Inside the inner sanctum: the workings of WAM

Dear Reader,

Over the last eight days, you have been enjoying the exclusive access and breathtaking insights into NMC ’11 that my colleagues and I have brought you.  In the true spirit of the parliamentary press gallery, we have stalked the halls and lain in wait for unsuspecting campers, our presence only revealed by the flash of a camera or thrust of a microphone into an unsuspecting face.  Our commitment to journalistic integrity is surpassed only by those at Team Rupert and we walk countless metres and work untold minutes to get the ‘real’ story for you.  But what actually happens in the nerve centre?

High up on Level 4 of our very own ivory tower is the centre of WAM operations.  After completing numerous swipecard checks to gain access, one arrives at the WAM mothership.  Sitting in front of seven computers, our correspondents work diligently in-between checking Facebook, email and various news sites.  Our bodies are sustained by selections of fruit and chocolate, and our minds are constantly attuned by humorous quips on the correct noun for a group of WAM students, or possible synonyms for ‘conservative’  — for the record, the best one so far was ‘Tory,’ but perhaps not in the sentence ‘the music that young Richard Strauss wrote was undeniably Tory’.  

It is not all bottled water and chocolate though.  The merits (or lack thereof) of colons and brackets are hotly debated, and exasperation runs high when a fourth draft of an article is required.  So far our program notes have been a success, all deadlines have been met (Touch wood! – ed.) and production continues on schedule for our radio features and the camp magazine.  Tune in at the end of the week to see if the colon skirmish has developed into a full scale conflict (stand by Ban Ki-moon) and whether ‘WAMologist’ (from the latin studentium musicae wordinundium) is the accepted collective noun. 

With best wishes

Jack Chenoweth