one of my best friends, but it was just too much.

I would have love to seen Amanda step up during this first deadline, I really would have. Adam’s failures left a wide open opportunity for everyone, including myself, and Alex was the one to come through with some deadline magic, along with his trusty sidekick and sports editor, Reed. Again I stand correct in my previously made assertions regarding the leadership of the paper.

She Said: While you were all able to see our three-day deadline contrived into a mere 21 minutes, for those who have experienced it, you know it feels more like 21 days. The pressures and stress that go into staring into a dimly lit computer screen for three days and nights straight while trying to block out the 70 other students in the room scrambling around with their own problems can put almost anyone on edge.

This deadline was just like any other one. Adam has and always will be the loudest in the room and the one tries to take control over things that he doesn’t really have control over. After Adam finishes laying out the ads (which takes up about the first hour of deadline) he likes to find problems in the issue, whether or not they actually exist, and specifically likes to focus on my section. Adam is the one person that I will never be able to block out during deadline and since we’ve been close since middle school, I’m probably the only person who he allows to talk to him the way I do without him running out crying. I was always opposed to the 36-page issue and when my section was looking bad because Adam refused to stack ads I refused to let it go.

Amanda may have been able to prove her leadership during deadline had she finished her editorial on time. It’s happened to all of us at one point, when you get so behind on your stories because you spend so much time editing others’ stories. However, because of the turmoil in the class it was especially important for Amanda to step up, and since she couldn’t, the tensions within the classroom did not subside.

Nevertheless, whatever problems occur during deadline does not hurt the finishing product, and our first issue played a role in receiving an All-Florida award at the Florida Scholastic Press Association’s conference for the third year in a row.

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Lesson No. 4: Give it the write stuff.
Write a news story the way you’d tell it to your friend. If someone asks you about last night’s football game, you don’t answer this way: “First there was the kickoff. Then the team had the ball for three plays. Then they kicked away.” News shouldn’t be told in chronological order like that. The first thing you would tell your friend would be: “The team won!” Or, “the team lost! And there was this amazing play when someone ran 40 yards!” Get right to the point as soon as possible, and then write from most important and interesting to least important.

Missed previous lessons from Mrs. Weiss? Get ‘em here:
Lesson No. 1
Lesson No. 2
Lesson No. 3

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1. You have a near-death experience, but you’re preoccupied with the headlines for it.
2. You have oddball conversations with close friends about your love for semi-colons.
3. You break dance “inverted pyramid” style.
4. You utilize clever headlines in everyday conversations.
5. Your most frightening nightmares are about missing deadlines.
6. Everything happening around you becomes a possible Pulitzer award-winning photo.
7. Your teachers label you “the newspaper kid.”
8. You think you’ve earned bragging rights around school for finding the best quotes.
9. When your friends quote movies, you’re the only one who does so accurately.
10. The only questions you ask are open-ended.
11. You hate Fox News.

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He Said: I want to dedicate a good majority of this blog to the band we all went to see on last night’s Paper episode — the greatest band that has ever graced this world with their awesomeness. Obviously the most influential group of our time, they have inspired kids and adults alike with their great use of rhetoric and sound. Yes, I am talking about none other than Dave Matthews Band.

My favorite song is by far “Crush,” followed closely by “Two Step,” “American Baby,” “Grey Street,” “Crash into Me,” “Everyday,” “Satellite,” “#41,” “Stay,” “Some Devil,” “Everybody Wake Up,” “Ants Marching”… OK, you get the picture. I have been to DMB concerts three years in a row now and I am coming home from college this summer just to see them again. Giana, on the other hand, isn’t a very big advocate of Dave. It’s all right, I took her to a John Mayer concert instead.

I also want to mention that I would have done the football practice with Dan and Alex, but I couldn’t damage this adorable face — I mean, I have to look good everyday for Giana. In all seriousness, I already knew how hard football players work, as I used to play football several years ago. I will admit though, my size and skills weren’t up to par so I decided to become more of a fan than a player.

She Said: Trevor’s correct — I am not a big advocate of Dave Matthews. Although I do have a few of their songs on my iPod and enjoy a lot of the lyrics, the band seems to attract a lot of people that I would not like to concern myself nor surround myself with in the heat of the Florida summer. However, had I known that I would be able to witness the romantic beginning of Aleix squared… well, I would’ve still not gone, but maybe I would’ve tried to advise Alex on a different approach to asking out Alix rather than a misspelled text message. Oh, and who is Anne? I guess it’s the cliffhanger for next week. And yes, the John Mayer concert was much preferred and a lot more pleasant.

In addition, I found the football column to be extremely hilarious and very unique (besides very entertaining to watch.) However, I would’ve loved to watch Adam play football, for obvious reasons.

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As you may have seen on our MTV homepage, Amanda and I absolutely love getting together and making up satiric songs as “Butch-Cassia and the Amandance Kid” to post on YouTube. We like to poke fun at timely trends and happenings — such as the MySpace and Facebook malady that has consumed us all.

These so-called social networking sites have become, for most, a tool of vanity with which we put on display our best and prettiest selves. Meeting new people and making friends are no longer motives behind creating one of these pages. The good intentions behind Facebook and MySpace have been replaced with photo-tagging frenzies and bumper-sticker madness.

Needless to say, I’m not criminalizing the millions of social networking members, myself included (although I was forced into it by Amanda, who also wrote my lovely “About Me” section). I’m simply trying to say that the “Look at Me Generation” (as Newsweek calls us) needs to step away from the mirror and take a look out the window. There is, contrary to popular belief, an entire world out there waiting for us to take notice and, more importantly, take action. A world that is heating up, crying out, and falling apart with every bomb that is dropped.

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Lesson No. 3: Talk Hard
Once you get a good source of information to talk to you, you want to conduct a great interview. Here are some guidelines: Prepare a bunch of open-ended questions in advance. Ask lots of how’s and why’s, which get people to answer in complete sentences, and stay away from those yes-or-no questions. Before you start, establish a warm feeling using the usual how-ya-doin’ pleasantries, and take an opportunity to observe the person in his or her surroundings. Ask short, specific questions and don’t interrupt when the person answers. When all else fails, use silence as your friend. People will want to fill an awkward silence and will eventually say something if you wait them out.

There’s a whole lot more of Mrs. W’s tips where this came from. Go ahead and brush up on Lesson No. 1 and Lesson No. 2.

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Episode two was filmed many moons ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday. The brainstorming meeting wasn’t executed as poorly as it seemed to be on screen. MTV filmed its rowdy inception, but failed to show its incredible productivity, where the exchange of ideas was at its best.

Aside from clearing up misconceptions, my main reason for writing this blog is to present an analogy. After watching the episode, I noticed a glaring familiarity between the situation between my peers and me and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama during the most recent democratic debate. I watched the screen and noticed the consuming glimmer of passion that seized our eyes, the exchange of heated glances, and the putrid stink of unrelenting competition. (Just to clarify before I continue rambling: I’m not a fan of Ms. Clinton. I prefer the rather idealistic platforms, notions, and eloquence of Senator Obama.)

The comparison can be extended to the childish intolerance that both candidates display for one another. They make their crippling personal attacks quite publicly and disparage one another at any chance they’re given. The grand irony revolves around the fact that they battle it out for the good of the same political party. Both support the same ideals, and both want to put a gargantuan Band-Aid on our wounded country. Their unwavering (and often cruel) competition can only further deteriorate democracy, perhaps negatively influencing the election. Then, of course, their hard work and campaigns will be made useless. Fortunately, when it comes to crunch time, The Circuit editorial staff comes together for our common goal: to put out an amazing publication. This fact remains one of lesser known status because significant meetings and brainstorming sessions aren’t often given the airtime. The Circuit staff, unlike the presidential candidates, are able to put aside negativity for the greater good of our final product.

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The couple cop to romantic dinners and call into question the benefits of hosting an ice cream social:

He Said: Woah, woah, woah, first of all, I cooked Giana a lovely meal, consisting of Caesar salad, chicken parmesan, and a little dessert, all over a candle lit table with a bouquet of roses as a center piece. I enjoy cooking for her, I admit. And she can’t deny the food is the best.

Also, put me in the front of that room at brainstorming and I would’ve had the class quiet within 3 seconds. Granted I may seem to be slightly “immature” and somehow “jealous” when I make my personal attacks on Amanda, but she honestly failed at making a great first impression and obviously could not quiet the classroom.

The ice cream social had potential but I did not see it fit to go, nor did I see it as a good opportunity for “class bonding,” so I therefore decided to stay at home and brush up on my guitar hero skills. It was a valiant effort on her part, but no “success”. Not once did Amanda ever seem interested in bonding with me or the other editors, which should have been her first mission; she gave up on us just as quickly as we gave up on her.

In no way did the show display me trying to sabotage Amanda as she was standing in the front of the room at brainstorming or at her ice cream social. I would just keep to myself and make personal comments; they weren’t anything more than that but they were just broadcasted for everyone to see. In no way am I being a jealous brat, as many have said in the last week. I am entitled to my own opinion and I am going to keep telling it LIKE IT IS.

She Said: Yes, Trevor makes the food, as all boyfriends should do for their girlfriends. Also, to clarify the commotion at the brainstorming meeting: Amanda said in the first episode that when people “tend to yell,” others don’t really like to pay attention. Apparently that skill was useful for Adam, however, considering he was able to get the classroom in order.

When I heard Amanda’s speech, I believed that there would be a possibility that we would all be able to work together as a team. However, I did not think an ice cream social was a good approach. Forcing 70 kids into a room to eat ice cream and become acquainted with one another did not seem like the first step in building teamwork, when the editors of the team had yet to come together themselves. I didn’t see how we were all supposed to comfort and ease the incoming staff members into the newspaper room and teach them how to work together when we couldn’t work together ourselves.

Although many of you might want to direct that problem onto me, and me only, you can see by Amanda’s comment of my outfit choice for the first day of school that she and I were no longer friends, nor was she trying to create a civil relationship in our working environment. For those of you who think this was all a one-way attack on Amanda, I can’t take advice on maturing from people who spend their time bashing 18 year olds. No one said we were adults and no one said we didn’t have faults. We are in high school. We’re not trying to be working in the “real world” just yet.

Yes, I chose not to participate in the ice cream social, and that does not portray me as a strong leader. However, I chose to go about befriending the underclassmen in my own way and I didn’t need ice cream to do it. Nevertheless, I did notice Amanda taking into consideration my advice on how to approach people better, and she was able to gain the respect of the underclassmen in her way as well, so I thought she did, in fact, show signs of a strong leader.

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Well, we’ve gone and done it again. The Circuit is an All-Florida Award-winning newspaper. We were one of the top-ranked papers in the state according to the Florida Scholastic Press Association.

I am also very excited to say that I have won my second All-Florida Award for Review Writing and placed first in the Color News Photography competition. I also won awards for editorial writing and in other news photo categories. I know, my head is growing as large as the Weapons of Mass Destruction we found in Iraq — oh, wait…

It is just such a wonderful feeling knowing that once again The Circuit and its entire staff (underclassmen included) have lived up to the many high expectations.

As for episode two, I’m glad you all got to see how an award-winning paper begins each lovely issue: brainstorming. Yes, that was the hectic mess with 60 kids jam-packed into one newspaper room. And despite the mass chaos that you witnessed, brainstorming is a very important part of the process — stories are assigned, we editors are screaming our lungs out, the room reaches a million degrees Fahrenheit. It’s a euphoric experience, really!

I was pretty upset that I couldn’t make it to the “Ice Cream Social” but travel soccer can be a bit demanding. Seeing it for the first time, I realize all I missed was simply the same exact situation I witness everyday in class, just in a different setting accompanied by delectable frozen treats.

Peace and Love,
Cassia

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For the people who watched the first episode of The Paper and assume that all we do is bad mouth each other and fight, you are greatly mistaken. The Paper is a 30-minute show (22 if you don’t include commercials), so pretty much one episode of the show is equivalent to one lunch period at school — and we were filmed for over 8 months. Don’t jump to conclusions and assume we don’t report on the news and put out a great publication despite the bickering. We report on important issues ranging from immigration to war, and we put out a 30+ page newspaper every month (for anyone who works for their newspaper they can attest to how impressive that is).

As for awards, we have quite a few. We are an All-Florida award-winning publication at the Florida Scholastic Press Association for three years now and we have a number of individual awards to go with it. For instance, Dan and Cassia have both won two All-Florida awards for columns and reviews respectively. Adam and Amanda have each won an All-Florida award (Sports News and Feature writing). Trevor has won a number of layout and design awards and Giana came in first place at the district on the spot 4-person newspaper team competition. As for myself, I am Florida’s High School Journalist of the Year, probably the biggest journalism honor in the state. I have also personally won an All-Florida award for Sports News and Sports Features, as well as being on the first place team with Giana at districts and on another first place award-winning team just the other day at the state convention.

So for anyone who doesn’t think we were all qualified to be Editor-in-Chief, think again, because we all have the awards to prove it. I’m not trying to be cocky (although the latest Paper trailer shows that I have a history of it). I’m just trying to prove that there’s more to the Circuit than meets the eye (sorry, I had to drop the cheesy Transformers line). We really do put our hearts and souls into our newspaper and just because we fight and talk bad about each other doesn’t mean we don’t put our differences aside in the classroom to publish an amazing newspaper. Just watch the show to find out for yourself.

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