No Brainer

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What? Do you think?

“Governments are most dangerous when they try to tell people what to think.”

—Anthony M. Kennedy, associate justice, U.S. Supreme Court, 2002

• Editorial Comment: Or not to think.



• Yesterday’s WORD: Did you miss yesterday’s WORDs from poet James Dickey on poetry and how to use the power of words? Click here. 
 

News from USU’s award-winning student news site, The Hard News Café
• Aggie TV News (3/28)—Logan is safest metro area in the U.S., but what about USU? New Rec complex to break ground in Fall. Oil spill harms beavers. And women priests, anchored by Eric Jungblut & Jenna Lynn; produced by Loren Brewer  
• Aggie TV News (3/21)—Preston High School student walkout, public safety in Logan, weather, sports & more, anchored by Emily Landeen and Tmera Bradley; produced by Kelton Wells 
• After hours of cold, boredom, sleeplessness—free hot & spicy wings! by Dani Hayes
• USU groups launch campaign to end thoughtless use of the ‘R-word,’ by Mary Taggart
• Musicians, film-makers get thumbs-up from Richmond council, by Shayna Marcure 
• Town council plans to repave Paradise, but only two blocks, by Dawn Otterby 
• North Logan council resolves to adjust boundary with Logan, by Jonathan Larson
  

PeezPIX by Ted Pease

Surfer Dreams

Original PeezPix archival prints, matted at sizes from 5x7" to 16x20" or larger, available for sale: $14 (5x7), $28 (8x12) and up. email ted.pease@gmail.com. Thanks for asking.

(Be)Friend Dr. Ted, Professor of Interesting Stuff 

JCOM @ Utah State University—The best little professionally oriented journalism program in Utah.

Poetry

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Chicken-Egg

“The beginning of your true encounter with poetry should be simple. It should bypass all classrooms, all textbooks, courses, examinations and libraries and go straight to the things that make your own existence exist: to your body and nerves and blood and muscles. Find you own way . . . .

“[It] is out there: a handful of gravel is a good place to start. So is an ice cube—what more mysterious and beautiful interior of something has there ever been?”

—James Dickey, poet and novelist, How to Use the Power of the Printed Word, 1985

• Editorial Comment: The interior of Roger Ailes: Mysterious, yes; beautiful, I don’t want to think about it.

• Yesterday’s WORD: Did you miss yesterday’s WORDs about Mary Tyler Moore and the TV news jungle, from TV news anchor Angela Davis? Click here. 
 

News from USU’s award-winning student news site, The Hard News Café
• Aggie TV News—Preston High School student walkout, public safety in Logan, weather, sports & more, anchored by Emily Landeen and Tmera Bradley; produced by Kelton Wells 
• After hours of cold, boredom, sleeplessness—free hot & spicy wings! by Dani Hayes
• USU groups launch campaign to end thoughtless use of the ‘R-word,’ by Mary Taggart
• Musicians, film-makers get thumbs-up from Richmond council, by Shayna Marcure 
• Town council plans to repave Paradise, but only two blocks, by Dawn Otterby 
• North Logan council resolves to adjust boundary with Logan, by Jonathan Larson 

PeezPIX by Ted Pease

Cala Curls

Original PeezPix archival prints, matted at sizes from 5x7" to 16x20" or larger, available for sale: $14 (5x7), $28 (8x12) and up. email ted.pease@gmail.com. Thanks for asking.


(Be)Friend Dr. Ted, Professor of Interesting Stuff 

JCOM @ Utah State University—The best little professionally oriented journalism program in Utah.

TV News

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Oohhhhhhh, Mister Grant!

“If you choose to work in TV news, you have to have a thick skin. This isn’t ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’ anymore. It’s more like ‘Survivor.’”

—Angela Davis, news anchor, KSTP-TV, Minneapolis/St. Paul, 2004

• Editorial Comment: Cute doesn’t cut it.


• Yesterday’s WORD: Did you miss yesterday’s WORDs about the death of legendary legal journalist Anthony Lewis, from Andrew Cohen? Click here. 
 

News from USU’s award-winning student news site, The Hard News Café
• After hours of cold, boredom, sleeplessness—free hot & spicy wings! by Dani Hayes
• USU groups launch campaign to end thoughtless use of the ‘R-word,’ by Mary Taggart
• Musicians, film-makers get thumbs-up from Richmond council, by Shayna Marcure 
• Town council plans to repave Paradise, but only two blocks, by Dawn Otterby 
• ATV News includes . . . USU College of Ed ranks nationally again; local insight on the new Pope, anchored by Randall Henry and Loren Brewer; Emily Landeen producer 
• City parks, senior center will benefit from Hyrum volunteers, by Paul Christiansen
• North Logan council resolves to adjust boundary with Logan, by Jonathan Larson 
• Memorial celebration for USU design professor Alan Hashimoto, by Katie Swain  
• Aggie student lobbyists educate Utah Legislature on USU priorities, by Dani Hayes 
 

PeezPIX by Ted Pease

Cala Curls

Original PeezPix archival prints, matted at sizes from 5x7" to 16x20" or larger, available for sale: $14 (5x7), $28 (8x12) and up. email ted.pease@gmail.com. Thanks for asking.


(Be)Friend Dr. Ted, Professor of Interesting Stuff 

JCOM @ Utah State University—The best little professionally oriented journalism program in Utah.

Tony’s Trumpet

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Anthony Lewis, 1927-2013

“I always tell young journalists and young lawyers to read everything Lewis has written, because his writing was always so clear, and so accessible, and such a good starting point for more involved research on any given legal topic. Others evidently agreed. ‘He’s as clear a writer as I think I know,’ former Times editor Joseph Lelyveld [said]. There will likely be no dissent from that opinion.”

—Andrew Cohen, “The Life and Death of Anthony Lewis, a ‘Tribune of the Law’: The author of Gideon’s Trumpet changed the way legal issues are covered and understood in America,” The Atlantic, March 25, 2013

• NYTimes obit: Anthony Lewis, a two-time Pulitzer winner who covered the U.S. Supreme Court and “transformed American legal journalism,” died Monday.
• Washington Post obit: “Anthony Lewis, indefatigable champion of civil liberties and winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, dies at 85”
• The Atlantic: James Fallows’ remembrance



• Editorial Comment: Never doubt that journalists can change the world. Read Anthony Lewis. RIP

• Yesterday’s WORD: Did you miss yesterday’s WORDs from writer Maria Popova, who says that reading is an essential skill for writing? Click here. 
 

News from USU’s award-winning student news site, The Hard News Café
• Musicians, film-makers get thumbs-up from Richmond council, by Shayna Marcure 
• Town council plans to repave Paradise, but only two blocks, by Dawn Otterby 
• ATV News includes . . . USU College of Ed ranks nationally again; local insight on the new Pope, anchored by Randall Henry and Loren Brewer; Emily Landeen producer 
• City parks, senior center will benefit from Hyrum volunteers, by Paul Christiansen
• North Logan council resolves to adjust boundary with Logan, by Jonathan Larson 
• Memorial celebration for USU design professor Alan Hashimoto, by Katie Swain  
• Aggie student lobbyists educate Utah Legislature on USU priorities, by Dani Hayes  
• New Utah law seeks to counter loss of college students to missions, by Katie Swain
 

PeezPIX by Ted Pease

Clayhead Ted
Four students in my Media Smarts class created this frightening likeness for a claymation cartoon, part of their editorial cartoon project. Thanks to Betsy, Erik, Kristen & Teddy, Team Headliners. FB


Original PeezPix archival prints, matted at sizes from 5x7" to 16x20" or larger, available for sale: $14 (5x7), $28 (8x12) and up. email ted.pease@gmail.com. Thanks for asking.


(Be)Friend Dr. Ted, Professor of Interesting Stuff 

JCOM @ Utah State University—The best little professionally oriented journalism program in Utah.

Want to Write?

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You’ve Gotta Read

“All attempts at gaining literary polish must begin with judicious reading,” H. P. Lovecraft famously advised aspiring writers. Indeed, reading is an essential skill on par with writing, and though non-reading may be an intellectual choice on par with reading, reading itself—just like writing—is a craft that requires optimal technique for optimal outcome.” 

—Maria Popova, writer and compiler of interesting things at Brain Pickings, January 2013 (Image: Alfred Eisenstaedt)

• Editorial Comment: Note: Tweets & texts don’t count. :D (36 characters)

• Yesterday’s WORD: Did you miss yesterday’s WORDs from journalist Monica Rhor, on why she’ll never leave the news business? Click here. 
 

News from USU’s award-winning student news site, The Hard News Café
• Town council plans to repave Paradise, but only two blocks, by Dawn Otterby

• ATV News includes . . . USU College of Ed ranks nationally again; local insight on the new Pope, anchored by Randall Henry and Loren Brewer; Emily Landeen producer 
• City parks, senior center will benefit from Hyrum volunteers, by Paul Christiansen
• North Logan council resolves to adjust boundary with Logan, by Jonathan Larson 
• Memorial celebration for USU design professor Alan Hashimoto, by Katie Swain  
• ATV News—Cache Rendezvous brings us back from Spring Break, anchored by Emily Landeen and Tmera Bradley 
• Aggie student lobbyists educate Utah Legislature on USU priorities, by Dani Hayes 
• New Utah law seeks to counter loss of college students to missions, by Katie Swain
• Cleaning up Cache Valley’s air: ‘You’ve got to start somewhere,’ by Paul Christiansen

 

PeezPIX by Ted Pease

Clayhead Ted
Four students in my Media Smarts class created this frightening likeness for a claymation cartoon, part of their editorial cartoon project. Thanks to Betsy, Erik, Kristen & Teddy, Team Headliners.


Original PeezPix archival prints, matted at sizes from 5x7" to 16x20" or larger, available for sale: $14 (5x7), $28 (8x12) and up. email ted.pease@gmail.com. Thanks for asking.


(Be)Friend Dr. Ted, Professor of Interesting Stuff 

JCOM @ Utah State University—The best little professionally oriented journalism program in Utah.

A Cape & Tights?

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Make a Difference

“This is my job. This is what I signed up for. And there’s nothing like it in the world. Newspaper journalism is not a route to a big paycheck and banker’s hours. It never has been and never will be. The advent of the 24-hour news cycle, the Internet and social media has nothing to do with that. . . .   

“If you’re looking for money or fame or easy hours, this was never the right job for you. The current throes of the business are not to blame for that.

“For me, newspaper journalism has always been about telling stories, about giving voice to corners of the community that have long been silenced, about crawling into the lives and shoes of other people and pulling back a curtain so our readers can get a glimpse of the world around them. . . .” 

“It’s knowing that you can make a difference, even if that difference is nothing more than giving your audience a good five-minute read in the morning.”

—Monica Rhor, journalist, “Why I’ll never leave news,”

March 20, 2013

• Editorial Comment: Engage your curiosity, talk to people, help complete strangers, write and get paid (a little) for it, make a difference in people’s lives, do good and fight injustice. This job comes with everything but a cape and tights.

• Yesterday’s WORD: Did you miss yesterday’s WORDs from 2-time Pulitzer winner William Henry III, accusing the press of arrogance? Click here. 
 

News from USU’s award-winning student news site, The Hard News Café
• ATV News includes . . . USU College of Ed ranks nationally again; local insight on the new Pope, anchored by Randall Henry and Loren Brewer; Emily Landeen producer 
• Memorial celebration for USU design professor Alan Hashimoto, by Katie Swain  
• ATV News—Cache Rendezvous brings us back from Spring Break, anchored by Emily Landeen and Tmera Bradley 
• Aggie student lobbyists educate Utah Legislature on USU priorities, by Dani Hayes 
• New Utah law seeks to counter loss of college students to missions, by Katie Swain
• Cleaning up Cache Valley’s air: ‘You’ve got to start somewhere,’ by Paul Christiansen

 

PeezPIX by Ted Pease

Clayhead Ted
Four students in my Media Smarts class created this frightening likeness for a claymation cartoon, part of their editorial cartoon project. Thanks to Betzy, Erik, Kristen & Teddy, Team Headliners.

Original PeezPix archival prints, matted at sizes from 5x7" to 16x20" or larger, available for sale: $14 (5x7), $28 (8x12) and up. email ted.pease@gmail.com. Thanks for asking.


(Be)Friend Dr. Ted, Professor of Interesting Stuff 

JCOM @ Utah State University—The best little professionally oriented journalism program in Utah.