A day in the life of the Wildcat newsroom

"Somebody dies tonight! This is beyond belief!" Editor in Chief David Cieslak growls loudly as he makes a mock threat at one of the reporters when he discovers an error in a story already scheduled for the next day's edition.

"It would be wise for me to kill the entire story. I'm going to have to run AP now," he says.

From another part of the room, "He won't call me back. I don't know why he doesn't want to talk to me," the reporter complains after trying to reach one of his sources.

Keyboards of the hot pink iMAC computers click and clack as reporters refine their stories before the 3 p.m. deadline.

Two police scanners chatter in the background of the newsroom activity.

The television airs the Yankees and Rangers as they battle to advance in the playoffs.

The phone rings.

A debates rages on between staffers, "Which one is prettier, Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera?"

"How many times do you wear a pair of shorts before washing them?" one staffer asks another.

The Wildcat newsroom, located at the west end in the basement of the Memorial Student Union, is as wire editor Josh McClain describes it, "organized chaos."

The place becomes a second home to many staffers.

They eat their dinners of pasta, nachos and other staples of Student Union dining off plastic trays and restaurant plates or out of Styrofoam boxes while sitting in front of the small television on the well-used, green sofa and matching chair.

This explains all of dirty dishes that everyone on the staff of 90 denies hiding in a desk drawer.

"We must eat 8,000 calories of pure fat each night," says assistant news editor Brett Erickson as staffers discuss their nightly eating habits during dinner.

Thursdays are "pasta night" because Perspectives Editor Dan Cassino always returns to help with paste-up bearing a pot full of pasta.

"Cassino just likes to cook, so he brings in pasta for us on Thursday nights," Cieslak says.

Plastering the walls are movie posters, photos of actors, musicians and sports, cartoons, an old Mylar balloon featuring He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and news clippings, such as "The Power of Yanni" and "I Think That Stripper Really Liked Me."

A giant, 3-foot deep, white sink that drips incessantly sits on the back wall.

Stacks of newspapers, magazines, computer printouts and notes sit everywhere, on the floor, on desks and on chairs.

The floor is covered with the gray of newsprint as copies of old issues fall and are not put back in the stacks. "This whole room is a fire waiting to happen," says Assistant Arts Editor Barry McGuire, as he looks around the room and points to the cracked, sagging ceiling tiles with wires dangling from them.

Five green file cabinets inscribed "morgue" create a wall separating Cieslak's desk, which is piled with newspapers, computer printouts and notes, from the rest of the room.

After deadline, Cieslak sits at his desk staring at the computer and reading his email, letters to the editor and the budget of stories for the next day's issue. He insists on reading all the copy before it is pasted up.

On most nights the Wildcat is "put to bed" around 2 a.m., but that is not always the case. For the semester's first edition, it took until 4:30 a.m. because it was 64 pages.

By 9 or 10 p.m. most of the reporters have gone home. Cieslak, Design Chief Jen Levario, the paste-up people and a few others are left to finish the paper.

They do get some days off. The editors have a meeting on Friday afternoons, but that is all they do on Fridays. Everyone is off on Saturdays. The newsroom is dead on Saturdays, says Cieslak.

The staff also takes time to relax during the night.

"The Hampster Dance," a web site featuring singing and dancing rodents, helps the staff unwind during a break from the evening's work. They play it on one of the computers while they dance around like the "Hampsters." Cieslak credits it with helping them to keep their sanity.

People have even been known to sleep in the newsroom. Cieslak admits he has spent more than one night on the sofa in the newsroom. After putting the paper to bed, there is still homework, and the sofa is more convenient than going home.