“…it’s a bad time for the Advance, and we’re gonna have to let you go…”

You know, I didn’t really expect to ever work at the Staten Island Advance… I made fun of the paper that I delivered to my 36 customers everyday as a paper boy. But in 2014 when I sat down for my first real job interview I knew that I had an incredible opportunity sitting in front of me. I wasn’t quite sure which exact direction I wanted to go, but I did know sports and the media industry were the general direction. The Staten Island Advance Sports department indeed gave me the opportunity to go in that direction hiring me as a freelance desk worker just a week later. But as much as it pains me to say it, that time is over.

I think back now to one of the most restless time periods in my life — the last four months — and how many times I complained to myself that I’ve just got too many things to do. Juggling managing a website, co-hosting a podcast, doing school work, and working at the Staten Island Advance was overwhelming all together. But now, two of those things drop out… at least for now.

I won’t be taking those calls from coaches who occasionally seemed a tad drunk in either depression from losing games or partying after wins. And I won’t be taking calls from Pat Taber from the Silverlake ladies golf league or that one guy who was always obsessed with the WNBA (like, seriously, there are real people who care about the WNBA?) or any of the rest of characters that called up. And I won’t be talking to the custodial staff — namely one classic New Yorker-Yankees fan who was both hilarious and a great conversationalist.

What I do have is a lot of experience understanding how to be a better writer and how to deal with the occasionally less than compliant coaches calling up. I do have my bosses to thank for that. Joe Damodio specifically was probably the most helpful getting me up to speed with simple standards. The first few weeks it was pretty difficult — not knowing exactly which stories were supposed to go where or which online systems were used for what. I’m pretty sure I didn’t know what “merlin” (our online images database) was until three months into the job. People talked about it with such importance you’d think they might actually be talking to a wizard.

Eventually I got used to things. There were some nights where I could almost feel like I was in a rhythm writing up posts quickly and accurately. Not to mention, it kind of felt cool to say I worked at the Staten Island Advance. I suppose if you don’t live on Staten Island that might be confusing, but for me it gave me some weird sense of accomplishment considering everyone on this Island reads or at least knows about the paper.

One of my latest Communications classes had us give quick introductions of ourselves to the class — and when I mentioned I worked for the paper one kid specifically yelled out “why the heck do you have to take this class then?!” I had other students ask me for answers to questions like I’d somehow have the answer to what “the societal constraints of the media” were because I can write down “Timmy Smith scored two touchdowns as his team beat the other team…” But for some reason I did like the idea that people thought I had some kind of edge.

For almost two years I worked with the company and their online affiliate site silive.com. Those that I worked the nights with are some of the best people I’ve ever talked to and are all fantastic writers in their own ways.

I covered some great stories myself and talked to some fantastic coaches, but that’s over for me now. Going forward it’s time to invest as much as I can into writing for my own website, continuing to be a member of the Platinum Achievements facebook community, and perhaps writing for other news sites online for a bit of extra money for now.

I’ll still always love and appreciate working at my first “real” job.

— Brian Spagnoli

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