Friday, March 29, 2013

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
 
PeezPIX by Ted Pease






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 UniversityThe best little professionally oriented journalism program in Utah.

Thursday, March 28, 2013

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 cubewhat 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
 
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 UniversityThe best little professionally oriented journalism program in Utah.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

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
 
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 UniversityThe best little professionally oriented journalism program in Utah.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

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 Gideons 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
 

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 UniversityThe best little professionally oriented journalism program in Utah.

Monday, March 25, 2013

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 itselfjust like writingis 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
 
 

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 UniversityThe best little professionally oriented journalism program in Utah.

Friday, March 22, 2013

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
 
 

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 UniversityThe best little professionally oriented journalism program in Utah.