CECI HEINEN: Hello everybody. This is Ceci Heinen from the Minnesota Daily, and you are listening to In the Know, a podcast dedicated to the University of Minnesota. 

Today we are bidding farewell to our lovely editor-in-chief and managing editor Alexis Letang and Sam Hill. Hello you guys. 

ALEXIS LETANG: Hello. 

SAM HILL: Howdy. 

HEINEN: How are you feeling?

LETANG: I’m ready.

SAM HILL: Yeah. Yeah. Super hyped to pass everything over.

HEINEN: Yeah. And both of you guys are seniors. You’re both graduating this semester, correct?

LETANG: Yes.

HILL: Yes.

HEINEN: Okay. How are we feeling about graduation?

LETANG: Kind of ready.

HILL: I think I am super ready to get outta here. That being said, I had like so much fun at The Daily with everyone. It’s gonna be really weird seeing like Tyler take over everything.

LETANG: Yeah.

HEINEN: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I agree. Well, you guys have had quite the year. As we all know, and I’m sure you’ve talked about it a lot, but I’d like to start kind of just talking to each of you about your time at The Daily in general. 

So could you both kind of start from like when you first got hired, Alexis, maybe I’ll start with you. Like when you first got hired, the different positions you’ve had leading up to being editor-in-chief.

LETANG: Yeah, so I transferred to the University of Minnesota, 2023. I applied to The Daily. I became a campus reporting intern, focusing mostly on admin. And then that fall I switched to A&E just because I wanted to be able to have time to get acclimated to school and being at a different school. 

Then that was for a semester, and then January, 2024, I was Arts and Entertainment, A&E, desk editor. I did that for a year before becoming editor-in-chief.

HEINEN: Nice. Sam? 

HILL: Yeah, so I also transferred over. I was, I went through Army training and then I got into the U as a transfer student. Started as an investigative reporter, which was really lucky.

I think managing team, Maddie Roth, Alex Steil, they were pretty cool. They set me on some cool stories and I really like got into the whole Daily thing. Took a little bit of time off to freelance. I would always like, be like, “Oh, I’m gonna quit this job, like, this sucks in so much hours.” 

And I think every time I left I was like, “Yo, I really miss like all the, all the reporting, like all the people.” And then, or I guess I, I applied to be EIC with Alexis. 

LETANG: Yeah. 

HILL: And I think I, I just kinda like shot for it and yah w e became the leadership team. At first it was like, “Oh, like I, I didn’t really hang out with all the editors prior to last year, like will we get along?”

But I think the culture was really cool. I think we did a lot of work that like we’re proud of.

LETANG: Yeah.

HEINEN: Yeah. Well, you guys have done a lot of work that you should be proud of. Going into that, looking back at this year being leadership, especially during a very like up and down kind of insane year, could you both kind of talk about like well, you, we were saying before this interview, like your first week was even like crazy because it was the week that there was the shooting at the Wayzata graduation at Mariucci.

LETANG: Yeah.

HEINEN: And so could you talk a little bit about like transitioning into that leadership role and like what it was like for you and then later this year how you kind of dealt with so many like challenges?

LETANG: Yeah, like you said, my like first week. Again, with like a mostly new team because all the editors last year graduated was the shooting at the high school graduation. And that was like the first breaking news story I had to do like while being in charge. 

And I kind of thought I had to be the one to go out and report it because I didn’t know who was on campus. So that was like one of the first times where I was like, “Oh, I need to be. In one place while people are out reporting.” 

So I can, one, make sure everyone’s okay. But then also upload. Because at the time Sam was doing ROTC things.

HILL: I was about to fly out.

LETANG: Yeah.

HILL: Like six hours pre flying out. 

HEINEN: Oh boy. 

LETANG: Yeah.

HEINEN: So it was just you, Alexis.

LETANG: Yeah. So, and that was like for a good portion of the summer, Sam was like off the grid doing ROTC things. So., it was just like a transition that I had to make kind of by myself. But I think it also like helped just that I knew like what to do. So when Sam did come back, I could just say, “Hey, this is how I’ve been doing it. This is what you need to do.”

HEINEN: Mm-hmm.

LETANG: And I think that dynamic has worked out for us so far.

HEINEN: Sam, what was like the management transition like for you?

HILL: I will definitely second what Alexis said, in which that like the responsibility of being the student paper and having access to like those thousands of students was like very overwhelming at first.

I remember like the first breaking newsletter I had to do and like breaking news story that like we assigned, I was like at the Rec Well and I was like placing calls and sending emails because we didn’t have enough reporters like focusing on it. And when someone finally got stuff in and we finally like posted the thing correctly and it immediately went out to the whole campus. Like we had an immediate correction request. 

It was, oh, it was with the Teamsters. I think it was like the Teamsters vote wasn’t technically confirmed, even though like a source confirmed it sort of, but we put out the wrong information in that we said the teamster strike was happening before it was happening and everyone was like, “Yo, like this is terrible. Like you can’t do this.” And of course the Teamsters strike ended up happening the next day.

LETANG: Yeah.

HEINEN: Yeah.

HILL: But it was like, “Oh that was, that was my bad.” Like I should have checked that over. 

LETANG: I was at the Star Tribune, because I did the practicum the in fall. So I was at the Star Tribune and it was first day at the Star Tribune for the practicum.

And I’m just like, I’m like getting emails from people and I’m like, okay, I can’t focus on this right now. Sam got a taste of like what I had to deal with, like when he was gone I couldn’t do anything, so it balanced out, I think.

HEINEN: Yeah, that’s really interesting to hear about kind of how you were just like thrown into the fire on a lot of things. I’m curious, I’ve been curious about this all year. Mainly for you Sam, but also for your Alexis like, how do you guys balance the workload on top of like you doing the practicum at the Star Tribune, you being in like ROTC, which is a huge time commitment, like how have you found the balancing of the workload and like, I guess, how has your school and life just like shifted with this position?

LETANG: I think Sam can go first. 

HEINEN: Yeah, you got it. You got it.

HILL: Yeah. Well, I gotta say, I think it is a lot of stars aligning and being able to fall into a routine that works for you. But I remember at the beginning of the semester, I was like, I would be like editing, like on the way to other things. 

And I had like a whole plan in my head for like when I would fall asleep and how much time I would spend when I would get home, like doing homework. And I think there is a certain level of like unsustainability to like really like intense schedules.

But I, I will definitely say for any like reporters or future EICs out there, don’t be afraid to like delegate tasks and don’t half-ass multiple things because you will get burnt out.

LETANG: Yeah. I mean, for me to say I balanced it would be not fully truthful. For me The Daily was just like just always on my mind. Like even doing homework, it was like doing homework. I’m like, “Okay, I need to do the newsletter after this. I need to do this.” I’m like checking my phone and make sure like nothing’s happening.

If I get an email from the university, I’m like, do we need to report on this? Is it a big thing? Things like that. I didn’t really find like a schedule or balance until like, honestly, this semester where it was like just like, this is when I’m gonna do Daily stuff. I’m gonna work on it for this long, then switch to homework and then switch back.

Because the way my, the way everything worked for me, I needed to like, so like for the newsletter, I refuse to wake up early and do the newsletter. I would just make sure it’s done before I go to sleep. I’m not waking up at like five to finish it so it gets out in the morning. You kinda learn to prioritize like what’s important to you.

And for me it’s just like The Daily probably was my biggest priority just because I’ve been here since I started at the U. It was just like that was what was important and like I always knew that homework. Homework was gonna be there. And like also most of the time I could just get the homework done before the deadline.

So I just, I kind of winged it for balance. I just kind of got things done and hoped for the best. Worried about it later. Wouldn’t recommend doing that. Try to have a loose schedule. I just kind of winged it.

HEINEN: I think it’s hard for us too at The Daily, because our hours are not set. I think, I mean, we have our editing time from like five to seven, whatever, but apart from that, it’s kind of like very fluctuating all the time.

And kind of leads me into talking a little bit more about like specifically this January, February. Um, I know it was a little, it was a little weird for us because we were technically off when a lot of stuff was going down in Minneapolis because we take winter break off since we’re students. And I’m just curious to know about how you two were feeling like during Operation Metro Surge.

Like did you have any moments where you were like, “Oh my God, like I can’t believe I’m leading people through this.” Can you just tell me how that felt for you guys?

LETANG: For me it was, I kind of had that thing. Before the surge like really started or like just as it was starting, it was right before winter break and it’s like Friday.

I like, I get an email from someone at Boyton saying that they saw like a man possibly being detained and I’m like, “Oh, this is happening at the end of the semester. This can’t be good for the rest of the semester or the next semester.” 

And I was in Milwaukee while, while when Renee Good was killed, and so it was like part of me wanted to do something and just be like. We should write something, we should get something out. But I’m like, it’s like I had to, at that time, I chose to just be like, I’m gonna let people have their break, because I knew it wasn’t, there was going to be more, it was unfortunately going to be more opportunity like not opportunities, but more times for us to cover big things like this. 

And, and people were going to the vigils and I’m like, this is the beginning of the year. I’m not going to push reporters to do this right now when it’s like, this is terrifying for everyone. Like, so it was just like kind of forcing reporters to like balance. Like and take care of themselves because it was winter break and everyone had worked so hard anyways.

HEINEN: Sam, how would you say you felt during that time?

HILL: Yeah, I’d say I, I agree with a lot of those sentiments. I would say we had great support from like The Daily staff and like one thing really positive about like your leadership style was you were able to like see that everyone was like pretty locked in and like willing to report, but you were also like realistically like we are students, we can’t talk about everything.

And I think those two things combined, like I think the whole newsroom was able to like reckon with like the emotional impact of the surge and how draining it was. But also like we had a plan to get things done and desks had areas that they were focusing on and even prior to break, like we all kind of understood that the surge was going to happen, like based on those immigration agents that were like starting to come to school.

So I also think the reporters. Just did a great job of like taking the initiative, like knowing what they could and couldn’t cover. We had people who, I wouldn’t by any stretch of the imagination say that they’re most like hustly, like go-getter reporters, but they were like going out there. 

They were doing great work. They were giving it their all, and I’m just like really proud of the newsroom for getting past it all.

LETANG: Yeah. Especially the day of the, the day Pretti was shot. That was, yeah, that was just a, it was a full day thing. Like it was also right after we had our like meeting about like. 

HEINEN: Everything. 

LETANG: Okay. Take your like, this is what we’re doing. This is our safety plan. This is what we’re like, this is how you’re gonna take care, like try to take care of yourself. And literally that weekend, I wake up Saturday, 9:00 a.m. I get a text from Tyler and I’m like. I’m like, what? 

And I’m like, at first I’m like, what are we talking about? And I’m like, not processing the information, like happening. And I’m like, just give me five minutes to like wake up and, and then I’m like, oh my God. And so it was just like go time from like nine, I didn’t stop editing until seven. 

And that was a day where we had Maya Bell, our city, one of our city reporters at a city council meeting or like where Frey was speaking. And then, Sophia jumped in, like watched like the. 

HILL: The O’Hara’s I’m pretty sure. 

LETANG: Yeah. And it was just like, we had so many people watching the press conferences and like writing about it and editing it while I was also, we had Tyler and Isabella out on the scene.

HILL: Getting near gassed.

LETANG: Yeah.

HILL: With like Charlie and Seth.

HEINEN: Yeah. 

LETANG: And, and they were there and I’m like, grateful they were there because they were like able to find them and do that. But it was just like, there were so many people out that day and I, it was like stressful because I’m like, one, I go to school with these people, I see them in classes and are like, we’re all generally like friends or acquaintances. We know each other. 

So I’m like fear for the safety of like for them as my reporters and someone in charge, but also like people that I’m friends with that I know. And so it was just like, a day, and I didn’t stop editing until like 7:00 p.m. and even then it was like it was the vigils. 

And I think that part is, yeah, it was the vigils after that people were writing about it was the photo. Like I had photographers going out and it was just, it was a difficult day, but it was also one of the days that like the newsroom, very much like.

HILL: Locked in. 

LETANG: Yeah. Like they did the damn thing. I’m gonna be so honest. There should be no doubt that we can handle things, especially after the day of Pretti, because would like to add, we’re college students and we spent a Saturday, our only day off doing that.

HEINEN: Yeah.

LETANG: So. 

HEINEN: I spent that day running around Dinkytown looking for ICE. Because there was also someone who had texted and was like, ICE is in Dinkytown. And I was like, oh my God. Like I’m out here like with my phone. But I never found them. But like, yeah, that day was. Yeah.

LETANG: It was, yeah, it was a day.

HEINEN: Yeah. That makes me think about too, like at a very like smaller level, I’ve like very much so feared for the safety of my reporters whenever they went out to protests or whatever and just like constantly wanting to be in touch and like knowing that they’re okay and they’re okay because I’d feel so guilty if something happened.

And I imagine for you guys, like the whole newsroom is kind of on you, like, you know, all of us. And there’s what, like 50 of us in editorial? There’s a lot of people in editorial. 

LETANG: Yeah.

HEINEN: And so like, what was that like? You know, did you feel just like crazy fear or like, how’d you manage that?

HILL: I think there’s only like so much you can do. There was definitely some like, oh no, you need to take a press vest. Like you need to take the saline or whatever.

But I think like besides like check-ins, you just gotta like trust that they know what’s going on, make sure they get the training out the door. And then they’re adults, you know, they have to handle everything themselves.

HEINEN: Mm-hmm.

LETANG: Well, that’s Sam’s perspective. Sam and I have a very yin and yang kind of dynamic. I’m a bit more intense when it comes to that. So like when I sent people out, I said, you, it was not like, please check in or please make sure, it was you need to be checking in with someone like you need to check in with either me or your editor.

Use this group chat to check in with people. I need to know you’re safe. There were times where I was like, like I called Tyler when he was out there. I was like, he goes, “Yeah, we got tear gassed.” 

I’m like, “Dude, you need to leave.” And he’s like, “Well, we can’t.” I’m like, okay. So I’m like texting Charlie and Seth. I’m like “Can you find them?” 

Like every time I wanted them to be safe. It was not like a, oh, be safe. It was like, no, you need to be safe or else it was like, I’m the youngest child, but this job made me feel very much like an older sibling where it’s like, no, you need to do this, or I’m going to be upset at you because you did something stupid.

And so that’s, it was just, for me, it was a more intense feeling of like, they’re my responsibility. So I’m like, just, you need to do this. It’s not, I’m not asking.

HEINEN: Yeah, I mean, it reflects on you guys, so I get that. Regardless, you know, Operation Metro Surge was a time for all of us, but like you guys said, I think the newsroom as a whole, all departments really pulled through and we covered it really well.

But, kind of going away from that into some of the other crazy stuff that happened this year. A lot of like big campus events went down, two of which were pretty scary shootings and The Daily was right on top of those, covering those. So can you guys just also kind of like for listeners break down, like, you know, a shooting happens, how do we handle that? What is our breaking news procedures like?

LETANG: I think it depends on the shooting, like when we find out about it. So the one that was on campus, I can’t remember the organization, but it was Rapson.

HILL: Somali Student Association.

HEINEN: It was Somali Student Association

LETANG: Yeah, Somali student. That one, it was sending people out, but making sure they had gear because we didn’t know what else. And it was kind of like, it was a bit more spontaneous. 

It was like, okay, we need someone there to talk to people, but also pay attention, keep your head on a swivel and just like get those quotes down. And the SafeU alert had already went out by that time. So it was also like we weren’t necessarily rushing to get like just like this happened, it was like this happened and a bit like a little bit of context, so it was a bit different. 

But I also know that in that scenario, Sam was closer to campus than I was. So Sam kind of took the lead with reporting and he was there helping with the reporter at the time. So he could also probably speak a bit more to that.

HILL: Yeah, it’s like, it’s totally dependent on when we find out about the shooting. In this case, I think we got the initial alert like half an hour before it happened or like people were tracking pretty immediately. And the reporter on the grounds, he was already pretty close with like the Somali Student Organization and like had a lot of friends.

So he was able to like get some unbiased perspectives. Generally like you have people who are emailing, like the public safety officials who have like police reports, but you’re also like getting bystander reports, doing the stuff like counting cars, getting timestamps. 

Once you like verify everything, that’s when you just put it in a doc and publish it. And I think that process probably took like an hour.

LETANG: Yeah.

HILL: An hour or two.

LETANG: Yeah.

HEINEN: That’s pretty fast.

LETANG: Yeah. Versus the, the one Halloween that ones different because it was like, we found out through, I think the editor’s chat. 

HEINEN: Mm-hmm. 

LETANG: Um, I think Owen texted was like, “Hey, there was a shooting in Dinky.” Yeah.

HEINEN: Well, well, we, like, I was there like 30 minutes before it happened.

LETANG: Yeah, A lot, A lot of people were.

HILL: Or an hour before.

HEINEN: Well everyone, it was Halloween, it was Halloween. Everyone was out. 

HILL: Yeah. No one knew.

HEINEN: And yeah, it was crazy.

LETANG: Yeah, so that was crazy. It was like 2:00 a.m. and it was like, it was, we didn’t get anything out until the morning. But the thing with that one was that there was no SafeU alert that went out, which.

HILL: It was a Dinkytown alert.  

LETANG: It was a Dinkytown alert, which, you know.

HEINEN: Okay.

LETANG: But that was different because in that case we were like, the event had already happened, so we had a bit more time to get information, verify it. And so like even though it happened after, it was still a breaking news situation because the campus didn’t know.

HEINEN: Didn’t yeah.

LETANG: And then it was even, it was showed in the comments. It was like comments were like, “Well, why wasn’t a thing sent out about this? Is it an actual alert sent out about this?” But it was still breaking news situation it’s just like when things happen overnight. 

We don’t say, oh, we can publish this tomorrow, but we we’re just like working to be like, okay, let’s reach out to people. Let’s, it’s like more of a quick turnaround story rather than a regular breaking news. But we still felt the need to send the alert because people didn’t know.

HEINEN: Well, I think so many people, so many people I talked to like found out from The Daily and then they were like, “Oh my God, I was right there.”

LETANG: Yeah.

HEINEN: And then that’s how they found out that there was even a shooting and that a Minnesota, University of Minnesota student was shot.

LETANG: Yeah.

HEINEN: And so yeah, I think that case The Daily was really, it was good that we did, yeah, that one. But kind of more general questions now, just about your time here. 

So both of you, you were on A&E before this, you were an investigative. Can you both tell me a little bit about your own story that you’ve written, that you’ve been proudest of, or that you thought has just been your absolute best work here?

HILL: Actually, I did it while I was managing editor. It was when a violin teacher was removed from the vigil just because she wore a shirt that said like, “ICE out.”

LETANG: Mm. On the back.

HEINEN: Mm-hmm.

HILL: On the back of it. And I think it just like came together really fast and it was a good read and it was, it’s like one of my few stories that I can look back on and be like, “Oh, that actually like reads well.” Well, you know what I mean? As a reporter it would be critical.

HEINEN: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

HILL: But it was just like the small details, like the violin piece that she was playing and like the anecdotal lead, like “What does one wear to the memorial of a killing?”

LETANG: Yeah.

HEINEN: And that was another story that no one knew about that until we published it. And then everyone was like, did you hear about that? And I’m like, yeah, actually I know.

HILL: Actually, yeah. If I can just say like, shout out to all of the professor plugs who will like email us with good story ideas and connect us with people because I would’ve never gotten that story if it wasn’t for, I don’t remember. I think it was maybe a geography professor.

HEINEN: Wow. Yeah. Shout out.

LETANG: For me it depends just because I went from reporter to editor really quick, so I didn’t get like as much writing in as most people do before they’re like in a leadership role. I think one of my favorite ones was, I mean, I interviewed Kathy Griffin, which is pretty cool.

But then I think my favorite was, I did a story about Minnesota bands that consists of family members. I was at a concert and they were like, oh, there’s like the two acts that were performing. They were siblings. And I was like, oh, that’s cool. I’m like, I wonder how that works. So I reached out to them after and just kind of said, well, how do you manage this? Because like sibling dynamics are sibling dynamics. 

HEINEN: Mm-hmm.

LETANG: But it’s also like you’re trying to make music together. You’re trying to collaborate on a project so you’re adding another layer. I think I was just like a fun idea that I had. I just kinda liked that one because it was fun and.

HEINEN: I like that. I should go, I’ll go back and read that. So other than like stories you’re proud of, I guess if you were to kind of just put into a sentence of like your time this year in your leadership position, what have you felt like you’ve loved and you’ve been super happy with, and then what have you felt like you could have done better or you wish you’d kind of done more of?

HILL: I think the thing I’ve been like happiest about and also like most displeased about is like what you can do to like help reporters succeed. Because like some of our reporters, like one of the investigative reporters, Anshu, basically went to like journalism Harvard, like the Star Tribune based on like her work here.

And like it was a really great feeling to be able to like point her in the directions of the resources The Daily has and kind of watch her take off from there. But then on the other hand, you’ll be like giving resources to people and like trying to like push them to like do stuff and sometimes like that isn’t always the case where you aren’t really in a position to motivate people in your area.

And sometimes, I don’t know, it’s just kind of like a disappointing feeling.

LETANG: Yeah. I think for me, I’ll start with like something that I wish I could have done better. For me, it was like checking in a bit more than I did, which is like possibly me just being like nitpicky on myself, but it’s like checking in with like reporters, editors as much as I can just because that was something I prioritize as like a desk editor.

But I also realized when you are in charge of 40 to 50 people, you can’t control that. And I think also just like kind of being willing to delegate some tasks to people and like ask for like, just to see if they’ll do it and if they don’t like accepting like, okay, I asked and so I can just then not forcing myself to take things on, but also asking people before I like decide that I’ll just do it myself.

One thing I am proud of though I think my leadership skills have grown. I think I have kind of found a way to like kind of be assertive, which I was before, but like assertive in a role and like kind of also dealing with different people’s personalities and how they interact with my personality and like not afraid of being in charge and kind of pushing past that fear of kind of being like, like as a woman in workplace, you don’t want to be like that person like that woman.

But being in charge, I was like, I’m gonna be that person and I’m going to continue to be that person because that is genuinely who I am. I don’t, I’m an assertive person. For the most part, and I have ideas and I’m not like afraid to share them. So I think it’s just like a confidence that I’ve built, like being in this role.

But then also I’m proud of just like The Daily made it through, like everything. We didn’t really mess up like super, super bad, which is my number one fear going in. I’m like what if this all just…

HILL: Crumbles.

LETANG: Yeah, crumbles.

HILL: We lose all our funding.

LETANG: Yeah. But it was like, it was fine.

HEINEN: Something I’ve noticed being an editor is that I kind of really want after this position to take a break from managing people. Just because I found it to be very hard and also when you’re so young, like I feel like I’m not totally there yet, but I’m curious about you guys managing way more people than I did. 

What have you learned about yourself and also has this made you feel like you want to continue to be in managerial kind of leadership places, or do you want to just be like a cog in the machine for a little while?

You know what? That’s how I feel. I just wanna be like, I just wanna be told what to do, you know? 

LETANG: No, I get it. For me, I ideally, I would take a break from being in a managing position and luckily for me, I’m coming outta college, so entry level positions are where it’s at, so I’m gonna be probably forced to. 

However, I’m also very aware of who I am as a person, and I, I can’t help myself. I’d like to not necessarily be in charge of things, but like help things get done and like allow, like help out people so they can do their job. Part of me, I, I can’t help myself, so I wouldn’t be surprised if I. 

HEINEN: Yeah, it’s intrinsic. Yeah. I mean, like, I think a lot of us, like you guys and a lot of the editors are just like natural leaders. 

LETANG: Yeah. 

HEINEN: And so you kind of gravitate towards that. But what about you?

HILL: I appreciate that, Well, I am going into a leadership position immediately after college. 

HEINEN: Oh boy.

HILL: U.S. Army as an officer. But I will say. I do kind of feel like a cog when I’m in a leadership position. It’s just like more of like a, you’re a cog that talks to more people to get things done. You know?

LETANG: You’re talking cog.

HILL: Yeah, yeah. You’re always gonna be a cog, but I think like.

HEINEN: Yeah, capitalism. Yeah.

HILL: Yeah. Like being in like a position where you get to talk with people and make sure they’re all on board. I think that’s like really gotten me through like a lot of like the boring tedium, both in ROTC and here, you know? 

Because if you can, like doing a shitty task is fine, but like doing a shitty task with other people, like that’s like peak human existence.

HEINEN: Yeah, true. 

HILL: So, I don’t know. I, it’s gonna suck either way. Like might as well, like have some people to talk to, you know?

HEINEN: I mean that’s a pretty optimistic perspective, I think. Yeah. I’m curious too about with you specifically, like Alexis, you’re probably gonna go after this, try to go into journalism, but you’re going into the U.S. Army. Thank you for your service. 

HILL: Oh my God, thank you so much for your support.

HEINEN: Yes, of course. So, personal curiosity, are you sad that you won’t be getting to really do journalism or are you gonna try to find like some sort of journalistic thing inside the army like or is it just kind of until you’re done and then you’ll pursue journalism?

HILL: Still feeling it out? Tyler invited me to his like channel five esque YouTube project, if that ever takes off. But I think, you know, I’d always be willing to do more journalism, always fun to hang out and talk to people. And you know.

HEINEN: For now it’s just Army though, in the future?

HILL: For at least six months. Yeah.

HEINEN: Yeah. If you guys could both talk a little bit about, you know, what’s next for you after The Daily, and if you don’t have anything planned, like, dream job coming out of this. Where do you dream to work someday?

LETANG: This sounds bad. I don’t really, like, there’s no dream job, like necessarily, there’s no dream place to work just because I, every time I read a story, I’m not really looking at the outlet all the time. I’m looking at the story. 

That’s just how I consume things, but. If I could get back into like, not necessarily any, but like, I like covering community events. I like covering what people in communities are doing. So that’s just the route I wanna go. Just I like smaller newsrooms. I don’t really. But I don’t really like the big newsroom or the corporate atmosphere. I, it just stresses me out even though they do have a lot of free food there. 

HILL: True. Good food. 

LETANG: But yeah, that’s where I’m like hoping to end up just kind of not in broadcast because I don’t like talking on camera or being recorded.

HEINEN: Oh!

LETANG: Yeah, I know.

HEINEN: Well, you’re in the podcast, so.

LETANG: Yeah.

HEINEN: Kind of can’t avoid it.

LETANG: So just doing things like that, but I’m just kind of hoping to be employed. That’s the. 

HEINEN: There you go. That’s the goal.

LETANG: That’s the bar right now. Just employment.

HEINEN: Yeah.

LETANG: So. Please hire me.

HEINEN: Plug.

HILL: I hope they’re listening.

HEINEN: Sam?

HILL: Oh, dream job. I think a job where I would get to have lots of fun and talk to people. I applied to some federal jobs, but I don’t know. I think any career would be fun as long as I get to learn things and have my family in close proximity and get to run a lot.

HEINEN: Good for you. I kind of have only like a few more questions. Just as like a wrap up. First talking away from jobs and all that impending doom, what what, what would you guys say is your best memory from the daily?

LETANG: My memories typically come from. So the editorial staff, they, they go on, it’s like a college media conference and those are where my best memories have come from.

As Arts and Entertainment desk editor, I was in New Orleans with the other desk editors like Halloween. So that was fun. It was like in like, yeah, the, the sessions were cool and informative, things like that, but it was also like first semester, so you get to really like. Bond with the editors and kind of get to know each other, things like that.

Same thing this year, D.C., very fun. It was, it was different because we couldn’t go to any of the museums because we went during the federal shutdown.

HEINEN: Thanks a lot government shut down.

LETANG: It was so stupid. I was so upset. But,

HEINEN: There’s really nothing to do in D.C. without the museums.

LETANG: There isn’t nothing, nothing cheap.

HEINEN: True.

LETANG: So that was like fun. I remember it was me, Wren the opinions editor and Tyler, next EIC. We were at the Washington Monument and the, we just helicopter just goes really close to us, like. 

HEINEN: Aw. 

LETANG: And it was just, and we like look and we’re like, oh, that’s really close. And then we look and it’s going to the White House. And then it goes back over us and we just all like kind of sat there for a minute. 

And then later on that day, that was the day Trump was meeting with Zelensky and so we were like, hmm. We were like a White House, like the President’s helicopter just flew over us. 

We just kind of all just like sat there and then we went to Lincoln Memorial and we like, there was like a min, like a smaller protest like happening there and it was just nice to see like, and then me and Wren and Owen and Matthew, a columnist. We covered the No Kings protest that weekend in D.C..

 HEINEN: Mm-hmm. 

LETANG: That was like pretty cool to see. It was a nice protest, which we were a bit worried about. But yeah, so D.C. and like New Orleans, those conferences just.

HEINEN: Yeah.

LETANG: Great bonding, made friends, got closer with people.

HEINEN: Me, you and Sophia all having the same bonnet from Target. Yeah, that’s one of my best memories. 

LETANG: That was great. That was fun.

HEINEN: Going to bed all three of us with like pink bonnets on. Cute. 

LETANG: We’re like oh my God we’re matching. ‘

HEINEN: Sam, what about you?

HILL: Uh my favorite moment is when, when Owen was in like the MO costume and all the lights were off. 

HEINEN: Oh my God.

HILL: And he was like chasing us around on all fours and he was going, “oh oh MO!” And he was saying other stuff too.

HEINEN: And that was your best memory.

HILL: Yeah. Yeah. That was just fun.

LETANG: That’s what you’re going out with. What you’re going out with.

HILL: Yeah. Or I would say the just five to seven editing every day. It was magical. It was very fun. It was always good to have like a gaggle of like funny people.

HEINEN: Mm-hmm. 

HILL: At the end of every day. I think that consistency was pretty chill.

HEINEN: Okay. Last, final, last question then we’re done. Give me the biggest lesson you’ve learned from this job.

HILL: I can go first. Definitely like check in on people like both professionally and personally. You gotta know your people. You gotta know what, not only like what they’re up to and what they have to do, but also like, like how are they doing?

Like what’s their favorite color, what are they into? Because like. I think connections like that, like you’re not, you don’t have to be someone’s like friend by any stretch of the word. But like if you like know shit about them, like you can make shit easier for them.

LETANG: Biggest lesson I learned, say what’s on your mind. Communicate with people. If you have an idea, communicate it. If something’s going on, like find someone to talk to, just like it makes your life easier that you’re not holding it in and just like kind of. Like dealing with it, it makes everyone’s life easier. 

And also you’ll feel better about like, Hey, at least I said it. You’re not like walking away being like, well, what if I did? You don’t wanna walk away with like, well, what if I did this? What if I did that? 

That being said, have tact when you do those kind of things. So like, go for it, but like go for it calculated. Calculated risk. Calculated risk. That’s the biggest lesson I’ve learned. Take those, but just think about it first. Don’t be impulsive.

HEINEN: Mm-hmm.

LETANG: But like take those risks.

HEINEN: Yeah. I think those are great lessons to have learned. Anything else you guys feel like you wanna throw in?

HILL: What’s your dream job Ceci?

HEINEN: Probably working in fashion. I feel like that’d be really fun.

LETANG: I can picture that.

HILL: That’s pretty cool.

HEINEN: And that would be really just like so separate from like everything. That it’d be like probably really calming to just think about clothes all day. Calming in that I don’t have to think about like how the world is blowing up.

LETANG: Oh yeah.

HEINEN: You know?

LETANG: Mm.

HEINEN: Which is probably the type of job I will end up going into and end up thinking about every day, all day. 

LETANG: Yeah. 

HEINEN: But fashion is like, Hey, that would be fun. 

Well, thank you guys for coming on the podcast. You’ve both been lovely bosses all year. A joy to be around and both. Very good at your jobs.

LETANG: Thank you.

HEINEN: Both of you. And so yeah, I’m happy to have had you as my bosses for a whole year. I’ll probably cry at Laurel’s night, but I’ll save that for then.

That is all we have for you on In The Know today. Thank you to both Alexis and to Sam for joining me in the stood.

HILL: Thanks for having us Ceci.

LETANG: Yeah, thanks for having us. 

HEINEN: Of course, of course. Well.

HILL: Stood dude.

HEINEN: This is also my last time on In The Know, so RIP me Grace, Grace Aigner, the lovely reporter, will be taking over in my stead, so you will get to look forward to hearing more from her.

But yeah, that’s all we have for you. If you have any questions, comments or concerns you can contact us at [email protected]. 

Uh, my name is Ceci Heinen. 

LETANG: My name’s Alexis Letang,

HILL: Sam Hill.

HEINEN: And this has been In The Know.