We went to Washington D.C. on Saturday. It was a warm spring day, the sort that promises a lot of mugginess in the capital. It was peak cherry blossom season. Everyone knew it. So crowded.
This was the first time I’d been to D.C. since this monument was installed. It has a commanding view. And as you walk around the sculpture, it seemed the expression changed.
It’s also much taller than I’d imagined. But that’s as it should be.
Once you’d elbowed people out of the way, you got some nice views.
I kid, of course. Everyone was having a lovely time. Snippets of conversation floated through the air, like the kites flying everywhere, and the blossoms as they fell to the ground. I picked up sticks, because you never know when you’ll need a bit of cherry wood.
We walked down to the mall. The monument in the background, and perhaps the one place the capitol building doesn’t demand your attention.
We met my god-sister-in-law (just go with it) and her brother for dinner. We were all in town for a concert. Usually, I put up a lot of these, but I put up a lot of these. This was the really touching moment. A show that’s being discontinued — because of its themes of inclusiveness, perish the thought — got two nights of attention, in the Friday show and the Saturday show, and they sang with Guster and the National Symphony Orchestra.
Artists, man.
But that was only part of the weekend! More tomorrow!
Back to class today, where I continued our conversation from before the break. We’d been talking about journalism and disinformation and misinformation. So, today, I showed them this video.
I reminded them of a previous reading we’d had that compared mass media in the U.S. and Europe. It was a shortened version of a very important study from 20 years ago which, among other things, examined the strengths and weaknesses of each. And one of the strengths of the media in Europe, according to the author, is the robust public media you find in most countries there. We’ve never had a comparatively robust public media here. (To be sure, there are strengths on our side of the pond, too.)
Then I shared some tips for discerning a content producer’s credibility.
And then we talked about pink slime sites, which is always an eye opening conversation.
And I’m doing the springtime tradition of wearing the alma mater’s colors during their basketball tournament run.
I got photobombed, of course. Is it still a photobomb if you have to take the photo again to specifically create the photobombing?
Anyway, high quality tie, classic vintage lapel pin. School spirit for the number one seed. Rah.
The two cats that matter the most probably won’t be too worried about basketball. But they are intent on their weekly appearance here since, once again, I neglected to show them off last week.
Phoebe would like her closeup.
Look at that little freckled nose!
Poseidon, meanwhile, looks like he’s getting booked for some offense. Probably he should be.
If he’s not doing something wrong he’s working real hard at charming you into forgetting what he’s done wrong.
So the kitties are doing well. And we are doing well. And my sinuses are doing especially well! Last week my lovely bride caught a face full of winter and leaf dust and it set her back for a few days. She’s recovered. And on a Saturday phone call my mother asked how my nose was doing, ’tis the season and all. It was fine. But then, last night, the burning, itchy throat thing started. So I’ve got all of that to enjoy this week.
We are back from Chicago. Our plane left a bit late because they had to de-ice the wings. It was 70-something degrees on Saturday there, and snowing on Sunday. The Midwest, man.
We arrived to messages from both of our mothers, who noted from various trackers that the flight had apparently been delayed for some reason. I hadn’t really noticed sitting there for an extra hour or so, though. i was busy reading, which is one of the two best things to do on a plane. If you’re not flying it, that is.
Anyway, it was a successful trip. The Yankee also presented some research. I took roughly 45 photos and concluded in retrospect that her presentations would be even better if she opened her eyes when she talked to crowds. She was blinking in every one of my photos, except this one.
This is an international conference. People came from six continents to take part. She did not want to pronounce the title in front of them, potentially insulting our French colleagues.
Also, if I didn’t mention it, she is the executive director of this conference. I’m married to a rock star.
On Saturday we met with one of our former professors for lunch. And we also saw the river, which reminds me of the classic throwaway line from The Fugitive, “If they can dye this river green today, why can’t they dye it blue the other 364 days of the year?”
Also, there were a lot of people out there enjoying the warm weather and the complete bastardization of Saint Patrick’s Day.
Also, also, the International Association for Communication and Sport’s conference will next year be held in Dublin It also coincides with our spring break. Guess where I’ll be going.
And now it is spring break, which means I can catch up on some things, and get ahead of some other things. Also, house projects.
Monday / photo / Rowan / video — Comments Off on Giving you no mis, and certainly no dis 10 Mar 25
In class today we discussed disinformation and misinformation. There is a difference. Did you know the difference? I recently had a nice conversation with a colleague at Cambridge about this, and I showed one of his videos in class.
It gets down to motive, we decided, but motive isn’t always clearly perceived. And the conveyance of bad information is bad, either way. Happily, my students have a pretty decent handle on the social engineering often at play with disinformation. But there’s always something new to learn. The next time the class meets we’ll discuss some techniques on savvy consumption.
And then we get into the fun stuff!
About time the class sighed.
Just kidding, it’s all fun. It’s an international media class. Coming up after spring break we’ll talk about the Armed Forces Network and sports on the international stage, and advertising and social media. It has all been a great deal of fun.
Almost as fun as after office hours, when I went to a nearby JoAnn’s. They’re all closing, of course, and that’s unfortunate for the people that work for the company and it’s stores, but there’s something about store closings that is interesting to me.
And what was interesting today was how unusually crowded this JoAnn’s was, and how the shelves were already getting bare. But I walked around, saw all of the things that weren’t fabric, and then I bought some fabric. It seemed worth it for an early evening’s worth of entertainment. I’ll make some new pocket squares from them this summer.
It was probably the largest JoAnn’s I’ve ever seen, which is to say, bigger than two or three others I’ve ever noticed. Smaller than a late 20th century major retailer, much bigger than necessary for fabric. I wonder if the kitchen section was somehow part of their problem. Maybe it was the wood craft section. Or the enormous floral quadrant. It seems they’ve strayed, in their pursuit to pursue Hobby Lobby.
I also saw some of the reasons why JoAnn’s has struggled these last many years, the all too familiar considerations that have hit brick and mortar stores of all stripes. The apps on my phone were happy to tell me how much cheaper every comparable brand and product were elsewhere.
It’s a sad feeling, in a bad-laminate-floor-under-worse-neon-lighting way. But, still there were employees straightening things up, moving things around, offering good cheer, great theatrical performers that people are when working in retail. Retail was never easy, but the challenges they face today … it all felt typified by the last dying gasp of advertising that was plastered around the store. “New shipments arriving from our warehouses daily!”
The rapidly thinning shelves would suggest otherwise. Crafty customers of crafts had been busy picking the place clean; there aren’t many reasons to go back.
I know the reasons you come back here. The proof is in the analytics, and the analytics say the most popular feature on the site is our regular check-in with the kitties, which starts right now.
Poseidon has to follow you everywhere, especially when that place is behind a closed door. So when his honed feline senses tell him you’re heading to a door, he’s there. And in this case, he had to get into the bathroom so he could jump on this rickety MDF cabinet top and be taller than everyone.
He is very pleased with himself in that photo. Sometimes you try to keep a cat out of things, but other times, you’re just too tired, distracted, slow, or you remember that look they get when they’ve conquered the unconquerable.
For Phoebe, it is different. Her race is to find the coziest spot possible.
I respect her dedicate to her craft.
So, you can see, the cats are doing just fine. And so begins another week, one like any other, but different in every way.
What does that even mean? I’ve no idea, but we’ll find out together, in this space, this week.
Monday / photo / Rowan — Comments Off on I have a Post-it note full of details for the week 3 Mar 25
It is all written in a very small print. And I will be scratching off items until Thursday.
It started with a meeting that was over in 8 minutes. For some reason, it ran for another 23. The second worst part was that it was in my office. You can’t just leave your own desk, right?
We talked journalism in class today. This is the week o’ journalism, which I’ve managed to include in a class that is not about journalism. This is useful because, next week, we’re talking about misinformation and disinformation. So that’s three things very much integral to our time, and all of them certainly useful in a class titled International Media Communication. So today it was mostly American journalism, my justification being that’s where we are. Wednesday we’ll talk about journalism practices in Europe and some parts of the Middle East and Asia.
Also that packet. Tonight, I have taken seven pages down to two. Tomorrow and Wednesday I’ll finish it up, restructuring a few things, moving parts around and doing a necessary edit and killing a bunch of my babies. Many pages will not make the final version, and that’s fine. After all of the other things that have to go along side the narrative it’ll still be 20-some pages long, and this is meant to represent the work I’ve done since last September. So it deserves the time.
I believe I’ve spent three weeks on the thing, so far. Still not sure why it needs two tables of contents, however.
Also tonight, I have some quizzes to grade. Tomorrow I’ll read some student discussions. And then Tuesday and Wednesday with the final touches on the above.
Right now, though, it’s time for the site’s most popular weekly feature, the check-in with the kitties.
Phoebe enjoys the afternoon sun in the dining room, and I found some cushions to make her more comfortable.
I get looks about this from my lovely bride, but I’m not the biggest spoiler of cats in our house.
And, sure, Phoebe has sunny afternoon cushions, but Poseidon has the height of luxury. Poseidon has what all the cool cats and kittens out there want. Poseidon has a new box.
The kitties, as you can see, are doing just fine, and they’re pleased I have fulfilled my contractual obligations by including them here.
I also have the first-of-the-month duties to attend to here on the ol’ computer. Clean up the Downloads subdirectory, update the boilerplate page, build new subdirectories for the site, and update the site’s statistics. For whatever reason, last month was easily the busiest February in the 22-year history of the site. Also, we’ve eclipsed 6.5 million visitors here on the humble hobby. I don’t know why people come here, and come back again, but I’m grateful for all of the time you spend here.
Except for the AI bots. They’re persimmon trees of orangutans that can stay on Mars and huff paint for other upside down content.
