One Thing at a Time

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Advice on Writing

“I never think at all when I write. Nobody can do two things at the same time and do them well.” 

—Don Marquis (1878-1937), humorist, poet, columnist, author, playwright and creator of “Archy and Mehitabel”

• Editorial Comment: There’s thinking and breathing, thinking and talking, thinking and running for political office....


• Yesterday’s WORD: Did you miss yesterday’s WORDs from New York Times editorial writer Verlyn Klinkenborg, about the honesty of sentences? Click here.

News from our award-winning student news site, The Hard News Café 
• Aggie TV News (video): 9/26/12 Homecoming Week at Utah State University. USU’s student newscast.
• Mercy rule invoked as MC Mustangs pound Bonneville, by Danielle Manley 
• Cub River sports complex to stay in county, Richmond says, by Heidi Vaughn 
• Professional center at Gateway & 1st North OK’d by Providence, by Dani Hayes 
• Opinion: A question of principle—I just can’t vote for Mitt, by Harry Caines
• Demo challenger chides Congress on gridlock, urges voter turnout, by D. Whitney Smith
• The saga of labor activist Joe Hill, executed in Utah, wins Evans prize, by D. Whitney Smith
• Diné Tah and Joe Hill: Books on the Navajo and labor leader win awards, by Natasha Bodily  
• ‘What do I do?’ Nontraditional students in the dark at USU, by Kelsie Davis 

PeezPIX by Ted Pease

 



Fall Harvest on Utah’s Fruitway, Brigham City

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Tongue-Tied

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Say What You Mean

“On their own, sentences are implacably honest. They may be long, short, simple, complex, clear, ambiguous, even incoherent. But they don’t try to hide those qualities. They are what they are and they say what they say. It’s plain as the words on their faces. The trouble is that most sentences have writers, a fact that readers are well aware of. That makes it hard to consider sentences entirely on their own. Other questions arise. What is she saying? What did he mean?”

—Verlyn Klinkenborg, columnist, “The Trouble with Intentions, The New York Times, and author of Several Short Sentences about Writing, Sept. 24, 2012

• Editorial Comment: I wish I could get out of the way of my own writing.

• Yesterday’s WORD: Did you miss yesterday’s WORDs from President Barack Obama, addressing the United Nations about the free expression and tolerance in the wake of the revolting anti-Muslim “film” and the violence it spawned worldwide? Click here.

News from our award-winning student news site, The Hard News Café  
• Aggie TV News (video): 9/26/12 Homecoming Week at Utah State University. USU’s student newscast.
• Demo challenger chides Congress on gridlock, urges voter turnout, by D. Whitney Smith
• The saga of labor activist Joe Hill, executed in Utah, wins Evans prize, by D. Whitney Smith
• Local restaurants make deals that help student budgets, by Jessica Sonderegger
• Money and fun: Corn maze saved Bear River Bottoms, by Brandon Fonda
• JCOM alum comes home with his new book, ‘Housekeeper’s Son’, by Natasha Bodily
• Diné Tah and Joe Hill: Books on the Navajo and labor leader win awards, by Natasha Bodily  
• ‘What do I do?’ Nontraditional students in the dark at USU, by Kelsie Davis  
• North Logan council, planning commission work on city center details, by Jessica Sonderegger 
• Macey’s offers helpful class for your garden zucchini explosion, by Dani Hayes
 

PeezPIX by Ted Pease

 
Fall Harvest on Utah’s Fruitway, Brigham City

...

Absolute Values

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Free Expression

“I know there are some who ask why we don’t just ban such a video. The answer is enshrined in our laws: our Constitution protects the right to practice free speech. Here in the United States, countless publications provoke offense. . . . [A]s president of our country, and commander-in-chief of our military, I accept that people are going to call me awful things every day, and I will always defend their right to do so. Americans have fought and died around the globe to protect the right of all people to express their views – even views that we disagree with.

“We do so not because we support hateful speech, but because our Founders understood that without such protections, the capacity of each individual to express their own views, and practice their own faith, may be threatened. We do so because in a diverse society, efforts to restrict speech can become a tool to silence critics, or oppress minorities. We do so because . . . the strongest weapon against hateful speech is not repression, it is more speech . . .”
 

“I know that not all countries in this body share this understanding of the protection of free speech. Yet in 2012, at a time when anyone with a cell phone can spread offensive views around the world with the click of a button, the notion that we can control the flow of information is obsolete. The question, then, is how we respond. And on this we must agree: there is no speech that justifies mindless violence.”

 

—President Barack Obama, addressing the United Nations in the wake of violence over the stupid anti-Muslim “film,”  Sept. 25, 2012

Full transcript

Image: AP Photo/Seth Wenig

• Editorial Comment: I hate what you say, but I will hold my nose and defend to the death your right to say it—as Ambassador Chris Stevens did.

• Yesterday’s WORD: Did you miss yesterday’s WORDs from former ABC News boss David Westin, on journalists checking back with sources to “fix” quotes before they’re published? Click here.

OOOOPS: I missed National Punctuation Day on Monday. Here’s my belated observance, back by popular demand.

News from our award-winning student news site, The Hard News Café  
• Demo challenger chides Congress on gridlock, urges voter turnout, by D. Whitney Smith
• The saga of labor activist Joe Hill, executed in Utah, wins Evans prize, by D. Whitney Smith
• Local restaurants make deals that help student budgets, by Jessica Sonderegger
• Money and fun: Corn maze saved Bear River Bottoms, by Brandon Fonda
• JCOM alum comes home with his new book, ‘Housekeeper’s Son’, by Natasha Bodily
• Aggie TV News (video): 9/20/12 It's Ag Week! Logan’s canals. Free energy from water? Spider silk. USU’s cheese-driven land speed record. Top of Utah Marathon, sports & weather. 
• Diné Tah and Joe Hill: Books on the Navajo and labor leader win awards, by Natasha Bodily  
• ‘What do I do?’ Nontraditional students in the dark at USU, by Kelsie Davis  
• North Logan council, planning commission work on city center details, by Jessica Sonderegger 
• Macey’s offers helpful class for your garden zucchini explosion, by Dani Hayes
 

PeezPIX by Ted Pease

 
Delicious little jewels
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National Punctuation Day

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I missed National Punctuation Day yesterday (damn!), but here’s a little non-punctual observance. What would Semi-Colon do?

Fixer-Upper

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 Don’t Quote Me, But . . .

“Journalists take justifiable pride in their independence. They don’t want anyone telling them what they should report—not the government, not advertisers, not corporations that employ them and certainly not the people they’re reporting on. That makes sense. We want to believe that when a reporter is telling us something, it’s because she believes it to be true. Period. 

“So, when we hear that some reporters allow the people they’re interviewing to ‘approve’ direct quotations, it sounds outrageous. We know that politicians and other news subjects are spinning the press all the time. It’s hard to get around that. But if in a momentary lapse of candor they say something they’d like to take back, why let them?” . . . 

“In the end, we’re still going to have to rely on the good sense of our reporters to get the story, get it right and tell us as much as they can. If that involves some approving of quotes, then maybe that’s OK. You can’t legislate good journalism. The ultimate responsibility will remain where it’s always been: Those of us in the audience have to judge for ourselves which news sources are using all the tools available to them to help us learn the truth and which are falling down on the job.”

—David Westin, former president, ABC News, in “Don’t Quote Me,” The Washington Post, Sept. 22, 2012.

• Editorial Comment: Wait! Let me put it this way. . . .

• Yesterday’s WORD: Did you miss yesterday’s WORDs from Utah’s 6-term U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, on the “indispensable” press? Click here. 

News from our award-winning student news site, The Hard News Café  
• The saga of labor activist Joe Hill, executed in Utah, wins Evans prize, by D. Whitney Smith
• Local restaurants make deals that help student budgets, by Jessica Sonderegger
• Money and fun: Corn maze saved Bear River Bottoms, by Brandon Fonda
• JCOM alum comes home with his new book, ‘Housekeeper’s Son’, by Natasha Bodily
• Aggie TV News (video): 9/20/12 It's Ag Week! Logan’s canals. Free energy from water? Spider silk. USU’s cheese-driven land speed record. Top of Utah Marathon, sports & weather. 
• Diné Tah and Joe Hill: Books on the Navajo and labor leader win awards, by Natasha Bodily  
• ‘What do I do?’ Nontraditional students in the dark at USU, by Kelsie Davis  
• North Logan council, planning commission work on city center details, by Jessica Sonderegger 
• Macey’s offers helpful class for your garden zucchini explosion, by Dani Hayes
• Utah legislative hopefuls showcase positions at USU debate, by D. Whitney Smith
 

PeezPIX by Ted Pease

 
Delicious little jewels
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Endorsement

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 Bitter Pill

“As much as I hate to admit it, the American media are really indispensable to our country.”

—U.S. Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, 1997

• Editorial Comment: Did you sprain anything there, yer Honor?





• Yesterday’s WORD: Did you miss yesterday’s WORDs from former St. Louis Post Dispatch editor William Woo, on building public trust? Click here. 

News from our award-winning student news site, The Hard News Café 
• Aggie TV News (video): 9/20/12 It's Ag Week! Logan’s canals. Free energy from water? Spider silk. USU’s cheese-driven land speed record. Top of Utah Marathon, sports & weather. 
• Diné Tah and Joe Hill: Books on the Navajo and labor leader win awards, by Natasha Bodily  
• ‘What do I do?’ Nontraditional students in the dark at USU, by Kelsie Davis  
• North Logan council, planning commission work on city center details, by Jessica Sonderegger 
• Macey’s offers helpful class for your garden zucchini explosion, by Dani Hayes 
• Utah legislative hopefuls showcase positions at USU debate, by D. Whitney Smith 
• Large animals OK on R1 lots in Smithfield, Planning Commission says, by Katie Swain
• Richmond Relic Hall a ‘labor of love’ for pioneer woman’s descendants, by Heidi Vaughn
 

PeezPIX by Ted Pease

Godbeams
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Public Trust

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 More Than Scribblers

“The great task for journalism educators, in addition to providing practical training and academic breadth, is to equip their students with a firm sense of the public trust: how it developed, what it means to America, how it manifests itself or is betrayed in the work of journalists and news organizations. Journalism programs, departments, and schools need to become the places where such concepts are nurtured, protected, and ceaselessly advocated.”

—William Woo (1939-2006), Stanford journalism professor and former newspaper journalist and editor-in-chief of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “Journalism and Serving the Public Trust,” 2003

• Editorial Comment: Back to basics, profs.

• Yesterday’s WORD: Did you miss yesterday’s WORDs from Mark Twain about lying? Click here. 

News from our award-winning student news site, The Hard News Café 

• Aggie TV News (video): 9/20/12 It's Ag Week! Logan’s canals. Free energy from water? How strong is spider silk? USU’s cheese-driven land speed record. Top of Utah Marathon, sports & weather.
• Large animals OK on R1 lots in Smithfield, Planning Commission says, by Katie Swain
• Richmond Relic Hall a ‘labor of love’ for pioneer woman’s descendants, by Heidi Vaughn
• Mountain Crest girls trounce Logan in volleyball region play, by Curtis Lundstrom
• Scarecrow fest marks Nibley’s sister-city bond with English village, by Danielle Manley
• Smithfield fundraising run ‘more work than cookie dough’ but worth it, by Katie Swain 
• Aggie BluePrint: Aggies grow in DC internships, by Rhett Wilkinson
• Democratic guv candidate Cooke: ‘Take back control of your state’, by D. Whitney Smith

 PeezPIX by Ted Pease

Pacific Evening
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