Former Student's Night At The Oscars - Union - March 2006

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E1 Camino College

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Forme stu e t's night Editor ~s NOfe: Open Forum is available 10 anyulle on campl/.s. You may e-mail conlribllliol1s (0 the editur at 1/1/(1~II/al'mmati@e/camillo.«du.

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i worked my first Academy Awar4s in 1996. But it was notbing like my return engagement this year. The first time around, I was new to L.A. I'd arrived from Massachusetts less than a year before, and landed a job slinging booze at Olto's Grill and Beer Bar, a eafe in the ground-level space at the Music Center in downtown Los Angeles. The Academy Awards were being held on site that year at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and I was scheduled to work. After only a few short months in town, I found myself working L.A. 's biggest, most star-studded event. I was excited. On show day, I anived to the restaurant early, in a crisp white shirt, my best black pants and got right to work. I lugged umpteen ice buckets, stacked dozens of champagne cases and cut a mountain of fresh fruit. I also stole a moment for myself, sneaking outside the backstage door to look around and take it all in. Throngs of spectators lined the sidewalks. A steady stream of media types moved in and out of the crowds while policemen lined the limo-filled streets. When I turned around to get back to work, singer Lyle Lovett opened the door for me and tipped his hat. I was living exactly the kind of amazing adventure I'd only dreamed about back home. Another dream I'd had back home was college. No one in my family had been able to pull it off. Seemed there was always too much work to do, too many mOllths to feed, too many bills to pay. I came to California, because I'd heard a rumor that col­ lege here was free and open to all. After arriving, I learned that while this wasn't exactly true, there was some truth

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Bringing theCan1pus together since 1946

the Osc ,rs

PEN to the tale. While not free, community college was at least affordable for working stiffs, and anyone who could drag themselves to class was welcome to sign up. So during the day, I dragged myself in to joumalism classes at EI Camino. At night, I made martinis. Last weekend, I had my second tum at the Oscars. Again I showed up early, ready to work and wearing black, but this time in a formal gown, not a waiter's uni­ form. This time I covered the event from behind the scenes, in the Kodak Theatre's pressroom as a repOlier for the Daily Breeze, not making martinis. During the show, I nervously kept one eye and ear on the TV broadcast and the other eye and ear on the trophy­ winning movie stars, who came to the pressroom to answer reporters' questions. But I was so busy, I didn't ask any questions. I furiously scribbled notes and copied down quotes as fast as I could. After the Oscar broadcast concluded, I had just one hour to write and file a news story that would run the next day on the front page to be read by tens of thousands of people. There was no time to waste, so I started writing. Hundreds of other journalists from around the world were doing likewise, and the loud sound of keys clicking filled the room. It sounded like an avalanche of pebbles. The deadline quickly drew near, but I again stole a mo­ ment to look around. Well-known movie critic Roger Ebert was seated 10 feet away, sharing a table with a reporter from the Boston Herald, a newspaper I'd grown up reading. Pulitzer Prize­ winning stOlyteller Larry McMurtry was close enough to

Former EC journal­ ism student Kate Mclaughlin gets dressed up to cover the Oscars for the Daily Breeze.

Photograph courtesy of Kate McLaughlln.

say, "Howdy," and George Clooney was near enough for me to lose all concentration. FOliunately. I held it together and filed my story in time to run in the paper the next day. I'm looking forward to the Oscar!> n~xt year, and thanks to what I learned at EI Camino, I'll probably go back. Thanks to EI Camino, my job is no longer mindless labor. But also, thanks to EI Camino, working the Oscars was a lot more nerve-wracking than it was the first time. Work that requires thinking is a lot harder than work centered on drinking, but it's a lot more rewarding in the end. Bartenders don't get bylines.

-Kate McLaughlin, Daily Breeze reporter