Just listen

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Dumb Drums

“Whatever is too stupid to say can be sung. The human voice can sing a vowel to break your heart. It trills a string of banal words, but your blood jumps, regardless. You don’t care about the words but only how they’re sung and the music behind-the brass, the drums. 

“Oh, the primal, necessary drums behind the words are so dumb! That power, the bang and the boom and again the bang we cannot, need not, live without, nor without other means to make sweet noise, the guitar or violin, the things that sing the plaintive, joyful sounds. 

“Which is why I like songs best when I can’t hear the words, or, better still, when there are no words at all.”

—Joseph Addison (1672-1719), English essayist, poet, playwright, and politician.

• Editorial Comment: Maybe we should just hummmmm.


PeezPix by Ted Pease

Gerry & Carly









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Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Trinidad, California. (Be)Friend The WORD

“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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Demonizing Journalists

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Mob Mentality

“Reporters who cover Trump on the campaign trail say his supporters have become more surly and abusive in the past week, egged on by a candidate who has made demonizing journalists part of his stump speech.”   

 —Paul Farhi, reporter, “The press always got booed at Trump rallies. But now the aggression is menacing,” The Washington Post, Oct. 14, 2016

• Editorial Comment: I don’t know. Why not? Can the crazy Drumpf get any less critical press?

 

PeezPix by Ted Pease

The Nursing Home Crisis, Humboldt County, October 2016












Get TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM in your email every weekday morning during WORD season. This is a free “service” sent to the 2,000,000 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.) #tedsword
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Trinidad, California. (Be)Friend The WORD

“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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Outrageous

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Talking Back

“Some people’s idea of free speech is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone says anything back, that is an outrage.” 

—Winston Churchill (1874-1964), British politician and WWII prime minister

• Editorial Comment: You know what? Say what you like. That's the First Amendment. 



PeezPix by Ted Pease

Front Porch, Eureka, California












Get TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM in your email every weekday morning during WORD season. This is a free “service” sent to the 2,000,000 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.) #tedsword
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Trinidad, California. (Be)Friend The WORD

“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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Turn Off the News

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Birds + Trucks + Screaming

“Some days you have to turn off the news and listen to the bird or truck or the neighbor screaming out her life.

“You have to close all the books and open all the windows so that whatever swirls inside can leave and whatever flutters against the glass can enter. 

“Some days you have to unplug the phone and step out to the porch and rock all afternoon and allow the sun to tell you what to do.

“The whole day has to lie ahead of you like railroad tracks that drift off into gravel.

“Some days you have to walk down the wooden staircase through the evening fog to the river, where the peach roses are closing, sit on the grassy bank and wait for the two geese.”

—Philip Terman, poet, from “Our Portion” via The Writer’s Almanac, 2015.

Listen Online

• Editorial Comment: Good advice: Wait for the geese. Or other big birds.


PeezPix by Ted Pease

2 Gooses — Grampa & Ruth, flying a kite in Maine, 1964












Get TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM in your email every weekday morning during WORD season. This is a free “service” sent to the 2,000,000 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.) #tedsword
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Trinidad, California. (Be)Friend The WORD

“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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Slowing It Down

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A Kind of Stupidity

“My name is Zadie Smith and I am a writer. It comes out of reading, being a reader, and wanting to create something like I’ve read. And also it’s a way of experiencing time, like never missing any of it. Writing is partly a kind of stupidity; like other people just live their lives and get on with it, day by day. Writing is a way of slowing it down, and thinking what just happened, what did it mean, what was the point.” 

— From Jeffrey Eugenides, “The Pieces of Zadie Smith,” New York Times Magazine, Oct. 17, 2016.

• Editorial Comment: Slow down becoming stupid. Read a book.


PeezPix by Ted Pease

Stella Wetface









Get TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM in your email every weekday morning during WORD season. This is a free “service” sent to the 2,000,000 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.) #tedsword
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Trinidad, California. (Be)Friend The WORD

“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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Uncomfortable

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Prolonged Boos

“Some 15,000 Trump supporters showered the small group [of 20 reporters] with prolonged boos and heckling during the Cincinnati rally. Several people approached the press barrier to yell directly at the group and to make obscene gestures, ‘which has made a lot of people uncomfortable,’ according to one journalist.” 

—Paul Farhi, reporter, “The press always got booed at Trump rallies. But now the aggression is menacing,” The Washington Post, Oct. 14, 2016

• Editorial Comment: Yelling at reporters — what’s the problem with that?

PeezPix by Ted Pease

Hell Upon Earth?












Get TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM in your email every weekday morning during WORD season. This is a free “service” sent to the 2,000,000 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.) #tedsword
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Trinidad, California. (Be)Friend The WORD

“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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Waste Paper

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Failures

“Writing is a failure. Writing is not only useless, it’s spoiled paper.”

—Padget Powell, American novelist

• Editorial Comment: Hey, I have taught college writing, and I have bought paper by the ream. I feel your pain. But it’s not all a waste.

PeezPix by Ted Pease

You Missed the Show









Get TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM in your email every weekday morning during WORD season. This is a free “service” sent to the 2,000,000 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.) #tedsword
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Trinidad, California. (Be)Friend The WORD

“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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The Arizona Republic’s Courage

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WORDMeister Note: The publisher of The Arizona Republic explains why her conservative newspaper chose to endorse a Democratic presidential candidate for the first time ever, and the scary shitstorm that ensued.

Courage & Integrity

“To all the other people who we heard from, who thanked us for our courage and our bravery, or who were bold enough to disagree with us on principle — the people who didn’t threaten to bomb our homes or harm our families — I have something for you, too. To you, I give my gratitude. I’m grateful that you stood up to say that we live in a better world when we exchange ideas freely, fairly, without fear.”

—Mi-Ai Parrish, publisher, The Arizona Republic, “How do we respond to threats after our endorsement? This is how,” Oct. 17, 2016.

 

• Editorial Comment: Amen.

PeezPix by Ted Pease

Rescue Boat








Get TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM in your email every weekday morning during WORD season. This is a free “service” sent to the 2,000,000 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.) #tedsword
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Trinidad, California. (Be)Friend The WORD

“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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Catch a Wave

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Scary Steve

“[W]hat really scares me is Alzheimer’s or premature senility, losing that ability to read and enjoy and to write. And you do it, and some days maybe aren’t so good, and then some days, you really catch a wave, and it’s as good as it ever was. So, it’s tough to imagine giving it up.”

—Stephen King, novelist and writing guy, “Stephen King wants to reach out and grab you — with his writing,” PBS Newshour, Oct. 6, 2016

• Editorial Comment: I love it when I catch the wave.

PeezPix by Ted Pease

Street Boogie








Get TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM in your email every weekday morning during WORD season. This is a free “service” sent to the 2,000,000 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.) #tedsword
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Trinidad, California. (Be)Friend The WORD

“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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Mass Education

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A Great Service

“Television could perform a great service in mass education, but there’s no indication its sponsors have anything like this on their minds.” 

—Tallulah Bankhead (1902-1968), actress

• Editorial Comment: So what’s on your mind?

PeezPix by Ted Pease

Cellestial













Get TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM in your email every weekday morning during WORD season. This is a free “service” sent to the 2,000,000 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.) #tedsword
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Trinidad, California. (Be)Friend The WORD

“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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