Editor recalls stories of hijinks, hard work, late nights in Skiff newsroom
Late night antics and quirky personalities mix in the fishbowl we call the Skiff.
COMMENTARY
Jacque Petersell

If these newsroom walls could talk, the stories they would have to tell people.

And everyone involved at the Skiff would probably be fired.

But it comes with the territory. Late nights spent in close quarters with the same people you spend between 40 to 60 hours a week with can cause momentary lapses of sanity. And judgment.

Most people aren’t brave enough to venture into the newsroom (unless you are a journalism major and are forced into it, kicking and screaming). So, on the 100th birthday of the Skiff, I thought I’d share some stories that only a few know and probably fewer remember.

From the outside, our newsroom (or fishbowl, thanks to the windows) may appear to be a normal newsroom — reporters typing away, others doing interviews over the phones, staff members going through old Skiffs from the fax room and editors staring glassy-eyed at screens while editing. But appearances can be deceiving.

Those windows are no ordinary windows. Various sports schedules, pictures from home, reminders to pay parking tickets, court notices and terrible staff mug shots, among other things, used to grace their glass. It was a way for staff members to block those who walked by from staring at us and have a little personal space, too.

Now you’ll notice only the walls covered in daily reminders and upcoming schedules. They are smeared with a little dirt, ink and toner. And while some marks or scratches were accidental, certain ones were not.

In fall 2000, associate editor Rusty Simmons, decided he wanted to see how tall he was. He wanted it marked on the doorway to the production room. He wanted me to mark it; and he wanted it no other way.

What started as a small activity turned into a staff event as other editors, copy editors and reporters lined up to leave part of themselves on the wall. When we were done, Simmons tried to wash off the marks — but they wouldn’t budge. They remained, mostly unnoticed, for almost a year, until a fresh coat of paint covered our graffiti.

And then there’s the fax room. Years ago, (and I can say that now) when I was a newbie to the newsroom in fall 1999, the fax room was used as a punishment room. Eva Rumpf, the Skiff adviser at the time, grew tired of sexually suggestive comments made between staff members. The editors decided that anyone making such comments would spend time in the fax room to “think about what they had done.” Uh-huh.

The first day the policy was instituted, Laura Head, the opinion editor in fall 1999, was sent to the room for an obscene comment. She was shortly followed by Lety Laurel, the assistant news editor.

Head called from the fax machine phone to ask if they could be allowed out. Their request was denied, but they snuck out within a few minutes anyway.

Other fax room purposes include a make-out room, a place to take naps, and sometimes, it was both at once.

The newsroom (and fax room) wasn’t the only place reserved for late-night antics and action. The hallway on the second floor of the Moudy Building South gets taken over by Skiff staff during the after-hours of the university as well. Talks about life — and what we are really doing at the Skiff — shouting matches that started from fights within the newsroom, and even some sporting events continue outside the newsroom as a way for staff members to relieve stress. The scooter of Jaime Walker, the spring 2001 news editor, was a particularly fun toy. If you heard something running into doors, walls, garbage cans or other people, you could bet that John “Johnny Baby” Weyand, a reporter in the same semester, had hijacked it for a joyride. Co-sports editor Victor Drabicky brought a moped to the second floor one night and raced Walker around locked computer labs and faculty offices. Walker won, but only by a headlight. Gone are the days when the staff needed a collection jar for every time a certain obscene word was said before 10 p.m., but certain quirks still remain.

This semester we have four returning editors and a bunch of newbies on the editorial board. The football, that has remained in the newsroom for years, still gets taken out for a quick game every now and then. Funny comments are kept on a computer now instead of plastered on the walls. But the spirit is the same.

Despite all the mayhem that goes on behind, well, open windows, somehow we still have managed to provide the campus with news and important issue coverage. We’ve also managed to pick up a few impressive awards along the way.

So maybe we do know what we are doing after all.

Copy Desk Chief Jacque Petersell is a senior news-editorial journalism major from Houston who has logged more hours in the newsroom than she cares to admit.