Marisa Demarco said she got bit by the journalism bug a couple of years ago, but people from The Opposition would say she got bitten long ago.
Demarco was named 2004-2005 Daily Lobo editor in chief on April 16. She started The Opposition, an underground newspaper, 11 years ago in the seventh grade. Driven by reporting controversy, her staff of about 15 had fake names and defied the administration by circulating their paper at school.
It was a cut-and-paste operation paid for with a bag of nickels every month.
"Me and all my little school friends felt sort of empowered by putting something out that had our voices in it," she said. "It allowed us to speak for ourselves instead of letting other people speak for us."
The articles were what she now considers columns, and she would publish everything that was written. Though her days of underground reporting are over, she still seeks to let people's voices be heard.
"From when I was a kid, I was just into communicating with a community of people," Demarco said.
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Her childhood projects extended into forming a band, the Ya Ya Boom Project. She said the band is a big management project for its members, and they all learned to play music from scratch, advertise, get gigs and manage money.
The band has endured eight years and plays mostly rock music with flamenco and funk influences.
"That is the thing about not having any training," Demarco said. "You have to watch yourself a lot more carefully than you would otherwise - it is all you."
As outgoing editor for Conceptions Southwest, one of UNM's annual literary magazines, Demarco said this year's edition reached a far larger community than the magazine had in the past.
She said the goal of her meaty magazine was to make it visible in the UNM art community and be as inclusive as possible. Even with everything she's done, she said it is all about people she has worked with.
"There's a lot of different creative energies that come together that make anything happen," Demarco said. "Anybody who thinks they can do that sort of thing by themselves is making a mistake."
Demarco has been a reporter, culture editor and managing editor at the Lobo. Her experience at the Daily Lobo won her a unanimous vote from the Student Publications Board, making her editor in chief.
"This was no accident that she was selected as editor," said Bob Gassaway, associate professor in the Communication & Journalism Department. "She had across-the-board support based on her track record as an editor."
Demarco is pursuing a double major in women studies and creative writing with a minor in music. Demarco has never taken a C & J class, but she said she has definitely put in hundreds of hours working at the Lobo. She said the way she learned journalism is equivalent to throwing a kid in the pool and saying "swim."
"There are certain things you can learn in journalism classes," said outgoing Editor in Chief Arthur Simoni. "The most practical knowledge you learn is just by getting your hands dirty, getting in the trenches and learning the craft from the School of Hard Knocks."
Simoni said Demarco has succeeded in every position she's occupied. He said she made the culture section the best it's been in Lobo history, and he had no reservations when naming her managing editor.
"It won't take Marisa long to learn the intricacies of being editor and chief," Simoni said. "More than half of the successes we've had this semester have been due to her skills as managing editor, and that will transfer greatly into her duties as editor in chief."
