Editor in Chief

I received an e-mail last week demanding I release the names of the Collegian's Board of Opinion -- the group who writes the unsigned editorial statement about a newsworthy local or national issue each day on the opinion page.

It was one of the easier e-mails to answer. Simply check out the left-hand side of the page in the "Who we are" section or view our positions list online.

Under the guidance of the opinion editor, the 20-member board (fondly called "boo") meets once a week to take a stance on some of the most recent local and national controversies. What do we think about the student government's budgeting skills? Check yesterday's paper. Curious about Joe Paterno's salary? Find a Friday issue.

Like so much I write about on this blog, it's no simple feat attempting to find common ground for 20 different people with radically different perspectives and experiences. If I had a penny for each time someone said, "well, I / my relative / my friend experienced that and I / he / she said...," I would have a lot of pennies.

Plus, journalists are sticklers for historical facts and statistics. So it's not uncommon to have someone bringing up legislation from 1997 or a borough initiative from the 1980s. And though politics, money and culture are not the easiest topics to agree on, we have a great excuse sit around and argue on Sunday mornings. It's an exercise in tact and rhetoric.

But like many of you, we were getting tired as the final weeks of the semester approached. It wasn't hard to see. The debate wasn't as lively. The eyes weren't as wide. The comebacks were not as quick or witty. (Sorry, guys.)

So we tried a new tactic. We went to Panera Bread. We spiced up our weekly meeting by injecting our veins with potent coffee and ingesting healthy bagels. We hijacked Panera's super-secret conference room and eased into some chairs that were a bit more comfortable than our classroom's. We even got a laugh out of the garbage can clearly labeled with a "THIS IS NOT A GARBAGE" sign. (Sorry, Panera).

And the new environment did us well. Instead of sluggish, reluctant debate, we were more passionate and more upbeat. The news-nerd jokes flew around the room and we banged out some board consensus in record time. Then we took our coffees and bagels back to the newsroom and put out an excellent Monday paper.

So if harsh weather and harsh final exams have you a little out of sorts, try a change of scenery. Sometimes all you need a different coat of paint or a funny sign.

Editor's note: The Paper, a documentary about the 2004-2005 staff of The Daily Collegian will air at 10 p.m. Tuesday on PBS' Independent Lens series. For more information, check out the Web site.

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As reality television shows take over the airwaves, it seems like the only thing missing from programs across the country is exactly that -- a little reality.

Real life isn't set in Orange County, Calif., it doesn't feature meaningful advice from a talk show host and it boasts very few clear-cut winners.

Usually sticking a camera into real life morphs it into something that falls short of "real" in favor of the ever profitable "dramatic." (Unless, of course, we're talking about Planet Earth, the Discovery Channel nature documentary series narrated by Sigourney Weaver, where the East African wildebeests are never starstruck.)

In the television era of The Hills, Temptation Island and Hogan Knows Best, it's no wonder the notion of reality TV makes most of us hastily stutter "no comment."

So when independent filmmaker Aaron Matthews approached the staff of The Daily Collegian four years ago about creating a documentary focusing on the paper's daily struggles, I can't help but think some must have been a little hesitant.

But regardless of their uncertainty, they opened up our little newsroom to Matthews and his camera for the entire year. Despite all my doubts, Matthews was able to capture a little reality in our Burrowes Street newsroom -- especially the one thing that so many others seem to overlook: how bad we care.

Here, circulation is more than a number. Feedback is more than a letter to the editor. And stories and sources make up more than 15 inches of newsprint.

It's hard to have a camera open the place you love to public judgment and criticism -- especially on the large scale it will Tuesday night. Though I was a lowly freshman at the time and a prolific extra (yes, Mom, I really did spend that much time here), I didn't agree with every decision reached by the Collegian management. But it's hard to second-guess people that I respected and admired so much, particularly because I have not faced the same hurdles and challenges they did.

So tune in at 10 tonight to watch The Paper on PBS and prepare for much more reality on TV than you are accustomed to. Whatever the verdict, we'll be here in the basement of the James Building, working on the next day's edition and laughing at our bad haircuts and unfashionable outfits.

Just don't be too harsh, OK? Really, how often do journalists get to be movie stars?