Friday, January 31, 2014

Facial Tics

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Advice for Writers

“I tell my students that the odds of their getting published and of it bringing them financial security, peace of mind, and even joy are probably not that great. Ruin, hysteria, bad skin, unsightly tics, ugly financial problems, maybe; but probably not peace of mind. I tell them that I think they ought to write anyway.” 

 —Anne Lamott, writer, from Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, 1994.

• Editorial Comment: Well, who needs peace of mind when you have hysteria?

PeezPix by Ted Pease 

Back home in Trinidad for a few days...








PeezPix. ted.pease@gmail.com

TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM is a free “service” sent to the 1,800 or so misguided subscribers around the planet. If you have recovered from whatever led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em. But all contain at least a kernel of insight. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Utah State University, Logan, Utah. ted.pease@gmail.com.
(Be)Friend Dr. Ted, Professor of Interesting Stuff

“Words are sacred. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard

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Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Today’s Lesson

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Why We Do It

“Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it and, above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light.”


—Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911), newspaper owner


• Editorial Comment: This one is for my copy editing students today.


PeezPix by Ted Pease 

Hydrangea








PeezPix. ted.pease@gmail.com

TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM is a free “service” sent to the 1,800 or so misguided subscribers around the planet. If you have recovered from whatever led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em. But all contain at least a kernel of insight. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Utah State University, Logan, Utah. ted.pease@gmail.com.
(Be)Friend Dr. Ted, Professor of Interesting Stuff

“Words are sacred. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard

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Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Pete Seeger

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If I had a hammer . . . 

“Songs won’t save the planet, but neither will books or speeches.”

“If I had a hammer I’d hammer in the morning
I’d hammer in the evening all over this land
I’d hammer out danger, I’d hammer out a warning
I’d hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land.”
Click here

 
“Do you know the difference between education and experience? Education is when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don’t.”

“It’s very important to learn to talk to people you disagree with.”

“I love my country very dearly, and I greatly resent the implication that some of the places that I have sung and some of the people that I have known and some of my opinions, whether they are religious or philosophical, make me less of an American.”

“If there is something wrong, speak up!”

—Pete Seeger (1919-2014), activist, singer, left-winger, “America’s conscience,” died Monday. Obit


• Editorial Comment: If that doesn't make you tear up, there’s something wrong.


PeezPix by Ted Pease 

Glossy Evening







PeezPix. ted.pease@gmail.com

TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM is a free “service” sent to the 1,800 or so misguided subscribers around the planet. If you have recovered from whatever led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em. But all contain at least a kernel of insight. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Utah State University, Logan, Utah. ted.pease@gmail.com.
(Be)Friend Dr. Ted, Professor of Interesting Stuff

“Words are sacred. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard

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Monday, January 27, 2014

Multi-Tasking

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Poet-Tailor

“The best editors have the wisdom of an oracle, the perspective of a historian, the soul of a poet, the patience of a parent, and the critical eye of a fine tailor.”

—Malcolm Gibson, journalism professor & adviser to The University of Kansas Daily Kansan 









• Editorial Comment: News cut to fit.







PeezPix by Ted Pease 

Glossy Evening







PeezPix. ted.pease@gmail.com

TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM is a free “service” sent to the 1,800 or so misguided subscribers around the planet. If you have recovered from whatever led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em. But all contain at least a kernel of insight. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Utah State University, Logan, Utah. ted.pease@gmail.com.
(Be)Friend Dr. Ted, Professor of Interesting Stuff

“Words are sacred. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard

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Friday, January 24, 2014

Depraved

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Robust & Wide-Open


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“Indeed it is the constitutional right of every citizen, no matter how ignorant or how depraved, to be a journalist.”

 —John Carroll, former editor, LATimes (Ruhl Ethics Lecture, University of Oregon, 2004)


• Editorial Comment: Super.


PeezPix by Ted Pease 

Little River, Humboldt County, California








PeezPix. ted.pease@gmail.com

TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM is a free “service” sent to the 1,800 or so misguided subscribers around the planet. If you have recovered from whatever led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em. But all contain at least a kernel of insight. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Utah State University, Logan, Utah. ted.pease@gmail.com.
(Be)Friend Dr. Ted, Professor of Interesting Stuff

“Words are sacred. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard

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Thursday, January 23, 2014

Cognitive Science

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Thinking
“If you want to be exposed to new vocabulary and new ideas, the places to go are books, magazines and newspapers. Television, video games, and the sorts of Internet content that students lean toward (for example, social networking sites, music sites, and the like) are for the most part unhelpful. Researchers have painstakingly analyzed the contents of the many ways that students can spend their leisure time. Books, newspapers, and magazines are singularly helpful in introducing new ideas and new vocabulary to students.”

—Daniel Willingham, cognitive scientist and author of Why Don’t Students Like School? 2009


• Editorial Comment: Sounds like a good argument for book-burning during leisure time.


PeezPix by Ted Pease 

Stella the Muppet









PeezPix. ted.pease@gmail.com

TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM is a free “service” sent to the 1,800 or so misguided subscribers around the planet. If you have recovered from whatever led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em. But all contain at least a kernel of insight. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Utah State University, Logan, Utah. ted.pease@gmail.com.
(Be)Friend Dr. Ted, Professor of Interesting Stuff

“Words are sacred. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard

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Wednesday, January 22, 2014

On Writing

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Paperwork

 
“I love being a writer. What I can’t stand is the paperwork.”
 
 —Peter De Vries (1910-1993), American novelist (NYTimes obit)




• Editorial Comment: Put that in a memo, wouldja?


PeezPix by Ted Pease 

Road Woofers









PeezPix. ted.pease@gmail.com

TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM is a free “service” sent to the 1,800 or so misguided subscribers around the planet. If you have recovered from whatever led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em. But all contain at least a kernel of insight. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Utah State University, Logan, Utah. ted.pease@gmail.com.
(Be)Friend Dr. Ted, Professor of Interesting Stuff

“Words are sacred. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard

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Tuesday, January 21, 2014

MLK

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Us vs. Them


“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”

 The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech, 1964

• Editorial Comment: Amen, brother.


PeezPix by Ted Pease 

Road Woofers









PeezPix. ted.pease@gmail.com

TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM is a free “service” sent to the 1,800 or so misguided subscribers around the planet. If you have recovered from whatever led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em. But all contain at least a kernel of insight. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Utah State University, Logan, Utah. ted.pease@gmail.com.
(Be)Friend Dr. Ted, Professor of Interesting Stuff

“Words are sacred. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard

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Friday, January 17, 2014

That’s Entertainment

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Hollywood Red

“Hollywood is one of the main centers of communist activities in America due to the fact that our greatest medium of propaganda — the motion pictures — is located here. It is the desire of the masters in Moscow to use this medium for their purposes, which is the overthrow of the American government.”


—Adolphe Menjou (1890-1963), actor, in closed-door hearing before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, 1947.


• Editorial Comment: Those were the days.


PeezPix by Ted Pease 

Beau Pré Golf Course, McKinleyville, California




Buy some PeezPix. ted.pease@gmail.com

TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM is a free “service” sent to the 1,800 or so misguided subscribers around the planet. If you have recovered from whatever led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em. But all contain at least a kernel of insight. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Utah State University, Logan, Utah. ted.pease@gmail.com.
(Be)Friend Dr. Ted, Professor of Interesting Stuff

“Words are sacred. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard

.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Bait & Switch

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The Wrong Questions


If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about the answers.”

  —Thomas Pynchon, author  




• Editorial Comment: Dammit, press corps. Keep your eyes on the damn ball!





PeezPix by Ted Pease 

California Poppy




Buy some PeezPix. ted.pease@gmail.com

TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM is a free “service” sent to the 1,800 or so misguided subscribers around the planet. If you have recovered from whatever led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em. But all contain at least a kernel of insight. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Utah State University, Logan, Utah. ted.pease@gmail.com.
(Be)Friend Dr. Ted, Professor of Interesting Stuff

“Words are sacred. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard

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Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Saving TV News: More Knees!

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WORDmeister note: In yesterday’s WORD, former NBC News boss Reuven Frank talked about the importance of making news interesting. Today, a different take on that.

Neanderthal Gatekeepers

“Ailes: ‘Move That Damn Laptop, I Can’t See Her Legs!’

“[Author Gabriel] Sherman relayed an anecdote of [Fox News boss Roger] Ailes regarding former Fox News reporter Kiran Chetry: ‘Anchor Bob Sellers remembered Ailes once calling the control booth. “I was doing the weekend show with Kiran Chetry. He called up and said, ‘Move that damn laptop, I can’t see her legs!’”

—Gabriel Sherman, author, “The Loudest Voice in the Newsroom,” reported in Media Matters, “I Can’t See Her Legs!”: Roger Ailes’ Rampant Sexism,” Jan. 13, 2014


• Editorial Comment: Megyn Kelly—Knees at 11?



PeezPix by Ted Pease 

North Wellsville Range








Original PeezPix for sale. ted.pease@gmail.com

TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM is a free “service” sent to the 1,800 or so misguided subscribers around the planet. If you have recovered from whatever led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em. But all contain at least a kernel of insight. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Utah State University, Logan, Utah. ted.pease@gmail.com.
(Be)Friend Dr. Ted, Professor of Interesting Stuff

“Words are sacred. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard

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Tuesday, January 14, 2014

The Dope Pusher’s Argument

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Make It Interesting

“This business of giving people what they want is a dope pusher’s argument. News is something people don’t know they’re interested in until they hear about it. The job of the journalist is to take what’s important and make it interesting.”


—Reuven Frank (1920-2006), former president, NBC News




• Editorial Comment: Seems simple enough.





PeezPix by Ted Pease 

North Wellsville Range















Original PeezPix for sale. ted.pease@gmail.com

TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM is a free “service” sent to the 1,800 or so misguided subscribers around the planet. If you have recovered from whatever led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em. But all contain at least a kernel of insight. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Utah State University, Logan, Utah. ted.pease@gmail.com.
(Be)Friend Dr. Ted, Professor of Interesting Stuff

“Words are sacred. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard

.