Want to hang out at our house? Well, Friday is your chance. 'Cause it's Friday. You ain't got no job, and you ain't got shit to do.
But seriously, the Alligator will open its doors to students this Friday from 2 to 5 p.m. for the first open house of the semester. We asked about getting a keg, but unfortunately we'll only have pizza to offer.
We are (desperately) searching for a metro editor to assign all city-related stories to our whopping one staff writer - yeah, we need those too.
Metro attire isn't required for the metro editor, but we do ask that applicants know - or are vaguely familiar with - the difference between the county and city commission. Bonus points to any applicant that can accurately spell our mayor's name.
Alligator.org will also get a major makeover within the next two weeks - we're looking forward to a snazzier design, more online projects and multimedia.
Our woefully tiny online staff is looking for anyone interested in making the new site awesome, whether you're into programming, web design or video.
In addition to a metro editor and an online staff, we're on the hunt for multimedia gurus, photographers, writers, graphic designers, columnists, copy editors… the list goes on.
So, what is it like to work five days a week at the nation's largest student-run newspaper?
Believe it or not, it's fun.
Sure, we clock more hours in the newsroom than we do sleeping, in class, sleeping in class or doing our homework. But fortunately for us, we're all in the same classes.
Just kidding… sort of.
We give one another back rubs, nursing our poor, already-suffering-from-carpal-tunnel forearms and hands. We watch Jeopardy! religiously every Monday through Thursday, and text message answers (or rather, questions) to one another during the Friday show.
We eat here, we study here, we sleep here. If there was a shower, we'd likely bathe here, too.
We receive phone calls from puzzled readers concerned about missing Sudoku puzzles and word jumbles. (Don't worry, we're trying our best to bring back ol' Crossword Lite.)
Since we spend so much time here, we've even started decorating. The online office now comes complete with a throw cover for the couch we've been sleeping on since 1987.
We also cleaned the newsroom recently, and discovered such gems as an ancient gas mask and a key to the building's elevator that was missing for two years. We assume the mask belonged to the sole non-smoker that worked here back in the good old days when we could smoke inside the windowless newsroom.
During Friday's open house, we will conduct smoke-free, on-the-spot interviews. We suggest you bring your resume and portfolio (which are hopefully smokin'). If we like you, you'll get a call back. If we love you, you'll likely be writing a story for Monday's edition.
Kristin Bjornsen is a journalism senior and editor in chief of the Alligator. Brian Kelley is a journalism and economics senior and managing editor / print. Jennifer Jenkins is a journalism senior and managing editor / online.
