When the day was done and the weekend begun we let our feathers down. This is a screech owl. We also saw two kinds of vultures. Did you know that they are very curious about circles? It has to do with how they find food. So if you make a circle with your thumb and forefinger they will stick their head right through it looking for meat.
We met all different kinds of hawks from the Raptor Center. We renewed our friendship with the golden eagle Tiger (War Eagle VI):
We saw her last football game flight a few years back. I have great pictures of her from there.
We also saw Spirit, the bald eagle, again:
This is the Football, Fans and Feathers program, where the raptor biologists and volunteers show off their charges. They fly them from release buildings right over guests’ heads. So, yeah, I have a few nice pictures. You can see them all in the photo gallery.
At Pie Day we sat in the romantic South’s Oldest Rivalry corner at Byron’s. That’s the painting that was hanging directly over the booth. There was also the famous Dye-Bryant hunting photograph, a shot of the scoreboard from the first Iron Bowl in Auburn. These are tidy little pieces of local lore. We were eating barbecue under them all.
We retired home for pie. We picked up an Oreo ice cream pie last week for The Yankee’s birthday. She pronounced it excellent, so we’ve been nursing it until tonight.
Journalism links: Be aware of the punctuation on your resume. I’m convinced this is never perfect. Or that it changes. I blame the screech owl. The block by block summit was a great watch today. They are promising archived video soon. Do check it out if you’re interested in community journalism. And, finally, one more good argument for location-based reporting:
(B)ecause this person is announcing to the world that they’re there, that increases the likelihood that they’re willing to talk. Instead of going to a place, or cold calling, or going up to people and interrupting them or going on a fishing expedition, you can find very specific eyewitness sources.
Working reporters can make things like Four Square and Gowalla an incredibly valuable resource. I’m still not interested in using them as a personal tool.
YouTube Cover Theater returns and this week’s tribute belongs to Coldplay because … mostly because I like this one, which validates everything I need to know about the band:
I liked this one more before I realized it was Coldplay, but this young lady does a nice job here:
She has a few more covers on YouTube, and they’re all great. I am a new Orla Gartland fan.
One more:
Give people a camera and a few spare minutes and they’ll show you their art.
And, just for fun, here’s Coldplay explaining their relationship to Billie Jean and her kid:
Tomorrow: Football! See you there. (And don’t forget to check out the raptors.
AP Style, we all love it. We loved to learn it. And now I love to teach it.
Love might be a strong word.
I do like to use it. I do enjoy a good editing session. Teaching AP Style is of course valuable. Designing the lecture isn’t the most fun you’ve ever had with the venerable old reference book — and yes, I still have my original Stylebook.
I’ve been condensing a bunch of style tips, however, and passed those around to my editing class. The trick is to not repeat word-for-word the paper you’ve given to students.
So I have some editing exercises for tomorrow. Each of these stories, a fatal arson, a domestic dispute, bad city government and more, take place in one fake city. It sounds like a terrible place to live. If I ever teach a public relations class I’ll have to use the same fake city when I write press releases about the new park for special needs children and green initiatives downtown, just to balance things out.
Because one does not wish to offend the fictional residents of a fictional city, that’s why.
Had lunch at Pannie-George’s, a meat-and-three that quotes Nehemiah on their business cards and website. Can’t go wrong there. Or here:
We are not just a restaurant for people to come and eat, but it is a place where people are welcomed and treated like a respected member of the Pannie-George’s family … The main ingredient in our food is LOVE.
I’m told the pork chops are delicious, but I only eat those at home. I had the chicken and rice, but the sweet potatoes were the biggest hit. And the people there. Everyone was “Love” or “Sugar” or “Hon” in that extended Southern family of nurture kind of way.
It is knowing that someone else’s family has wrapped their arms around you, making their family bigger and role more important. That’s a tireless feeling.
But we’re eating lunch with a friend who’s about to take a trip to northern Europe. He’s seeking my advice because I just came back from Europe. It feels stupid to give this advice because I’ve been to southern Europe and you know there are differences. Why else have the distinctions?
So, never mind, dear friend that you are going to different countries let alone different cities than I visited, I get to play the expert. Because my advice on Rome will be so helpful to him in Prague. But I spent two weeks in Europe; I’m an expert on generalities.
Here’s the book, here’s the money wallet. Watch your backpack, find the embassy. Don’t worry, you will look like an American. I’m guessing all of this was different a century ago, or people just didn’t write about their banal worries and fears in their travelogues. Of course fellow travelers then couldn’t download region specific podcasts to their iPads, and they didn’t have in-seat movies on their steamships, so the trade offs probably balance out.
Haven’t watched Monday Night Football in several years. My interest in the professional game has more than waned, I suppose. I blame the broadcasting. This isn’t helping:
Ouch. I turned on the television this evening out of want for background noise and that was the second thing on the screen. I think there’s a comma splice in the scripted copy.
Tomorrow: class! The paper! Black and whites! More!
ESPN’s Gameday is here. Lee Corso picked Auburn. That’s usually not a good sign.
The sun was also here. It was a hundred thousand and three degrees. Yes, 100,003 degrees. I spell it out for dramatic effect. In an uncrowded restroom at Jordan-Hare Stadium a lone voice spoke out “I think I’m dehydrated.”
But we saw friends. We tailgated. I walked inside Comer Hall, the building where I studied during undergrad, for the first time in a decade. I’ll have a few pictures tomorrow.
We walked into the stadium as soon as they opened the gates and sat with our newest friends. We are in the student section and found a few very nice graduate students to hang out with. Today they brought us fans, The Yankee brought them a water.
Clemson came out and marched down the field in a simple offensive scheme. And then they punched Auburn in the mouth while on defense. Before you knew it the score was 0-17. Auburn rallied to kick a field goal at the half and the orange and blue Tigers were lucky to be down only two scores.
Clemson’s band marched. Auburn’s band marched better.
Auburn marched down the field in the opening drive of the second half. Cam Newton threw an interception at the goal line. But Auburn’s defense looked as ferocious as it ever has, shutting down Cousin Clem in the third quarter. And then Auburn’s offense came alive, scoring 21 unanswered points to take a 24-17 lead. Clemson rallied to tie the game. Auburn sat on the ball at the very end of regulation to set up overtime.
Clemson won the toss, made Auburn drive first and they could do nothing with the ball. Wes Byrum coolly kicked a field goal to set up a 27-24 lead. When Clemson had the ball they were carving into an exhausted Auburn defense. And no wonder: the game was more than four hours old and it was still in the very humid 80s after 10 p.m. Clemson got close to the goal line, but Auburn’s defense rallied again, which seemed impossible.
So Clemson lined up to kick a field goal. It was good. The score is tied 27-27. But there was a flag. At first the referee signaled a penalty on Auburn, which would have given Clemson a first down at the goal. But the referee consulted with his friends (who were not running a good game, at all). Turns out the penalty was on Clemson. Back ’em up, make ’em kick again.
The Clemson placekicker marked off his steps, and then did it again. And then he pushed his kick right. Auburn won. It was an improbable and ecstatic atmosphere. A mysterious Clemson team played out of their minds in what looked like as physical a game you’ll ever see. Those Tigers gave our Tigers their best shot. Auburn came out cold and found a way to storm back into the game. What happened at the end was luck and intangible and delirious. It can never happen again. Thousands of fans’ hearts can’t take it.
Someone has already uploaded the overtime highlights:
I took 134 photographs on the day. The good ones will be uploaded next week sometime. The nine that best illustrate the day are here.
Nova flew right over us in his pre-game flight.
The sun setting over Jordan-Hare Stadium.
It’s a sellout.
Darvin Adams gets his toes down for a huge touchdown to get Auburn back in the game.
Adams could not haul in this one, which should have been the game-winner.
Speaking of shoulda-beens, if the receiver hauled in this pass in overtime Clemson would have gone home the winner.
This is the slogan du jour and the post-game celebration.
A relieved rolling of Toomer’s Corner.
Saw that on the way back to the car. Seemed appropriate. I don’t know if they put that on the marquee before the game after it was finally finished.
