AKhan for News

*this baby AKhan may or may not have grown up into a soon-to-be 21 year-old

I am a second-year journalism and human rights major with a lot of experience in writing, french press coffee, book recommendations, and general awesomeness. I also appreciate the oxford comma. Ive been writing for the Charlatan for the past two years and have contributed to everything but photos and sports (not that I havent tried *coughcough* ERIKA *cough*). I got involved by stammering anxiously at then-news ed Andrew Nguyen and writing a terrible and totally lame piece, but this quickly evolved into a second totally rad piece about the Ottawa Zombie Walk. Since then Ive contributed frequently and made my face recognisable in the office. I guest edited the news section with Jess Chin for the first five issues of volume 41 when I filled in for Jane Gerster (she peaced out to rule the world for a summer). Without being entirely ego-centric, I think I did a good job. Since then Ive only gotten more experience, a better handle of InDesign, ledes, and politely e-mailing Runte. I love the Charlatan and the News section. I love that news just happens and its our job to make sure that our student body stays informed and that we provide them with the most accurate and well written account of what happened. I know that this position leaves people slightly psychotic, extremely under-slept and with a slight alcohol dependency. But I also know the satisfaction of a first time volunteer piecing together their first story, the beauty of a clean layout, and how good that beer tastes knowing you worked yourself silly for a good reason. I want to share my passion of news with volunteers and make this section the best its been.

At le news desk . . .
J&J have done a pretty BA job of some things and Id love to keep them going. I dig the post-production e-mails, news briefs, vastly improving layouts, live tweeting, timelines of ongoing events, and tons of coverage. Things Id like to add? More use of online tools like storify, interactive timelines, and photo galleries. We all like to click buttons. We all like short sentences. We all like our own opinion. We all like to bitch about other peoples opinions. Altogether good times and effective tools. More analytical pieces after large stories or ongoing events, not only summing up what happened, but why it happened. People like critical articles and I think it would get different writers in. It would take a lot of work to make pieces that werent running a bias, but it would be worth the work and writers would be so proud to have those pieces. Diversifying coverage! Oh man, 18 people I dont care about got awesome awards - dont write a sucky brief about it, profile someone. So-and-so is visiting Carleton for blah-blah-blah? Lets do pre-visit Q&As. Q&As are awesome and I read them every single time in every single section because they are so freaking cool and more interesting. You probably do too. Just saying. More awesome.* *Cats.

The hair, the sweater - I am clearly fearless

Other Qualifications
1. I live within walking distance from CU 2. I have a cat (see right) 3. I have experience spending the night in the Charlatan office 4. Im approachable and can keep calm and carry on 5. I once lived in the Caribbean 6. I came to dancedancedance 7. I once won a spelling bee 8. I have seen the scary parts of Reddit 9. I use Google Chrome 10. I promise no ponies 11. Once I met Albert Einstein

Vera Lynn aka Yoshimi aka Cat is voting Adella Khan for News Editor. You should too.

Volunteers make the world go round

A volunteer based newsroom
Volunteers make the Charlatan so we should make it a space where they feel welcome and enjoy themselves. I think the newsroom is already a pretty fun space, but I think people need to put their professional hats on in the newsroom. The conversations had shouldnt be able to provide fuel for our downfalls, editors shouldnt openly fight with each other, volunteers shouldnt walk into people yelling and arguing - the newsroom should be a fun and productive space for everyone. Clearly everyone gets frustrated but tempers shouldnt always be so high. The atmosphere of the office and experience of volunteers definitely need to be more positive. By making a positive environment and supporting our volunteers through workshops, one-onone help, and a focussed post mort, volunteers can be comfortable enough to pitch story ideas, tell us any of their concerns, and know they can talk to us about edits made to their work.

I met Alby at Madame Tussauds in NYC. Thoughtful conversations made for a lovely day.

Workshops are ballin bros

I love that News held a couple of workshops this year! Id really like to expand on these and keep them happening as much as possible. I think workshops do a kick ass job of getting volunteers involved and in the office, and teaching them to write better! Id like to host a how to write for news workshop in the first month of each semester, as well as workshops on how to write ledes, do interviews, and do research. I understand that these are all skills journo kids learn in second year, but a good deal of volunteers are in first year. Besides, LSweet and Norma telling us how to do something and doing an article no one but your prof will ever see, is 1,000x different than writing something that will actually be in print. In terms of how to get people to actually go to these workshops I have only one thing to say: if you book them, they will come.* *That is to say, get other sections involved in promoting this. I never hear news from other sections and I think we should all add tidbits onto our mailing list newsletters - itll def help hit a larger base of people. Also, treats. And being generally awesome.

Lets make post mort delicious!

Post mort needs to change in a big way. Post mort shouldnt be about layout, issues editors had, or quickly running over the stories that week. I really think these things can be addressed at ed staff. Post mort should be about the writers and photographers coming in to talk about their stories and having an hour to shine. It should be fun. Its 5 p.m. on a Thursday and a weeks work is done. People should be stoked to talk about their stories, have their volunteers come out and really get to interact with everyone at the Charlatan. And if peeps can bring food every week for ed staff, why not bring treats to post mort? I understand how challenging it can be to get writers to come out, but I think when we involve new volunteers we should tell them that post mort is meant for them to talk about their experiences. By making it a fun part of the volunteer experience I think we can actually get people to come out.