Have you ever suggested an idea as a joke, but everyone thought it would be awesome so you just went with it? Well, I did. It was this article and now here we are. At a typical Setonian Editorial Board meeting, I show up anywhere between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. and I’m not really needed until the articles are ready to upload online. When I do arrive early, I have plenty of time on my hands so I stay patient and use my time wisely…..sometimes. Here are 20 things, yours truly, does on production nights.
1) Paper Basketball
This has become a frequent occurrence on production nights, but a number of editors cough** from Pirate Life and Sports (believe it or not) cough** struggle to shoot crumpled up paper into a garbage can from across the room. I have put them to shame a number of times in the production room. No matter what they tell you, I am the best paper basketball player on the staff. #SPBMVP (Setonian Paper Basketball Most Valuable Player)
2) Tell jokes and riddles
I like to have fun so during my wait, I will try to stump fellow editors with funny jokes and riddles. Many of them have actually been a big hit and other editors have brought in their own riddles for us to try and solve.
3) Homework
I’ll be honest I don’t complete a lot of my homework while at production nights, but I try my best. Usually, I start my homework and put some headphones because I don’t want to be disturbed. Then, someone constantly calls for me and I try to just focus, but I’m now thinking that they need me for something involving the paper. So, I say, “what’s up” and they usually respond with, “Check out this picture of me on Instagram!” You see my dilemma.
4) Articles/job
Sometimes I have other writing and tasks to complete for my internship or job so at times I will take time to complete some work for that.
5) Creating nicknames
Shout out to our Pirate Editor Michele “Fotayyy” Foti. I started calling her that at the beginning on the semester and she is probably not the biggest fan of it, but that has not stopped me. Many people on staff are referred to by their initials. For example, our Sports Digital Editor Dennis Chambers is “DC,” Photography Editor Joey Khan is “JK” and I am “SSJ.” No one has earned a crazy nickname yet, but there is still a semester left.
6) Trash talking
This has stemmed from the paper basketball battles at production, but many staff members and I will talk trash around the office a little bit. Pirate Life and Sports usually go at it constantly, in a playful way of course. However, do not sleep on Leah Carton from news because her trash talking skills are solid. She wouldn’t tell you that, but trust me she will nail it with a great comeback. Sometimes just one word out of her mouth sends shockwaves throughout the office.
7) Sports talk
I sit right next to the sports crew, I write for them and love sports so it is only natural that I talk sports with the sports editors. Our biggest debate of the semester was over whether New York Knicks’ forward Kristaps Porzingis is 7-foot-1 or 7-foot-3. This got a little heated and if you are a true sports fan you have had an argument similar to this in the past. The verdict is still out on the debate, but we are pretty sure he is 7-foot-3.
8) Eating
We order pizza, but sometimes I will snack on something. At one point, I brought in candy for everyone and that really made the staff happy. However, it did get pretty rowdy in the office afterwards.
9) Drinking
Water, of course. However, I have thought about bringing in beverages and mixing them. Sprite and cranberry juice is a great combination so I might bring that into the office next week.
10) Singing
You may be asking yourself, “Sean, what do you mean?”
I mean that I quite literally sing songs out loud while waiting for the crew to finish up their content. Justin Bieber’s “What do you mean?” is a song that Chambers and I sing all of the time. Others in the office “sing,” but we belt out those songs. The rest of the staff has nothing on our singing skills. Judge us, we don’t care.
11) Impromptu Photos
Our photography editor, Joey Khan has his camera when he comes to production night so at times I will use it to take pictures of other staffers doing their work. He does too and it is actually pretty fun. It can be a fun experience taking pictures of people and seeing their reactions or they will tell you to, “get the heck out of here!”
12) Contemplating life
“Why is the sky blue?” “Does my professor like me?” “Will I ever be successful?” “Why is Rebecca White talking to me about Kim Kardashian while I am trying to write this very article after I told her I didn’t care?” All of the questions and more are answered during my wait. By the way, it turns out Rebecca just didn’t care about what I had to say and kept rambling on.
13) Striking a pose
If you have seen the picture of me on The Setonian Instagram doing the Heisman pose then you know what I am talking about. We will make those kinds of poses from time to time in order to make each other laugh.
14) Making this list
When I picked the twenty topics that I was going to use for this piece, I was sitting in the production room waiting for news to finish up their pages. As I write this sentence, I am sitting in a desk on the third floor of the library.
15) Watch videos
We keep up with social media during production night so whenever we see a great video, the rest of the staff needs to be made aware of it immediately. I mean, at least that is what everyone does. For the most part, I stick to sports videos of highlights or watch live games with whoever will watch on a laptop. We watch plenty of Knicks and SHU games.
16) Inside jokes #Cubsin7
When the Mets and Cubs played Game 4 of the NLCS at Wrigley Field this year, the Mets were looking for a series sweep and a trip to the World Series. Professor Krayewski a.k.a Eddy K was helping The Setonian that week and as a huge Mets fan, he was rooting hard while helping us. Chambers is a Phillies fan so he wanted the Mets to lose and throughout the entire game, DC would say “Cubs in 7,” meaning that the Cubs would comeback and beat the Mets. The Cubs lost and he was still chanting, “Cubs in 7!” We loved it and Professor K loved it so much that he made us t-shirts. However, I cannot claim mine until I am finished his American Journalism class.
17) Go for a walk
If I need a break from waiting or if someone says something that’s annoying, I will take a lap around the University Center. The other day, one of our editors, Sam was abbreviating every word she said so I felt the need to take a lap.
18) Trying to be serious
It’s really tough so at this point we do not try anymore. When I first came on the editorial board that year I tried to be serious, but it was boring.
19) Running errands
My man, Tom Duffy, sports copy editor, is the one who will pick up the pizza every week so shout out to him because we take that man for granted. I am also chosen to run errands for different staff members at times, which I don’t mind doing.
20) Office chair races
To get the creative juices flowing, we will have races in our chairs around the U Center. We have a bracket and I am in the championship waiting for the winner of the news section to emerge. Alright, we don’t really do that, but have talked about it in the past. How cool would that be?
After all of that, my advice is if you are waiting for a period of time for anything in life either make the most of that time or have fun. Either way, it will be time well spent.
Sean Saint Jacques can be reached at sean.saintjacques@student.shu.edu.
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