Name _____Dana Edwards__________________

EL BATIDOR: 2007-08

1.  Please indicate the position(s) for which you would like to be considered:

Business Manager

Copy Editor

Section Head

Opinion/editorial/controversy YES

Entertainment/activities/columns YES

Sports

Features/news

Editor-in-chief

2.  Please respond fully to the following questions:

a)  In English, "el batidor" means "the outrider."  What does "el bat" mean to the Cate community?  What is its purpose?  What does it mean to you as an aspiring staffer?

El Batidor is our very own student-run newspaper. Most high schools have newspapers, but few have publications as original and well composed as Cate’s. This is due to the talented writers and the dedication of the editing staff, the sheer hours they put in to each issue. To the Cate community, El Batidor is simply a delight to read, the product of the reader’s friends and classmates. However, the bulk of the material composing the newspaper lacks significance. Cate students do not need to hear about the events of their own school as much as is present in the El Batidor. I understand the purpose of the publication is not only to inform and entertain the Cate community, but also its extended community- alumni and parents, those who don’t currently attend the school. This perhaps explains why so much of the El Batidor is about Cate, those outside subscribers read it as information on the current goings on of the school. Nonetheless, I would appreciate more variety in the articles.

As an aspiring staffer, the El Batidor means opportunity. Since coming to Cate, my interest in writing has increased greatly. I came to the school with undeveloped composition skills, and largely hated the subject. Years back I can remember it as my most loathed aspect of schooling. Thanks to Cate, and the inspiration of my father, a great writer, I am now captivated with the subject. I want to become as good a writer as I can, and simply the more practice I get, the better I will become. A formal job in the El Batidor staff will give me deadlines and experience with journalism. As writing currently seems the most attractive subject of my learning, I will take all the practice I can get. Since the start of my sophomore year, with college on the horizon (albeit the far horizon), surrounded by overachieving classmates and the pressures of my successful extended family, it has been difficult for me to avoid thinking about my future- my career that is. At the moment, a career in writing seems very agreeable- I enjoy the subject, and as part of the El Batidor staff, I will improve my skills and my writing will become more refined.

b)  If you could ask one question of the headmaster, knowing that he would have to answer completely honestly, what would that question be?

Mr. Williams, if you could ask one question of me, knowing that I would have to answer completely honestly, what would that question be?

3. What makes you a good person to work in a confined space with several other individuals for days on end?

 I don’t have particularly bad body odor. I can be friendly, and would enjoy getting to know those who share an interest in writing, and in the EL Bat.  In terms of the “days on end” bit, I wouldn’t mind having an activity to occupy my time; it would help change my work-shy habits. 

4. Please tell us three words that your friends would never use to describe you.

Materialistic, studious, aggressive

e) If you could change something about El Batidor, what would it be and why?

I would change the subject matter of the articles; I find many of them lacking content. Particularly, sports. Yes, it is fun and nice to hear about the girls’ lacrosse team, but only for so long. Each issue of the newspaper is filled with athletic inconsequentialities. They are mildy entertaining, but only that. As members of the Cate community, we are surrounded by these sports teams and hear their pleas for support and updates of success three times a week, in assembly. Not to mention the dreaded sports awards convocations, or the fact that most of us participate in one of these teams daily, for two hours. I am not a fan of sports journalism in general, but particularly that at Cate-- we are so well acquainted with all aspects of our school that frequent reporting on sports teams is unnecessarily informative. I don’t suggest ridding the El Bat of its sports section, but reducing the number and frequency of its articles. Overall, I think that Cate students get enough of Cate; they live here. Articles reflecting the outside world would be more effective in gaining the newspaper support.

Having removed many sports articles and ones of similar insignificance, I would compensate by adding others, of different themes. More editorials and opinion pieces, more creative writing, interesting stories and fiction. I would introduce columns, for readers respond positively to reoccurrences. There is one in the New York Times magazine called “The Ethicist” that I find engrossing. People write to the author, Randy Cohen, with specific moral dilemmas; he picks two that are particularly compelling, and responds to them fully, having researched the subject. A column like “The Ethicist” would be an interesting addition to the El Bat. Also, a caption contest, like the one in the back of the New Yorker, would prove popular and entertaining. One of the talented artists at our school, like Trevor Wallace, could produce sketches in need of captions, and people would send in their suggestions. The best few would be awarded the glory of publication, and of course a Starbucks gift card. (On that note, perhaps there could be more variety in the prizes for El Bat contests.)

Lastly, I find that most pieces in the El Bat are written in the same, lighthearted, faintly amusing manner. I enjoy comic writing very much; it is a great skill to master, but it has many different levels. This became clear to me tonight as I listened to David Sedaris at the Arlington Theatre. The man was hilarious; the stories he read to the audience were some of the funniest I have ever heard; he has taken the art form to its zenith. His works got me to thinking-- I believe that Cate students are capable of writing more sophisticated humor. The El Bat should reflect this and produce some good, funny pieces, for well-composed comic writing is a true delight.

El Batidor is already a successful newspaper, but it has room for improvement, and I would love to participate in it.

5. If you could change something about the school, what would it be and why?

Ah, to choose only one thing to change about the school is a difficult task. Not to say that there are countless problems with Cate, rather it is hard to find the single area most in need of improvement. I would change school morale, the attitude of the students. Since its founding, almost all areas Cate have improved: academics, athletics, the campus, the food, the teachers. However, there is not the same learning, outdoorsy, exciting, happy atmosphere at the school that there used to be. I am not conforming to the “back in the day” syndrome; I wasn’t even alive at the time when I think Cate’s student livelihood was at its peak. But I have talked with many alumni, namely faculty members like Ned Bowler, who have confirmed my feelings about the attitude of Cate’s students. Back in the 70’s and 80’s, kids at Cate had a lot of fun. The Cate experience still has fun aspects, but intertwined with lots of stress, anxiety and confusion. Only the students can change the morale of the school.

3. Please edit the following passage: “Asking teachers familiar with the history of the school it was learned that the calendar already changed several times. When Cate started as Santa Barbara school the academic year consisted of three terms called trimesters. The year was broken into a fall winter and spring term with final exams concluding each one. Each examination period was followed by a two week long recess as vacation was referred to back then.”

“After asking teachers familiar with the history of the school, it was learned that the calendar has already changed several times. When Cate started, as the Santa Barbara School, the academic year consisted of three terms, called trimesters. The year was broken into a fall, winter, and spring term, with final exams concluding each. Every examination period was followed by a two-week-long recess, as vacation was referred to back then.”

4.  Please list your athletic and extracurricular commitments for next year.

 Water polo in the fall, surfing in the winter, and tennis in the spring. 

I am a day student, and hence am occasionally wanted at home (perhaps for dinner, or Shabbat on Fridays), however my schedule will be, for the most part, open.