Design philosophies (or philosopher)

I grew up with a father who loved to tell stories. He’d affect his accent, don hats and do just about anything to make my two younger sisters and me laugh and engage in his tales. I would always try to repeat his stories to my friends, but they would never have the same kind of nuance or cleverness they did when he told them – the most I could muster from my audience was a half-hearted laugh or embarrassed sigh.

Although I attend Mizzou, I grew up in Dallas and San Antonio. I am the first member of my extended family to attend an out-of-state school, more notably a big 12 school that isn’t the University of Texas. This really only poses a problem during the football season — especially since my sister goes to KU. We try to keep things as complicated as possible in the Baird household.

I was given a Montessori education until age 13, which really cultivated my sense of self and independence. After I received a scholarship to a small private high school, I moved from Dallas to San Antonio to attend Texas Military Institute (which of course is the logical progression after going to Montessori school). In both middle school and high school I was always involved in choir, drama and the school newspaper. I was drawn to the interactive and storytelling aspects of these activities – I loved the wisdom, humor and insight they allowed me to impart.

I decided to start my collegiate life at a small liberal arts school in San Antonio. I had no idea what I was doing and changed my area of focus several times – at one point I was even a costume design major. I left after my first year, unsure of what I wanted to do, or even what I wanted to study. I took a job at a law firm, and worked there as a filing clerk for six months – and was pretty unhappy. I knew I needed to get back to school as quickly as possible.

I had always loved writing, but I decided to pursue Journalism after speaking to my aging godmother in Virginia. She is an alumnus of the Missouri J-school (class of ’45), and told me that being a purveyor of the news had been an important part of her life, a job she called the “noblest of all professions.” Well I’m not one to argue with experience, and within three weeks, I applied, was accepted and headed off to a state and a school I knew nothing about. When I walked into the newsroom for the first time, there was no doubt in my mind that studying print journalism was a wise choice. The energy of the newsroom had a magnetic draw I never experienced with any of my other pursuits. This was it.

I have reached the point where I am in the newsroom more than I am at home. I decided on newspaper design because I love the broad view of the news I get to take – putting together, organizing, and presenting the news of the day. I still consider myself the newsiest of newshounds, but now I just look at it through a different lens. I stilll have no success at recanting my father's stories, but now I tell my own stories with the power of words, pictures and graphics.

Well, that might be getting a little lofty (and slightly cheesy), but my point is I know where I’m going and know why I love what I’m doing. I know I have a solid news philosophy and comprehension of effective writing, so it’s some of the software nuances I would like to work on – matering all of the wonderful Adobe products (InDesign, Illlustrator, Photoshop) as soon as possible, which I have discovered is much easier said then done. I’m excited about first job possiblities and different locations – and know that there is ALWAYS room to grow in the news business.