Wednesday « Kenny Smith | A remarkable thing happens …

Wednesday

photo / Samford / Wednesday — Comments Off
9
Dec 15

The case of the disappearing wagon wheel

More phone calls tonight. Hundreds of phone calls. Repetitive phone calls. Lots of lovely voice mails, and plenty of messages to people I called last week and three weeks ago. I am a phone calling machine. I can say a lot of things in 45 seconds, and I thank my years in broadcasting for that. But, otherwise, this is my role in things at the moment. It is a terribly exciting moment, let me just say.

You know who else has it this good? The boys and girls who get to product test all of these toys. People that have it not-so-good are the staffers who have to create these boxes after a weekend course in Photoshop. Which brings us to the final two box covers I wanted to show you this week. Six, I thought, were worth sharing. But I shot others earlier this week at Walmart, as well. I noticed a common theme. All of the models are white.

Anachronism! These two types of blades never met in battle.

Well … before Highlander, that is. Look, this is a great toy for active young children, but buy them face guards. And remove your lamps. And if you read the fine print you find that the foam sharpening stone is sold separately.

Listen for key phrases when the kids are playing. “There can be only one,” is OK. Seppuku or harakiri, if uttered, would probably signal a great opportunity to swoop in for a teaching moment.

And, while they are distracted, remove the swords.

I bet you had one of these. Or you had access to it. I had one. Held onto it for years.

Plastic. Two actual seats. Cup holders. Seatbelts. Radio Flyer has made some upgrades. Well, except for the plastic.

photo / Samford / Wednesday — Comments Off
2
Dec 15

Late nights, long follow-up days

There may be others, I don’t know. I can’t, however, think of any other group that would still be working on their extracurricular projects until 2:30 in the morning. That’s motivation and passion — and clattering keys and tired eyes.

Student media is cool.

And since they were there until 2:30 a.m. I was with them until 2:30 a.m., too. Someone should recognize them. Unfortunately, I am not as cool as they are.

So my cousin and his friend went home on Sunday, and later that night we noticed that he left his work boots at our place. I’ll see him again at Christmas, but I figured I would send him pictures of all of the places his shoes have been since he lost them. Last night they went shopping.

If I’d thought to stop by a shoe store I could have said they were looking for a sole mate. But there was the newsroom to get back to …

Anyway, I thought it would be something I could torture him about. I think I’m mostly amusing myself, however.

family / overwriting / photo / Wednesday — Comments Off
25
Nov 15

That looks different, and it looks the same

Ya know, you can wake up in one place and then you set out for another place. And then it is time to go to sleep again so you wake up in the second place and you look outside and the sky is a different blue. Or that could be your imagination. The air feels different, and that’s probably not your imagination. And the earth beneath your feet feels different. You know that’s not your imagination.

And the sky, when it is blue, is always this shade of blue here. And the air always feels just like this, without fail, this time of year. And the soil that you played in here is darker than what you’ve ever worked in everywhere else, rich and thick and full of mole holes and the clover is thick and rich and cool to the touch.

That’s when you realize you’re not in the first place, but the second place, which might always feel like a second place, but is of course really the real first place. And it might be the holidays and just a short visit, but you know you’re home.

Auburn / football / friends / memories / podcast / Samford / Wednesday — Comments Off
18
Nov 15

A meaningful header would make you see past maple leaves

It is a shareable age, but you just can’t express autumn in any of the formats yet available to us. But if yours hasn’t passed yet, go outside and enjoy it some. May the weather be great and the leaves be bright, wherever you are just now.

Because you know what they say about winter.

So, anyway, even if you can’t really share the sense of the season in one photograph, I’m going to try. Here’s a basic under tree, looking up and through shot from campus today:

(And if that seems like a weird idea, I’m going to blame the Canadian singer-songwriter that’s playing as I type this.)

We were in the newsroom until 8 p.m. They gathered there less than 17 hours after leaving the place this morning. Student leaders, eyeing their upcoming Thanksgiving break, are wrapping up their plans for an issue the week after.

You have to really want it to work in student media, as they do. They know there will never be enough of them, or enough accolades or recognition for them. But I know those putting their hearts into it have learned the value of the work they do. The only lament is that not enough people appreciate their efforts and, sometimes, their sacrifices.

Elsewhere, here is a conversation I had with my friend and colleague Chadd Scott. He’s always worth a listen. This is no exception as today he’s breaking down what this underwhelming football season means for Auburn’s football coach. (The short answer, he suggests, is a great deal in the medium-term.)

Chadd was my first radio mentor and it is, to me, a neat thing to still get to work with him on projects. Check out Gridiron Now. It’s a great project.

Tomorrow I’m going to make a video. The best days are the multimedia days.

memories / photo / Wednesday — Comments Off
11
Nov 15

Memory week photos, day three

It was fun showing off old photos last week and following them down memory lane. So here’s some more of that for this week. As far as I can recall, I haven’t published these pictures anywhere. The theme is signs or words.

Here’s two now.

Ms. Buben’s 3rd and 4th grade class clearly had a big event at McDonald’s.

This is in Alaska. We were driving through this area as a wildfire was burning just a few miles away. Fortunately it was a very sparse area, so the human concerns were somewhat limited. But the sky was erie and all of the local store marquees were concerned with the fire and fire fighters.

Ms. Buben started teaching in the Soldotna school district in 1988. I wonder how many of those french fry crafts she’s supervised over the years.

These signs are for a dive restaurant near The Yankee’s hometown. It is one of those places that almost got washed out to see during Hurricane Sandy. I think it actually did and no one noticed. The stuffed burgers are good.

It is the best of the three or four places I’ve been that wound up on Guy Fieri’s show. The Italian place in front of the Duck, and beside this sign, is much better.