Taking the ‘k’ Out of ‘Nike’
A Veteran NIE Director Looks Into the Mirror and Takes a Step Back. You Too May Have The Symptoms of the NIEer Syndrome.
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If you've forgotten what a lunch hour is, you may have NIEer syndrome, writes Kriss Johnson. |
Newspaper In Education. To outsiders it sounds so simple to put newspapers into the classroom. But let me tell you it gets in your blood. I live NIE. Sleep NIE. Dream NIE. Think NIE. Drive NIE. Play NIE. And of course, work NIE? All the time.
Fortunately I found a term for this "syndrome," as I read the book, Beep, Beep! by Chip R. Bell and Oren Harari. These authors didn’t say NIE specifically, but they described our NIE passion. They just call it "roadrunner passion." As I kept reading each chapter I substituted the word NIEer for roadrunner–especially in the part that reads: "The quest for a more elegant result or more novel solution propels ‘NIEers’ to be ever-inventive. ‘NIEers’ going outside the proverbial nine dots. They craft new solutions to old challenges. Simply put, they try stuff -- stuff that often violates conventional wisdom."
So true.
NIEers work hard to reinvent the newspaper industry for our future readers. There’s always so much to do. NIE doesn’t fit into a box. And don’t even think about putting the lid on the box. Oh no, with NIE you are usually outside the box creating and scheming on "How do I get, and keep, future newspaper readers?" And we keep driving towards major events such as ? What if the President of the United States, yes, George Bush, uses the words "Newspaper In Education" in his next speech?
After a decade–yes I started running with NIE in August of 1991–I’ve been repeatedly diagnosed by many outsiders as having "roadrunner passion" or newly named "NIEer syndrome." I’ve had to learn the hard way that I alone am not Mrs. NIE. I don’t own my local NIE program. It’s not a marriage, it’s a temporary roommate situation. When people say NIE out loud, that isn’t my name to respond to. But as many of you already know, stay an NIEer long and you’ll get the classic symptoms of the NIEer syndrome. These symptoms can flare up at any time. Do you have any of them or know someone with them?
Anyone who has been in NIE long gets the passion. If you can identify with four or more of the symptoms, then you can join the NIEer syndrome club. The cure can happen when a newspaper eliminates or cuts back on NIE. This is equal to cutting off one of roadrunner’s feet. NIEers are the "roadrunners." We are the people who want to understand the whole game, the whole company, the whole business–not just our job. So, roadrunners of the newspaper world, keep on runnin’. We are the cure.
Kriss Johnson, educational outreach manager, Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader, writes from her home on NIE Drive in Lexington.