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8
May 12

This is almost clever, but without a theme

You shall not Pez!

pez

Some puns can’t be helped, really. This is in a bookstore, a shopping genre I haven’t visited in a while, but I had a few minutes to kill between errands today, and so I found myself wandering around the tomes, making sure books that have my photographs in them are displayed face-front, rather than by the easy-to-miss spine. I’d re-work the shelves so that they are all at eye level, but that earns you hard looks from the people that work there.

And they’ve got it bad enough already.

Don’t get me wrong, one of my late-in-life ambitions is to work a few days a week in a sleepy little used bookstore and sit behind the counter reading everything there that happens to interest me at the time. Run a few bucks through the machine, smile at the occasional visitor, direct them to the romance section or whatever else they’re looking for, like the romance section, and go back to my book. This is a grand idea.

But to be at the big chains these days feels exactly like the video rental stores felt a decade ago. There’s a general sense of impending — and that isn’t because you’re standing in the reference section looking up words in dictionaries — mixed with the coming odor of doom. Which is found, of course in the fantasy and sci fi sections, but really all over the place these days.

I also saw one of my colleagues recent books, though, and I made sure her book was covering everything remotely interesting around it. These are the little things, small efforts in random bookstores which will, no doubt, be undone by the niece of some author who’ll come in behind me in four days making sure the Art of Pickling is prominently displayed in every section of the store. You never know when the Mason jar set will come in to best your efforts. Bookstores are one by the zealous, and the preserves people are ruthless.

I saw this in the regional section, in one of those sepia toned books. “Vintage Birmingham Signs” is full of ancient pictures from the Images of America picture series. I love this stuff:

Shoneys

There’s never been a cooler Shoney’s sign in the world, I’m fairly certain of it. And they were advertising the strawberry pie, which was one of the eternal treats of Shoney’s. They were happy nights when we went there after the sporting event of the night and got that hard-crusted, whipped cream covered treat. The only thing better was the breakfast bar, and then only sometimes. (Sometimes it was bad, but you had to go back and try again because other times it was incredible.) The strawberry pie, though, was always perfect.

I think Shoney’s was the last place I saw a cigarette machine, stowed and careful stocked by the restrooms. The last time I was in that area that particular store had become an eerily un-busy Chinese restaurant.

Saw this, too:

HoJo

The caption places this in the late 50s at a place that would later become Eastwood Mall. That mall started dying in 1989 and was demolished in 2006. Now a Walmart is there. Neither offered an improvement over that HoJo sign.

I sent that to James Lileks, the nationally renowned columnist and author, because of his affinity for signage in general and his love of old HoJo in particular. He wrote back almost immediately.

“Looks like the kid is in a military graveyard, what with the cross.”

Beware the pancakes I guess, then.

I only have vague recollections of Howard Johnson. They were more places that we didn’t go than did, for whatever reason, and they always looked a bit tattered and frayed by the time I came along. I know I visited one once, but it is now a Hampton Inn.

I did not know HoJo had 28 flavors of ice cream. That must have seemed like an embarrassment of riches to parents, and nirvana to their kids. I suppose it set the standard for the day? And then along came Baskin Robbins to win by a field goal. These days there aren’t even any of those around any more, which is really off the point.

The point was the Pez. Gollum has a Yoda-ish quality to him. But, really, why do toys and promotional items like these never really get the image right? This becomes even a larger problem with hi-definition, 3D and IMAX when we really want to see every pore in Ian McKellen’s face, but also just to distinguish between the hobbits. As candy dispensers, though, that matters little. The little discs of sugar are the important part. And the accuracy of the bottom of their chin and jaw. You’ll trust the sweet, delicious treat that looks like it came from the real Aragorn, but a Pez molding based on the likeness of Scott Stapp just won’t get it done for LOTR fans.

Anyway.

Tonight the students are putting together the final issue of this year’s Samford Crimson. I buy them snacks this last night of the year, and am always impressed by how few of them know about the goodness of Roly Poly — their site’s title says “Rolled Sandwiches, Soups, Salads” and I’d really like to see how they roll a soup.

So this is the last night. There are many jokes and some hugs and a sleepy section editor on the second day of consecutive all-nighters. There will be misspellings. And then, somewhere early this morning it will all end again. The editor this year helped nurse the paper from a broadsheet into a tab-sized format and, less directly, oversaw a brand new website launch. He’s also been writing for the USA Today Collegiate Correspondent Program. He’s going to prove himself capable of many things. He worked with two outstanding broadcasting, film production students, a varsity athlete, a history major and two other journalism/mass comm majors to put the paper together this year. It could have been better, but it could always be better. It was a year-long exercise for them, though, and they learned a great deal. Some things they don’t even recognize yet, but one day they will.

Someone tonight was scoffing at a poorly written sentence, and that person wouldn’t have done that at the beginning of the year. Others have proven themselves capable managers, all perfected their time management, because none of these kids do just one thing.

Personally I think it should be an almost full-time job working on this paper, but that’s more narrow than you can ever ask a student to really be. You can ask them to learn, and demand their full attention and dedication. And if you get that, you get something worth bragging about, just a little.

Next year’s news staff will be younger, and we’re going to focus evermore on the online side of things. This is where we start to tinker with changing the workflow and the culture of a news outlet. Brainwash them early, I say. Make what they are doing here more conceptually match what they’ll be doing in the working world. They might start off shaky, just as this crew did, but they’ll grow right in front of our eyes and probably do some really cool things along the way. That’s just the way the students here are.

Now, if you’ll excuse me. Someone has dozed off and we must make fun of them.


4
May 12

Music and demographics and embarrassment

Sometimes I wish I knew something about music, just on the off chance that I’d get to be a part of something musically moving. Like this, for example. At the end of their U.S. tour, Bruce Springsteen took a request from the crowd and the E Street Band played one for Levon:

I posted some Levon Helm videos the day before he died. You can see them all here.

In more sobering news, Birmingham Business Journal reports that Alabama lost 36,100 private sector jobs in the last decade. There are less than 1.5 million private sector jobs in the state these days.

There are 4.8 million people in the state. How can there be that few private sector jobs?

The Census says 37.5 percent of the state is younger than 18 and 7.6 percent are older than 65. So that’s 45 percent young and old. And if you trust the Bureau of Labor Statistics — which is increasingly becoming a funny thing to say these days — there is 7.6 percent unemployment in the state, so that gets us up to 52 percent of the state.

And here’s a list of government populations by city, which is eye-opening. According to that list 135 of the state’s 512 cities are above the U.S. median for percent of government employees. Not sure how that list accounts for residents in unincorporated areas, which are prominent in rural states.

If you aren’t doing mobile media you’re behind:

(G)rowth of mobile video usage is increasing dramatically. 108 billion videos were watched on mobile phones in 2011, almost trebling to 280 billion in 2012. However, unlike apps, this isn’t translating into symbiotic revenue levels. Despite a 23.8% revenue growth, Video is likely to account for a mere 2.4% ($3.6 billion) of total mobile media revenues in 2012.

Food as art, history and sociology. I don’t think about these things this way on my own, but this is a wonderful read:

Q. Shouldn’t we all be more in touch with our food heritage? How can we go about doing that?

A. When you follow a family recipe, you have an opportunity to bring life to your family story. What sustained your ancestors and your parents? It becomes exciting because you can say, “This is what my so-and-so ate to celebrate the end of World War II.”

Michael Twitty, the A above, is taking a tour of the South — he’s calling it the “Southern Discomfort Tour” — a journey to follow his ancestral path across the region, covering almost 4,500 miles.

How not to do television news.

And how to embarrass yourself on air in one easy step. I’d embed the video, but that television station hasn’t discovered that autoplay is evil. So I’ll link to it.

I’ll be showing that in class. If you can watch it more than once, I applaud you. But go watch some more Bruce instead.


2
May 12

A poorly flowing hodge podge (Or: Wednesday)

You might not be a journalist, Niemanlab says, but you play one on Twitter. True enough. There’s a lots of journalism being reported there. And a fair amount being poorly reported, as critics like to point out. Others might note, in response, that there’s a great deal of things underreported elsewhere that get attention on Twitter.

I prefer Twitter as an aggregation tool. I’ve talked with disbelieving journalism professors and working journalists and television producers about the quality of Twitter — they’re all using the tool these days, by the way — about that. I learn a great deal from Twitter that I wouldn’t get elsewhere.

Just today for example, a friend in Montgomery pointed out this story:

Alabama lawmakers gave final approval today to a watered-down version of legislation aimed at getting more insurance coverage for autism treatment.

The House of Representatives voted 96-0 for the bill, sending it to the governor for his signature.

The legislation requires insurance companies to offer coverage for the treatment of autism, including for a costly behavioral therapy that now is rarely covered. Businesses could choose whether to offer the coverage as part of their insurance options for employees.

A friend in Atlanta passed along this terrific Der Spiegel feature on East Berlin, before and after the Iron Curtain was pulled down.

Found this on Twitter today too, from a colleague in Arizona. Media Storm, which is journalism juggernaut that doesn’t work as a traditional newsroom, won three awards from the National Press Photographers Association.

Also wouldn’t have found this unfortunate error from the Lufkin Daily News:

And finally, we roast ourselves for mistakenly running a previously published editorial about Pearl Harbor Day in this space in Tuesday’s newspaper. Dec. 7, 1941, is a day that President Franklin D. Roosevelt aptly called “A day of infamy.” While our mistake pales in comparison, May 1, 2012, will go down as a dark hour in this newsroom.

Not to be pedantic, but The Lufkin Daily News is playing a bit fast and loose with the quote, too. That Texas paper is putting a paywall on their website next month. We wish them well.

And, if you’re thinking “Someone that says “Not to be pedantic means to, in fact, be pedantic” you are absolutely correct.

Rain, on my drive home:

There’s nothing spectacular about that video, but I do enjoy the sound.

Two posts on my Crimson blog: Tips for new journalists and Yesterdays are dead.

Also, check out my Twitter feed. Bookmark the Tumblr account.


1
May 12

Do not eat the black olives

Quick! What is this?

picture

You’ll find the answer over on my Tumblr. Having posted the photograph in one place, however, it seems silly to put part of the same picture elsewhere. So I probably won’t do this a lot, but I needed some sort of art for the day, and this seemed a cheap and easy way to do it.

More easy content: I accidentally landed on someone’s mailing list as they wrote to their family back home about their trip to the American southwest. Seems someone has noticed the error, or the emails have stopped for some other reason, but let’s live vicariously, shall we?

Call her Barbara, though that’s not her name.

Day One:

I’ve arrived in Phoenix. There is no phone here, but in an emergency my cell phone might work (yet to be determined, but I’ll confirm later).

Hope you are well. We have wi-fi here and I’d love to hear from you by email.

Have a good week.
Love,

Barbara

Day Two:

Hi,

Great to hear from you. We had a jam-packed day today. We went shopping, out for lunch, to the Phoenix Art Museum, and to the Heard Museum. The restaurant had typical south western fare. The native artifacts were really interesting. I have some pictures but don’t know how to get them on the IPad.

Tomorrow we’re going to golf in the morning, check out some food trucks in Phoenix, and go to the Botanical Gardens in the afternoon. This holiday is fun but exhausting!

Miss you all.

Love,

Barbara

Sounds like a great trip so far. At the art museum Barbara might have seen exhibitions by Matthew Moore, W. Eugene Smith, Gustave Baumann and others. The Heard Museum is hosting great exhibitions on the art of ceremony and the history of bolo ties, among other things. You laugh, but I bet that one cinches on tight and doesn’t let go. (Actually that sounds like a great museum. When in Phoenix … )

If they made it out to the botanical garden they no doubt enjoyed the spring butterfly exhibit.

On Day Three of her adventure she sent me a picture — out of respect for her privacy I shall not post it. Imagine a nice lady standing by several cacti all much taller than her.

“Too big to trip over! I sure wouldn’t want to fall on one though!” she wrote.

Which is where I am a bit sad. She’s trying to write her grandson. I hope he gets to see this picture eventually.

On Day Five I received another email:

Good morning,

It was over 100 degrees here yesterday. It doesn’t feel too bad as long as we’re not walking around in the sun in the afternoon for too long.

The Swap Mart was OK. It was like a huge flea market, but with only new things for sale. The olive grove was interesting. There are only two places in North America where they grow olives, here and in California. The climate here is perfect for olives. They don’t get any of the pests or mold that they do in Europe, so can grow here with no pesticides or herbicides. They would be certified organic if the corn field that is within 15 miles of their grove was also organic. They also don’t have to worry about birds eating them off the tree as olives are very bitter until they have been soaked for quite a while. We had lunch outside under an umbrella. The food was excellent and the tour afterwards was very informative. I learned that olive oil should say ‘extra virgin’, ‘fresh pressed’ or ‘cold pressed’ and that we should not eat ‘black olives’.

We went shopping again after that and to a great food market where we got wood-oven pizza, salad, and other treats. We’re eating like queens. I’ll have to take up running when I get back.

We’re off to Sedona this morning, and will be there overnight.

Hope you are all well and happy.

Love,

Barbara

Someone wrote to the group asking why you aren’t supposed to eat the black olives. A fair question as I’m sure we’re all a bit more olive smart after that email, but it doesn’t elaborate on that point. Maybe she was talking about canned black olives, which sometimes use ferrous sulfate as a coloring additive. After that I’m out of guesses and I won’t look it up — because if you’ve ever done that before you understand the wisdom of not asking the Internet a question about health and safety.

And that’s where the email thread ends. Sounded like a nice front half of a fine vacation though. Hope she made it home safely with lots of pictures and adventures to share. Check out, by the way, the banner art on the Sedona link. That must be a beautiful place.

Had the new editor meeting tonight. We bring in the outgoing and now grizzled veteran and the shiny-eyed new person and talk about the job. This is what I do and don’t do. These are the positions you should be hiring for. This is what you can expect.

These are the obstacles. This is the workflow. These are the late nights. These are the things you must do. These are the few things you can’t do. Here is the production bible and notes from former staffers.

Now go out there and, as some wordsmiths awkwardly say, “commit journalism.”

The new editor works hard. She’ll grow into the position nicely.


24
Apr 12

The long day

Last week we had the board members from the Alabama Press Association on campus. Today, it is Gene Policinski, the vice president and executive director of the First Amendment Center in Washington D.C.

Things are hoping around here.

Policinski met with student-journalists at the Crimson this morning. I treated him to a mid-morning snack after that and he told me how he got in the business, where he’s been and his upcoming projects. Very interesting — and nice — guy.

The department took him and a few students to lunch at The Rotunda Club, the exclusive dining arrangement on campus. We ate in a beautiful wood-paneled room with monogramed plates and personal attention.

I hope whatever organization that normally dines there was able to make do with vending machines.

We had a student media committee meeting, electing next year’s editors for the literary arts magazine, Sojourn, the yearbook, Entre Nous, and The Samford Crimson.

This evening Policinski was the featured guest at the Timothy Sumner Robinson Forum. This is a Samford program named for a 1965 alumnus. The Robinson family hosts the event each year in honor of Timothy, who was a veteran of The Washington Post and the National Law Journal.

At the Post Robinson had more Watergate front page stories than anyone. He’d go on to work at NYU, and then head west to pioneer much of the first online media work.

Here’s Policinski speaking in Bolding Studio about the constitutionally “unique role” of journalists in the political and legal system:

Policinski

He notes “We have turned to an era where we talk to people directly.”

He applaud bloggers and citizen journalists, but notes a difference between what they might do and what a committed court reporter could offer as coverage. He’s right, and it isn’t about the journalism, but about the legal system. There’s a need, he says, for more legal training, which is part of a big project he has coming up soon with his many professional affiliations.

The state of legal reporting is in decline, but not because of the people covering it, but by volume. Meanwhile, he says, the journalism profession is “if not walking away from it is turning away because of other pressing issues.”

Great to have him on campus, though it made for a long day (and after that there was still the newspaper). It was worth it. You can follow him on Twitter @genefac.

Don’t forget: Tumblr and Twitter.