opinion@dailylobo.com
@ArdeeTheJourno
Are you a student at UNM West with a deep love for Rio Rancho who has a problem with authority and knows AP style?
If you are, we crave you. And not in that creepy way.
While the rest of the print world is dying, the Daily Lobo is planning to expand its frontiers to cover Rio Rancho, and we are now looking for a UNM West correspondent.
If you have the cojones to take the correspondent position, you should be a UNM student who attends classes physically at UNM West. You must be enrolled with at least six credits. You don’t have to be a journalism major, contrary to popular belief. You just need to know how to write.
Preferred candidates will have even a slight knowledge of the Associated Press style, aka the journalist’s bible. He or she should also not be afraid of people, should be used to deadlines and changing circumstances and should be acquainted with the journalistic principles of objectivity, credibility, accuracy and over-caffeination (I don’t think that’s a word).
Now, I’ll tell you why you should write for us. And by doing so, you’ll basically learn why I decided to work here.
First of all, it pays. It doesn’t pay my rent, but yes, it pays.
How many college newspapers in the country pay students for their words? Even big newspapers rarely do that nowadays. Also, because you receive money from working here, it’s a professional job.
It looks good on your résumé, and if you are almost giving up on finding that writing internship of your dreams, you know how critical this is. Many of our alumni are working for big newspapers around the country, or even right here with the Albuquerque Journal. So a resume with a Lobo résumé is somewhat like the TARDIS. It sends your career path winding into other dimensions.
Yes, some of us are Whovians here, too.
Also, experience with the Lobo will surely help you with your academics. Journalists are supposed to be critical individuals who know how to both research subjects in-depth and to think quickly on their feet. And that’s basically what many UNM classes are about.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
With your papers, for example, you need to be critical, to know how to research and to cram if you ever want an A. The journalistic experience will improve you in all these aspects, and you might even graduate magna cum laude after covering mayoral campaigns for three months.
And speaking of mayoral campaigns, I actually just spoke to a candidate one-on-one yesterday. This is where the other advantage of writing for us lies. You get access to places and things normal plebeians won’t normally get the chance to go to.
You get to visit UNM President Robert Frank’s fancy office twice a month. You get to talk to Richard Berry, Martin Heinrich and Jeff Bingaman, and you might get to see them mingling with buzzed gentlemen on election night. You get free passes to Gay Pride and to major events like TEDxABQ. And, again, you get paid for all of this.
But it’s not just the perks; it’s also about the camaraderie.
Though it might not appear like it, we at the Daily Lobo are hardworking, tired, passionate individuals who get a kick out of grammar and know how to party like a journalist. Journalism runs in our blood, along with the caffeine and the stress hormones.
Working for the Lobo will help you gain life-long bros and brahs, or at least professional connections if you don’t need any more friends.
If you are interested in the position, apply for it online at unmjobs.unm.edu. Let your UNM West friends know, too. There might be a Walter Cronkite buried inside of them.
