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Indiana / IU / photo / podcast / Thursday — Comments Off on If you squint, the snow looks like sand
18
Jan 18

If you squint, the snow looks like sand

That’s what I’m telling myself. It reminds me of the sugar beaches of my youth. Sunburns and shade and hot feet and warm water and getting that sand everywhere. At least the snow doesn’t have that same persistence of sand. Indoors, anyway. At least it has the decency to melt inside. Otherwise? No way. This stuff has been on the ground for a week, tomorrow.

But if you squint, it could be sand. It has just the right amount of frost as a covering to sound like walking on sand in shoes. And those grassy bushes, those bushes that I run my hands through, you know, when the windchill isn’t six below as it was yesterday morning, or .5 degrees this morning …

Point five degrees? Point five degree? Why are we even bothering to consider the grammar, or even calculate this?

Those bushes, why if you keep your gaze low to the ground, you could almost convince yourself they are sea oats.

But then the wind blows, and you realize you’re a long way from the Gulf.

On today’s program I spoke with Jamie Zega. She’s a former editor-in-chief of the Pacemaker-winning Indiana Daily Student. Soon she’ll graduate and take her many talents and great potential to The Washington Post. But today, she’s talking about modern presidential language. This one, as the people say, is sorta NSFW. Give her a listen in the player below:

Did you listen yet? You should? She’s a very smart and thoughtful young reporter.

And, now, back to my pretending to hear sand beneath my feet.

photo / podcast / Wednesday — Comments Off on I’m warm on the inside, you see
17
Jan 18

I’m warm on the inside, you see

This is a seventh floor window at the office:

And it has been like that for days. I keep hoping it will change into some really cool geometric pattern, maybe a plot of equipotential curves, or at least an alien language, but no.

Later this week, we’re getting some rain and a bit of a warming spell. The snow will start to melt and, I’m sure, for the first day or so it’ll seem odd to look out and see things again, just as it was odd to only see the sharp, muted whiteness for the first few hours. Funny how you can get used to both.

Sports reporter Zach Osterman, of the Indianapolis Star came on to my show today. We talked about the ongoing Larry Nassar trial. You’re going to be hearing a lot more about that, finally, in the coming days.

And I created a Twitter account for that program. You can follow Best Story and get all of the latest there. Or here, here’s fine too.

Also, check out my Twitter account. And my Instagram. And come back for more tomorrow. I’m sure I’ll have another winter weather photo! And more!

photo / podcast / Tuesday — Comments Off on I produced a new-old show and you can listen to it here
16
Jan 18

I produced a new-old show and you can listen to it here

I drove on this today:

Fortunately, most of the roads between here and there and back again weren’t like that. Just the first road and, logically the last road.

Now, what you can’t see, because I faced the wrong way for that photograph, was the house about four doors up the road. The man that lives there runs a landscaping company and, this time of year, he also does some road plowing. I know this because he has two pickup trucks and he puts a plow on both of them and then leaves them on the side of the road.

There’s probably an insurance issue at play here. And I’m not being mean-spirited; just yesterday I saw the guy do two really thoughtful snow-related acts of kindness for strangers. But, man, drop the plow and dry the road.

I’m thinking of going door-to-door and collecting a little extra gas money for the guy. How much would it take to plow one simple street a few times? I bet I could get that after just a few doorbells.

The mighty Jordan creek River has frozen over again. Just on the surface this time, and not quite to the extent that it did a few days ago. I’m assuming there are names and ways to measure and express all of that. Other than, “Wow, a moving body of water has frozen. Again. That’s an eight on the Demoralization Scale.”

Ahh, but it looks pretty you say, sure:

Know what looks better? Viscosity.

I have re-started an old podcast series. It might sound familiar to you. Problem not. It was always small and humble. And, guess what, it is going to stay that way! The premise seems to work, though. I invite guests, media members and people who just read a lot of news, and ask them to tell us about the most interesting story they’ve found that day.

And so here’s my colleague, Joe Coleman, on the re-launch episode, talking about, well, you’ll see:

I put together the music this weekend. A little jazz drum sound, some Brazilian guitar and a Cuban horn. I like how peppy it feels. But most importantly, what did you think of the show? Leave me a note in the comments. And then come help me clear off the neighborhood road.

history / IU / photo / podcast / running / Wednesday — Comments Off on “Have you seen any . . . Martians?”
25
Oct 17

“Have you seen any . . . Martians?”

I produced a podcast today. Actually I just ran the board for it, but some people use those words interchangeably. They shouldn’t — and I’m on a mission to civilize! — but they do. I simply sat behind an Axia console and made sure the levels were consistent and the computer was recording. I did this because the students who normally do it couldn’t join the production today, so I sat with the dean and his two guests from another part of the university:

And they talked about Orson Welles — Indiana University possesses what is believed to be the most extensive collection of Welles performances — and, specifically, the War of the Worlds. You can hear the show here:

And you can find the whole collection here.

After work there was just time enough for a cold evening run:

I’ve found it takes about three-quarters of a mile to run off the initial chill. I’ve found that there’s a particular dip in the path behind the house where the cold air coming off the creek pushes up out of the trees and drops the temperature by about five degrees. And I’ve found that I can run in shorts and a t-shirt, but I’m going to be using gloves a lot.

photo / podcast / Twitter / video / Wednesday — Comments Off on Today’s notes
30
Aug 17

Today’s notes

I don’t mean to pile on to anyone’s circumstance. If you aren’t there and you don’t know, then it is about the farthest thing from walking a mile in someone else’s shoes as possible. So I don’t want to speculate, because there was, perhaps, a legitimate concern or distraction of some sort at play here. And not knowing the story, I’d just be making one up and doing a disservice, perhaps even an injustice, to another person. I want to be mindful of that.

Besides, I’m hard pressed to imagine the sequence of events that would lead to me forgetting my belt in a public restroom:

Preying Mantis

But I hope it makes it back to its rightful owner eventually.

Last Thursday, before we produced our first live television broadcast of the school year, I gave four guys a crash course in podcast production. And then, on Friday morning I gave them a glimpse into audio editing. And now they have a show. Here is their first episode:

Not bad for a bunch of print students, I think. It’s all there, if they but seize the initiative. It is so cool when they seize the initiative.

Meanwhile, in Houston:

That is a friendly neighborhood Spiderman, indeed.

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