I’m of mixed emotions about the whole thing this year. <\/p>\n
But it was sunny and warm and I saw one other person on a bike late this afternoon. That was a kid on the side of the road, straddling his 26er with his right foot propped up on the curb and looking back behind him. I asked if he was OK, he nodded, and I dodged more traffic at the light. From the bike store I decided to find out where this side road, Longleaf, goes — because neither asking nor consulting a map will do. And about halfway down the road I remembered where I’d once before noticed this street name: on some other hilly road I’d rather not think about. Curiously I recalled that just as I got to the one big hill on Longleaf. <\/p>\n
Then back into civilization, carefully denoted by the Shell station in the middle of nowhere, then a trailer park and then a few odd and end service businesses. Back up to campus, past the vet school where people walk across the four lane road without a care in the world these days, and then beyond the frat houses and through the athletics side of the campus. <\/p>\n
Now I’m in a weird part of the day where to be in the shade is to be in a spot too dark for sunglasses, but it is still fairly bright when there are no trees, so I had a lot of one-hand eye practice today. There was a small, slow climb, I discovered another road on which it isn’t the last roller, but the next-to-last one that really hurts. Finally, back down toward home, through the growing intersection, into the neighborhood and so on. It was an easy and quick 20 miles, except for that one hill.<\/p>\n
The Yankee said she saw me. She was going to the grocery store from somewhere just as I passed through that area. Said I looked good. Didn’t want to honk at me. Everyone else does. Usually it is the “You’re going too slow!” variety. <\/p>\n
Otherwise there was school work, reading papers, grading things, dreaming up class possibilities, following the news, and so on. <\/p>\n
Speaking of which … <\/p>\n
Things to read<\/strong>, which I found interesting today …<\/p>\n A year after daily publication ceased in Alabama and New Orleans, media market is \u2018fractured\u2019<\/a> is about Advance’s moves in New Orleans, Huntsville, Birmingham, Mobile and Pascagoula, Miss. New Orleans has seen a Baton Rouge paper move in to give some competition and a daily publication outlet, so that dynamic market is interesting in different ways. Along the I-65 corridor … <\/p>\n The past year has been \u201ca black hole for news in this city,\u201d says Doug Jones, a Birmingham attorney who rose to national prominence for reopening and successfully prosecuting the infamous 1963 16th Street Church bombing case while serving as U.S. Attorney for the Northern Alabama district.<\/p>\n Jones said he and his wife are contemplating dropping their Birmingham News subscription in favor of the still-daily Tuscaloosa News, based some 60 miles south, which is testing the competitive waters by offering subscriptions in some Birmingham neighborhoods.<\/p>\n […]<\/p>\n Combined average Sunday circulation at Advance\u2019s three Alabama newspapers declined about 8 percent during the same period, with then-nascent digital edition circulation having little effect there.<\/p>\n […]<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I\u2019ve seen, at least in this first year, is because of the reduction in resources committed to local reporting, we\u2019ve experienced a dramatic decrease in quality news available to the community,\u201d said Jim Aucoin, professor and chair of the Communications Department at the University of South Alabama in Mobile. \u201cInvestigative and enterprise coverage just isn\u2019t there anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n Birmingham lawyer Jones specifically criticized al.com and what he characterized as its generally superficial coverage. \u201cYou go online and there are all these teasers, but when you click on them, there are just two or three paragraphs,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd there\u2019s no decent national coverage. Hell, we can\u2019t even get good coverage of University of Alabama football anymore.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I’ve never known Doug Jones to lie to me, but that as an absolute twist, stretch and tearing of the truth. As they say, ‘Bama gonna Bama.’ <\/p>\n If they don’t say that, they should. Anyway, one more blurb:<\/p>\n Readers in highly technologically savvy Huntsville may be less troubled. \u201cI think al.com has responded reasonably well to the increased [digital] demand by providing convenient and free online access to the state\u2019s major newspapers,\u201d said Eletra Gilchrist-Petty, associate professor of Communication Studies at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. \u201cOverall, there do appear to be more strengths than limitations associated with al.com.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Disclosure: I used to work for Advance. It is a private company, so the financial figures quoted in the Poynter piece are more of a learned guess from industry analysts. I can say this, which is relevant to my time there which ended with my return to academia several years ago, Advance’s al.com property is an impressive financial performer — largely on behalf of all of that Alabama football coverage. They know their audience, even when they should know better<\/a>. So the point about looking at last year’s move by Advance as “not something that was done for an immediate payoff\u201d is a good one. <\/p>\n I have faith in their numbers and in their revenue stream. I’m concerned, as others noted in the excerpts above, the link in the previous paragraph and some other material that has previously landed in this space<\/a> about some of the content quality. I hope, and suspect, that will get worked it in the near future. <\/p>\n In our state Birmingham, Huntsville and Mobile, the three cities most directly effected by the shift last year, are the three biggest metros, boasting about half the state’s population. Clearly, there are a lot of people impacted by the daily miracle. (More than just the ones who read it, I’d argue.) Birmingham, if I recall correctly, is now the nation’s largest city without a daily newspaper. I’m not at all concerned about the medium<\/em>. I’d rather we focused on the journalism<\/em>. The more investigations and deep reporting, the better. The more people asking pointed questions of politicians, the better. The less time spent analyzing the quarterback and his girlfriend, the better. That’s not so much about the viability of the company as the company’s role in many communities. <\/p>\n Here’s a re-write from al.com, now: Alabama Theatre named one of America’s favorite vintage movie theaters by nostalgia magazine<\/a>. (Back to the earlier point: It would be nice if they’d do some original reporting. Or got their own photograph. They are literally four blocks up and one block over from the theater.)<\/p>\n The Alabama is one of the great success stories of Birmingham. It is a beautiful and historic facility that went from near demolition to once again becoming an event destination. You can’t see enough movies or concerts there. The last one I watched was The Godfather, which was the first time a digital print was ever played in that now almost 90-year-old theater. Also, the famous marquee was once a background of my blog:<\/p>\n And if that isn’t something to celebrate, I don’t know what is.<\/p>\n WE INTERRUPT THIS POST FOR A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE FROM CNBC<\/a>. <\/p>\n The president is … walking. <\/p>\n OK, then. <\/p>\n And, finally, Carlow University Student Kicked Out Of Class, Arrested For Dressing As ‘The Joker’<\/a>. I’m assuming his crime was misreading the calendar as it pertains to Halloween? <\/p>\n He was charged with aggravated assault, resisting arrest, terroristic threats and disorderly conduct because someone got alarmed, called the police and then, according to police, got a little belligerent. (His lawyer says the cops have it wrong<\/a> and went to the First Amendment in his public airing of grievances.) He was also suspended from campus. He’s due in court later this month. It should be an interesting one to watch. <\/p>\n And now, YouTube Cover Theater<\/strong> the sometimes occasional Friday feature which allows people using their cameras, computers and their musical instruments as a demonstration of how much talent is hiding out there in the world. We do this by picking one original artist and finding a small handful of people covering the (usually) popular tunes. <\/p>\n This week’s featured performers are Hall and Oates. I selected them because I saw this video, one of the van sessions, from Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers<\/a>. What’s a van session? You’ll see. Press play:<\/p>\n![\"Alabama\"](\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/blog\/img\/alabama2.jpg\")
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