To help you get to know our newsroom staff a bit better, a series of question-and-answer posts with each journalist will run on Mondays. This morning, meet copy editor Teresa Cook. She puts together pages for the Living and Viewpoints sections, but you might have seen her Smart columns or posts at Book Buzz, too.
Name: Teresa Cook
Lives in: Baltimore, Md.
Hometown: Hershey, Pa.
Position at the YDR: Copy editor, features and Viewpoints
Years with the YDR: 18
Graduated from: Penn State
With a degree in: Education/Spanish
Email: tcook@ydr.com
Whatever you’d like to tell us about yourself: I have a great husband who grows a big vegetable garden, three grown sons and two kitty cats. I love journalism, the Beatles, ice skating and cooking the food my husband grows.
1. What made you want to become a journalist? I was hooked after I saw the presses running at the Harrisburg Patriot News on a high school field trip.
2. How do you see journalism changing? The preponderance of new media and social networks has made attention spans shorter — mine is — and we in the news industry have to keep up with the changes.
3. What do you like most about your job? The least? I like working with words, and I like having the chance to read about lots of news and trends. The least — the way the industry is changing so fast. It’s hard to keep up.
4. It’s 9:30 a.m. on a day off. What are you doing? Mostly likely I’m running errands. I like to shop in the morning.
5. The drink that’s on your desk right now is: Hot tea or ice water
6. Your favorite journalism-related blog you read or Twitter feed you follow: I check the Poynter.org website a couple times a week and I like the New York Times media business pages on Mondays.
7. What’s your favorite movie? Book? Movie — “All the President’s Men.” Book — “The Book Thief” is my most recent favorite.
8. What’s your favorite place in York County? Central Market. I think I’d love Lake Redman if I ever stopped to check it out. I pass it every day on my way to and from work.
9. What’s one piece of newsroom jargon that had to be explained to you? I didn’t understand picas, ems and ens, which are spaces between words and lines used in the old printing process.
Last week, we ran a Q&A with multiplatform journalist Matt Anderson. To read all of the staff Q&A interviews we’ve done so far, click on the “Staff Q&As” under “About us” at the top of the homepage.
