Brainerd Dispatch: News | Brainerd, Minnesota | Brainerd Lakes Area News on brainerddispatch.com

Home > NEWS >

Friday, November 13, 2009

E-mail

Forums

College paper editors know where they can find each other

By MIKE O'ROURKE

Associate Editor

In newspaper lore - think "The Front Page" movie - it wasn't unusual for cynical, alcohol-abusing reporters to show up at work seeing double.

Reporters at Central Lakes College's Westbank Journal know what that's like, but it's not from a big night on the town - co-editors Alex and Stacy Buscher are twins.

The industrious and well-read 18-year-olds wrote for the paper last year and when the editor post opened up they thought that by splitting the workload, the job would be manageable and any potential communication pitfalls could be overcome.

Alex (left) and Stacy Buscher talked this week about their roles as co-editors of the Central Lakes College's student newspaper, the Westbank Journal. The twin sisters are on track to graduate from the college and Brainerd High School this spring. Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
» Purchase reprints of this photo.

"This might be fun," Alex Buscher said, explaining her thought process.

"We certainly know how to work together," Stacy Buscher said. "When you live with the person it's very easy to contact them."

The young women live with their parents in Merrifield and are taking part in the Post-Secondary Enrollment Option program that allows high school students to take college classes.

They're on track to receive their associate of arts degrees from CLC shortly before receiving their Brainerd High School degrees as members of the class of 2010.

Alex Buscher

Age: 18.

Home: Merrifield.

Favorite authors: H.G. Wells, Kurt Vonnegut, T.H. White ("The Once and Future King"), and George Martin (a fantasy writer).

Comment on her science reading: "I just learn bizarre things. Science is mostly a hobby."

General reading interests: The classics, science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, quantum mechanics.

Newspaper reading habits: Dear Abby and Vox Pop, Fine Arts Student of the Week.

Stacy Buscher

Age: 18.

Home: Merrifield.

Favorite authors: Ralph Waldo Emerson, T.H. White and George Martin.

Comment: "I do like to read poetry. I like a whole lot of genres as long as there are good characters."

General reading interests: The classics, science fiction, fantasy.

Newspaper reading habits: "I love weird news. I sometimes read the police blotter."

They said that splitting the job as co-editors could be a problem if the two people weren't in sync with each other.

"It depends on how well the editors work together," Stacy Buscher said. "The communication has to be there. Otherwise I don't think it would work."

Both sisters are happy with their decisions to attend CLC as they finish out their high school years. Stacy Buscher said college students need to demonstrate more responsibility and she enjoys the more mature atmosphere. She recalled a recent trip by a group of high school students and noticed that trash was placed in the planters after they went through.

"It was wow, like back in high school," Stacy Buscher said.

"The atmosphere (in high school) is very cliquey," Alex Buscher said.

Also college teachers seem to show more of their personality, Alex Buscher said.

"These (CLC) teachers are teaching something they really care about," Stacy Buscher said.

As editors they occasionally have to prompt reporters about their assignments. The message of one e-mail, they said they sent was, "If anyone noticed, the Westbank Journal deadline was yesterday."

The two editors plan stories but are willing to be flexible if reporters come up with last-minute ideas.

"Sometimes they change their minds," Stacy Buscher said.

"As long as they submit something," Alex Buscher said. "We're not trying to look super professional. It's for fun."

Since the Westbank Journal is published only six times a school year, they don't try to get much breaking news into the paper. There is an online version of the newspaper but the Buschers don't have enough staff resources to constantly update it.

Both credit Mike Soderlund, CLC English instructor and newspaper adviser, with giving them sound advice and doing most of the layout work.

The first-place poetry winner in CLC's 2008-2009 Writing Awards, Stacy Buscher enjoys writing a light-hearted, informal advice column for the journal. One column offered tips on living positively.

The first-place winner in the Writing Award's fiction category, Alex Buscher said she likes to write about whatever is on her mind at that moment. One article was about a new Star Trek movie.

Neither of the Buscher twins has concrete plans to study journalism in college or pursue it as a career. Alex Buscher is considering studying business administration and marketing.

"I like doing it (journalism) as a hobby," Alex Buscher said.

"I'm open to it," Stacy Buscher said, although she said she was inclined to take a pre-med course of study.

They credit their mother with modeling the habit of being a voracious reader.

"Our dad hardly reads anything beyond a manual," Stacy Buscher said.

The two sisters share friends, reading tastes and sometimes respond in unison to a question. Occasionally, however, one sister is unable to track the thoughts of the other.

In a conversation this week Stacy Buscher racked her brain for the name of a concept the girls had learned in an economics class. Alex Buscher tried to help her but eventually gave up.

"I don't know where you're going with that," she told her sister.

Despite their positions as newspaper co-editors, neither one of the Buschers is an avid newspaper reader or has much interest in hard news. They prefer to listen to the headlines on the radio and not read in depth on the major stories found on most front pages.

"It's probably a bad habit," Stacy Buscher said.

MIKE O'ROURKE may be reached at mike.orourke@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5860.

Note: Comments are not edited and don't represent the views of The Brainerd Dispatch. Please read our posting rules in the terms of service policy. To report a post that may be inappropriate, click the triangle alert icon.