Those who have come to know me in the last four years know that I have had my heart set on being a journalist practically since day one. During those years people didn’t second guess me when I would be holding a camera while sitting in the stands at volleyball games, or how I would be on the sidelines at the football games. They would only have to look over and see me feverishly writing notes on the back of my math homework at any school event.
I remember signing up for Journalism freshman year because I wanted to see if being on the newspaper staff would be able to shake the desire to be a reporter out of me. Being the editor of the Perspecitves pages didn’t do it. However, as young and naive as I was freshman year, nothing really phased me in the process. I just thought it was cool to have my name in print and under “editor.” Plus it was nice to brag about all of the seniors I knew, especially those who thought I was a junior.
Nothing was as much of a thrill and a challenge as being Editor-in-Chief. As a sophomore, I really didn’t know anything about being the top in the staff hierarchy. I hardly knew the software. But I knew I would be up to the task and the rest of the staff stood behind me because it was clear I was most devoted to the paper.
There were hurdles in every issue that, as Editor-in-Chief, I learned to deal with. The King of Hearts center spread of 2006, for example, nearly killed me after I was here until 7:30 at night working on putting together the entire page and hoping our printer hadn’t given away our printing time.
It’s also been an interesting time to be involved in a newspaper, especially in Santa Barbara. After the News-Press meltdown during the summer of 2006, the responsibility of maintaining an accurate record of events not only at SBHS, but in Santa Barbara as well, became increasingly important. As a source of history, the media cannot play favorites and report simply on what the staff wants. Newspapers, especially this one, have a huge obligation to the community they serve.
It was also amazing to write a number of articles for The Forge. For example, I wrote about the director of Ray, Taylor Hackford, who is a graduate of SBHS. And I worked on the campaigns of four city council candidates in November to discover what it was like to knock on doors and call voters at dinner time.
Needless to say, after four years and 51 issues, including an issue I put together with incoming freshmen to teach them how to publish a Forge, I don’t think I’m free of the news bug. I’ve grown to live with deadlines. I’m used to being on the edge of a nervous breakdown every two weeks or so as we send the paper off to the printer. And there’s an incredible feeling when working under the pressure of angry section editors breathing down my neck waiting for a very overdue story.
At the end of last year someone wrote in my yearbook something along the lines of ‘you have a thankless job as the editor of The Forge but you’re really good at it.’ I’ll take that kind of complement even though I don’t really view being part of The Forge as a thankless position. Yes, it’s hard work. Each year’s staff has had personalities so full of quirks that Holden Caulfield would appear normal by comparison. And on certain days while trying to get an issue out, the tension between Danny and me would rival that of the Montagues and Capulets.
But I’m still a journalist at heart. As it turned out there were too many successes and too few follies and ego-crushing moments to destroy my passion for writing, photography, editing, and running a newsroom. I can’t say that five years from now I’ll be working off my student loans as a reporter for a daily news outlet, or that 50 years on I’ll be my generation’s Bob Woodward uncovering a Washington D.C. scandal. What I can say is that five or 50 years from now I can think about my stint at The Forge and know I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Zac Estrada Rosales
Perspectives Editor 2004-05
Editor-in-Chief 2005-07
News and Photo Editor 2007-08
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