Samford


26
Feb 14

Something like the usual

In my class today I invited in a guest speaker today. And I also invited in another class to hear from him.

Nathan

Nathan Troost is a Samford graduate. Within about two years of leaving he started his own film production company and now travels the world producing video packages for non-profit organizations. He showed us some of his stirring work.

Neverthirst in India: Iron Tribe Update from Lantern Vision on Vimeo.

The Pygmy People: An e3 Church Planting Movement from Lantern Vision on Vimeo.

So, you see, I bring in great speakers for my students.

Things to read … because I bring good reading material, too.

Samford JMC to Create Sports-Media Program:

“Sports media will complement the department’s exceptional print journalism, broadcast journalism, public relations and advertising tracks. We want to show our support for Samford athletics and prepare our students for the rapidly expanding employment opportunities in the sports-media field. The hands-on experience students will get in the Athletics Department will be invaluable.”

The new partnership is announced as Samford JMC students and faculty complete work on the pilot episode for a reality television series that follows nine athletes from various sports as they navigate life at Samford. “The Student Athlete” is expected to be complete in May.

Fun times in our program.

After not walking for seven years, Hoover girl inspires others with first steps and inner strength :

It takes 113 steps for 8-year-old Jian Jackson to walk from the hallway of her school outside to her mother’s car. She made that walk Monday afternoon, something she couldn’t do for the first 7 years of her life in China.

“That’s been the goal from the beginning,” said Stacie Jackson, Jian’s adoptive mother. “We’ve been working on that everyday.”

When she was 5 months old, Jian developed a high fever that lasted for four days. Afterward, the orphanage workers noticed she could no longer move her legs. Doctors in the United States believe Jian was stricken with polio at the time. It was assumed she would never walk.

Last June, a woman set herself on fire about every three days in Herat, Afghanistan:

Last June, a woman set herself on fire about every three days in Herat, Afghanistan. That’s an improvement – in June 2012, the city’s main hospital received a self-immolator about every two days, and in 2010, Afghanistan’s presidential advisor on health affairs estimated that 2,400 women were burning themselves alive nationwide, every year. The cause, he said, was depression.

Lee Rigby murderers sentenced to life in prison:

The Islamist killers of Drummer Lee Rigby erupted into violence in an Old Bailey courtroom as they were sentenced for murder.

Michael Adebolajo, 29, and Michael Adebowale, 22, had to be manhandled out of court by security guards after being told by Mr Justice Sweeney that their crime was a “betrayal of Islam”.

Adebolajo screamed at the judge as he was manhandled down the dock stairs in the historic Court No 2 but, in scenes lasting several minutes, his co-defendant was held to the floor and cuffed before being carried downstairs head first.

Relatives of Drummer Rigby, who were sitting just three feet away from the dock, stood up and cowered away from the violence.

Mr. Justice Sweeney. That’s way to use a title. And justice was almost done.

And now a cycling video:


22
Feb 14

Wrapping SEJC and driving, a lot

Today we closed things up at the Southeast Journalism Conference. And I’m beginning to think this should really be a three-day affair.

After breakfast at our new favorite diner we returned to the panel sessions. I attended one called The Courthouse Beat: Trials (literally), Tribulations and Records. Some things I wrote in that room:

I also listened to another panel, Sports Journalism in the Age of Scandal Salon. I wrote some things about that one, too. Among them:

It was a fine panel, and there is a whole lot more on Twitter.

More awards were handed out during the seafood fettuccini luncheon. All of those onsite contest award winners were announced. Clayton Hurdle, a Samford senior and the sports editor of The Samford Crimson won for a story he wrote Thursday night. He won this same contest last year:

Clayton

We passed this little town on the way home. I just liked the name, bro:

BreauxBridge

But I understand the food is something serious, there.

We also stopped in our favorite Mississippi town for a few pictures. And by pictures, I mean shots of the sign. we didn’t see whatever passes for the town:

Purvis

And we decided Google Maps lied. The map said we could make the trip in just over six hours. Try just over eight. I got home around midnight.


21
Feb 14

Southeast Journalism Conference

Here’s the big deal:

Best of the South

In the Best of the South contest Samford students won 11 honors.

Ninth place in best special event reporter: Chelsea Pennington
Eighth in best graphic news designer: Sarah Norville
Eighth in news-editorial artist/illustrator: Zach Brown
Eighth in best newspaper: Samford Crimson
Sixth in best arts/entertainment writer: Matt Harrison
Sixth in best video news program: Samford News Network
Fourth in best magazine: Exodus
Third in best news writer: Sydney Cromwell
Third in best op/ed writer: Evan Elmore
Second in best TV feature news reporter: Ally Reece
Winner, best journalism research paper: Lauren Cherry

That’s against students from 51 other member schools. We are very proud of the hard work the students put in, and the recognition they are receiving from industry professionals. We’re doing something right and so are the students.

Anyway, there is a lot more from the conference on my Twitter feed. I’ve been live-tweeting the excellent panels, a panel session on a case study of the 2012 Mickey Shunick murder in Lafayette, La. and a panel on the “neglected health beat.”

Last night I judged contestants in the onsite sports photography contest. One of our writers, Clayton Hurdle, the Crimson’s sports editor and the guy in the center above, took part in the sports writing contest. Zach Brown the Crimson’s editor in chief and Sydney Cromwell, the news editor, took part in contests today. The winners of those will be announced tomorrow.

The food at the conference has been amazing, by the way. At our buffet dinner tonight we had crawfish étouffée with steamed white rice, beef stroganoff, tossed salad, corn maque choux, steamed broccoli. At lunch today we had what we were told were the best po’ boys for miles around.

Here’s the daytime view from my room on the 14th floor:

Vermilion River

And looking the other way up the Vermilion River.

Vermilion River

Here’s my view at sunset.

View

From the parts that I was fortunate to see the host school, the University of Louisiana-Lafayette has a lovely campus. One more half-day of conference tomorrow, and then we head back home. And more pictures to come, at some point.

And now I’m going to go try another midnight 5K.

I do not know what is happening.


20
Feb 14

Travel day

We drove from Birmingham to Lafayette, La. Google Maps says you can do that in just over six-and-a-half hours. I missed the turn onto I-12, so that meant we went through New Orleans. This unfortunate turn of events means I caught rush hour in New Orleans and in Baton Rouge. And also rain from Baton Rouge on. And I had to get there by 7 p.m.

So we drove fast, me and three students. All through Mississippi and most of Louisiana we read Wikipedia facts of the various small towns aloud. It was a lot more fun than it should have been.

We saw this mural just outside of Pachuta, Miss.

mural

Some 245 people live in Pachuta. Here is the town hall, library AND fire department.

Anyway, we were all very ready to be out of the car. Very ready. We were in the car for more than eight hours and ade it in time, but only just. I dropped the students off, took our sports writer to the University of Louisiana-Lafayette Cajundome where he was covering a Troy-ULL basketball game for a sportswriting contest.

We had dinner, gumbo and amazing red beans and rice. We checked in to the Hilton. Here’s my view from the 14th floor of the Hilton, Lafayette:

view

I did run tonight. I got six miles in, a nice little 10K at almost midnight. I do not know what is happening. I feel like my new shoes are officially broken in:

mural

Aren’t they unattractive?

Tomorrow the Southeast Journalism Conference begins in earnest. I have to be awake again in a few hours.


19
Feb 14

I swam a long way and boy are my jokes tired

Guest speaker in class today, which means I was able to sit toward the back of the class for most of the day and enjoy. She talked about resumes and that sort of thing.

Ashley

Now the students have to start crafting their own resumes. No one likes building resumes as a class assignment, I think. But we all need ’em.

Otherwise I’ve been preparing for the rest of the week, which will be hectic with travel and adventure.

I did make it to the pool this evening, where I enjoyed a much more mild temperature than on Monday. Tonight, I swam 2,000 yards, all freestyle. I do not know what is happening.

Things to read … because reading clues us all in.

This is simple. Go where your audience is. Cross post on the hotspots. What to do when your video is winning social media, but it’s a copy that’s getting the clicks?

What should a news organization do when an unauthorized copy of video they produced is going viral on YouTube?

That’s the question Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA faced when a commentary by its veteran sportscaster Dale Hansen about gay football player Michael Sam, started to spread like wildfire on social media. In case you haven’t seen it:

[…]

One problem: That wasn’t an official WFAA video that was spreading. That was someone else’s rip of WFAA’s video — specifically, someone who runs a YouTube channel named MyDailyWorldNews.

Promote the amplifiers as well as your original upload. Why would you, a well-branded television station, do anything else?

Just flat silly:

The author has been out of school since 2010. He’s also an adult, whether he realizes that is an open question.

The author here discusses the coach of the Russian hockey team, and the upcoming Brazilian World Cup team. And then … When Sports Matter Too Much:

We like to think we’re more cultured and sophisticated on American soil, a place where sporting events are kept in perspective. Of course, this isn’t always the case. Some NFL stadiums and some post-game parking lots have become violent, hazardous places.

Let’s just hope we never get to the next level, where the outcome of a game brings super—sized outrage, where the Cardinals would be deemed a civic embarrassment for not winning a Super Bowl staged in Glendale.

Pretty sure he’s never been down to Alabama to watch football fans.

Tomorrow we’re on the road.