Posties cover fest season hour-by-hour to get an enjoyable story up quickly.
Fest season is an enjoyable experience for many. It marks the beginning of spring, the end of an academic year and the sole, appropriate excuse to loiter on strangers' lawns — an undeniably enjoyable past time for Ohio University students.
It's a little different for news reporters and photographers at The Post. Without fail, our staff members attend Milliron, Mill, High, Palmer Place, Palmer and Number Fests in pre-planned shifts, treating the "red cup season" as professionally as possible. They rotate by the hour, starting before many festgoers even arrive (11 a.m.) and leaving only when the police start shutting the street down (around 5 p.m.). This weekend and next are nice little breaks in between the non-stop coverage. Then, we're back to covering Palmer and Number fests.
Most of the time, Post reporters and photographers are there to document the partygoer experience. They're asking questions any good host might: Are you having fun? What have you been up to? What's your name?
Though a good host may not assume you're making up your name (I've asked for proof before after scribbling down some seriously false names in my reporter's notebook), or stop taking photos after you refuse to not look directly into the lens, likely while pointing or dragging your friends into the frame. We can only put up with so much, after all.
They're also on-call if they hear lights and sirens approaching, or see anything crazy go down. If you remember riots, fires, ambulances — we do too.
There's an obvious readership that appreciates what we're doing, whether that's live tweeting, reporting or taking photos. The proof is partially in the page views, we received a collective 18,502 pageviews on our fest coverage thus far.
So look out for our Post reporters when you're at Palmer Place or Palmer fests. Try your best to provide your real name, and don't point at the camera. Best yet, don't forget to read our coverage on thepostathens.com that night.
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Emma Ockerman is a junior studying journalism and editor-in-chief of The Post. Have a question for her? Email her at eo300813@ohio.edu or tweet her at @eockerman.
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