Maple’s are nature’s first quitters.
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1
Oct 18
You don’t see that every day
Someone left their pillow at the Sample Gates on campus:
I think you call this a … cordless phone:
13
Sep 18
A non-meditation on time
And now, four weeks in, everything is in full swing with the fall semester. Of course classes have developed their own rhythm by now. In my class today we talked about newspapers, radio, television and online ratings are measured. Media data, and the analysis of all of the many analytics, are important, whether you’re talking circulation, Nielsen numbers, page views, unique views or whatever. The only thing I couldn’t really mention was Netflix, because their data remains a mystery to everyone.
We were in the television studio this evening. The sports crew is finding their rhythm as well, and they’ll be a well-oiled machine in three or four more weeks.
They did two shows tonight, a highlight show and a talk program, and I stepped out of the control room and studio just in time to walk down the hall and see some of the late evening’s daylight streaming into the old building:
And at 8 p.m. they were done, and I got to go home. I exited out of the main door of Franklin Hall, a portal that has let people pass for 110 years. And I walked through the Sample Gates, which IU folks see as much as a welcome to the world as a welcome to the campus. That’s been the icon since 1987.
By contrast, these flowers have been in these planters for a few days:
It’s that time of year, I guess, where moments and memories and heartbeats and history all flow together. They can all mesh together, overwriting, coinciding and complimenting one another. By the time you realize it, there’s another one upon you.
6
Sep 18
How can they see with sequins in their eyes?
I woke up before the sun this morning, before my alarm went off, even. And sometime after that I got my act together and walked out the door with my bicycle and had a little quiet ride. Some of the roads were mine alone, as the day stirred into action.
Got in a nice little ride this morning, just as the sun was coming up. Here's one neighborhood I cruised through. pic.twitter.com/K98Ew3tzNU
— Kenny Smith (@kennysmith) September 6, 2018
I could go for more rides like this. It is only the up and at ’em part where I struggle.
Class today was a continuation of sportswriting. We had a guest, a local writer of considerable talent and ability. The only problem is that in addition to his talent and experience, he also has some sort of stomach bug. So I was on my own.
Fortunately I had just enough time to dash off some slides and we discussed lead writing for an hour.
Then I caught up on email and went into the studio for the evening. There was television to produce.
I made it home just in time for dinner.
4
Sep 18
Almost every goal of the day was met
I got out for a morning bike ride. This was a special treat, which mostly involved me waking up early enough to do it.
Being on empty roads was easily the highlight of my morning. Later, I went to work and put together a quiz and wrote an AP Style primer and then lectured a tiny bit on news writing. I was supposed to go into the studio this evening and watch some historic television being made, but that got delayed until next week. History waits for no one! Except when it does.
I did get to do this, however:
The building has a different function now, but it will probably always be a thrill walking by @IUBloomington's Ernie Pyle Hall with an @APStylebook in hand. pic.twitter.com/0eSMfs4Ft8
— Kenny Smith (@kennysmith) September 4, 2018
A few times a week I walk by the building named in honor of the scrawny old Indiana journalist. We’re just rich with the Ernie Pyle stuff around here. His desk is one floor beneath my office. Two floors down they’ve recently created an installation showing off his medals, some of his books, his war correspondent field jacket and a whole bunch more. Just outside our building is a sculpture of him sitting at a table and banging away at a story, somewhere in Europe or the Pacific. One day his ghost will show up and point out my typos. (He’ll be a busy spirit.)
Also, I got to ride my bike this morning:
I climbed two little hills on my short ride. It was all a freewheeling, downhill adventure from there.
