Decorating

“The days that Patchett refers to are precious indeed, but her writing is anything but. She describes deftly, with a line or a look, and I considered the absence of paragraphs freighted with adjectives to be a mercy. I don’t care about the hue of the sky or the shade of the couch. That’s not writing; it’s decorating. Or hiding.  

—Alex Witchel, reviewing Ann Patchett’s These Precious Days, “Ann Patchett Has Thoughts on a Bunch of Subjects,” The New York Times, Nov. 19, 2021. (Thanks to alert WORDster Andrew Merton.)

 

 

• Editorial Comment: Wait. What color *was* the couch?

 

 

PeezPIX 

Out Now! The May issue of Senior News: A Good Time for Growing

 

 

 

 

 

 

FREE! TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM This free “service” is sent to rafts of subscribers worldwide more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness 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: Don’t shoot the messenger. I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em.)

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”—Tom Stoppard

_____________
Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism

Good Bias

“I always told my journalists, there aren’t two sides to a lie. Yes, you should be non-partisan, but not neutral. Journalists must be biased in favor of the truth and facts. Biased in favor of democracy itself. We protect the press so the press can protect democracy. Let’s do that.”

—Richard Stengel, MSNBC analyst, former undersecretary of state, former editor of TIME magazine, in a tweet, April 20, 2022.

 

• Editorial Comment: Be biased . . . in a good way.

 

PeezPIX 

Out Now! The May issue of Senior News: A Good Time for Growing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FREE! TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM This free “service” is sent to rafts of subscribers worldwide more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness 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: Don’t shoot the messenger. I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em.)

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”—Tom Stoppard

_____________
Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism

 

What We Fear

NEWS: U.S. book bans surge, NYTimes, April 4, 2022.

“If you’re afraid that books might change someone’s thinking, you’re not afraid of books, you’re afraid of thinking.”

—Andrea Junker, on Twitter. 

 

• Editorial Comment: Thinking can be dangerous to the human mind.
 

 

PeezPIX 

The Blues: Ceanothus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What’s so funny? The April issue of Senior News: Look Who’s Laughing. Check it out!

FREE! TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM This free “service” is sent to rafts of subscribers worldwide more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness 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: Don’t shoot the messenger. I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em.)

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”—Tom Stoppard

_____________
Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism

Reality Check

“Words, as is well known, are great foes of reality.”

—Joseph Conrad (1857-1924), Ukrainian-British novelist, Under Western Eyes, 1911.

• Editorial Comment: Depends on the reality.
 

 

PeezPIX 

Good Evening

 

 

 

 

What’s so funny? The April issue of Senior News: Look Who’s Laughing. Check it out!

FREE! TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM This free “service” is sent to rafts of subscribers worldwide more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness 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: Don’t shoot the messenger. I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em.)

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”—Tom Stoppard

_____________
Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism

Many Layers

“The declared meaning of a spoken sentence is only its overcoat, and the real meaning lies underneath its scarves and buttons.” 

—Peter Carey, Australian novelist.

• Editorial Comment: And then, all those undergarments and petticoats and adverbs.
 

 

PeezPIX 

After the Rain.

 

 

 

 

 

What’s so funny? The April issue of Senior News: Look Who’s Laughing. Check it out!

FREE! TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM This free “service” is sent to rafts of subscribers worldwide more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness 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: Don’t shoot the messenger. I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em.)

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”—Tom Stoppard

_____________
Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism

Earth Day #52

“The ultimate test of man’s conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.” 

 —Gaylord Nelson (1916-2005), U.S. senator from Wisconsin, environmentalist and founder of Earth Day (April 22, 1970).

• Editorial Comment: Dammit, humans, pick up after yourselves!
 

• History of Earth Day

 

PeezPIX 

It’s a Lovely Earth.

 

 

 

 

What’s so funny? The April issue of Senior News: Look Who’s Laughing. Check it out!

FREE! TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM This free “service” is sent to rafts of subscribers worldwide more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness 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: Don’t shoot the messenger. I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em.)

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”—Tom Stoppard

_____________
Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism

No News . . .

“Here's where we in the mainstream media can do something useful: We can stop talking about Fox like it's a different form of news — and start talking about how it isn’t news at all. It’s the opposite of news. It’s instead of news. It’s the absence of news.”

—Dan Froomkin, editor of Press Watch, “Fox News Isn’t News,” NBC Think, April 9, 2022.

 

 

 

 

 

• Editorial Comment: . . . isn’t good news.

 

 

PeezPIX 

Spring is springing

 

 

 

 

 

What’s so funny? The April issue of Senior News: Look Who’s Laughing. Check it out!

FREE! TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM This free “service” is sent to rafts of subscribers worldwide more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness 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: Don’t shoot the messenger. I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em.)

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”—Tom Stoppard

_____________
Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism

No Ukulele

“Journalism took a nineteen-year-old kid with not a lot of money and transformed his life. I owe some things to journalism. I wouldn’t mind thinking about ways to pay back some of that debt, but I’m not going to learn to play the ukulele or anything like that.”

—Dean Baquet, on retirement, “Joe Kahn to succeed Dean Baquet as New York Times executive editor,” The Washington Post, April 19, 2022.

 

 

 

 

• Editorial Comment: Sleep in. You earned it.

 

 

PeezPIX 

After the rain

 

 

 

 

 

What’s so funny? The April issue of Senior News: Look Who’s Laughing. Check it out!

FREE! TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM This free “service” is sent to rafts of subscribers worldwide more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness 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: Don’t shoot the messenger. I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em.)

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”—Tom Stoppard

_____________
Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism

Show, Don’t Tell

“You don't write about the horrors of war. No. You write about a kid's burnt socks lying in the road.” 

—Richard Price, novelist, screenwriter and producer.

 

 

 

• Editorial Comment: Truths reside in the little things.
 

 

PeezPIX 

Nasturtium Tears, 2008.

 

 

 

 

What’s so funny? The April issue of Senior News: Look Who’s Laughing. Check it out!

FREE! TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM This free “service” is sent to rafts of subscribers worldwide more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness 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: Don’t shoot the messenger. I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em.)

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”—Tom Stoppard

_____________
Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism

Big Job

“The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.”

—Albert Camus (1913–1960), French author, journalist, philosopher and Nobel Prize winner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Editorial Comment: Allons, enfants. We're going to need reinforcements.

 

 

PeezPIX 

Jellyfish Dog, 2008.

 

 

 

 

What’s so funny? The April issue of Senior News: Look Who’s Laughing. Check it out!

FREE! TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM This free “service” is sent to rafts of subscribers worldwide more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness 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: Don’t shoot the messenger. I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em.)

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”—Tom Stoppard

_____________
Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism

Fox News Isn’t

News: “A new study suggests Fox News viewers aren’t just manipulated and misinformed — they are literally being made ignorant by their consumption habits.”

“According to Broockman and Kalla, when these Fox viewers watched CNN, they heard about all sorts of things Fox wasn’t telling them. They processed that information. They took it in. They became more knowledgeable about what was really going on in the United States.”

—Dan Froomkin, editor of Press Watch, “Fox News Isn’t News,” NBC Think, April 9, 2022.

 

 

 

• Editorial Comment: They can be saved! There's hope.

 

 

PeezPIX 

Old Main, Utah State University

 

 

 

 

What’s so funny? The April issue of Senior News: Look Who’s Laughing. Check it out!

FREE! TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM This free “service” is sent to rafts of subscribers worldwide more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness 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: Don’t shoot the messenger. I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em.)

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”—Tom Stoppard

_____________
Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism

Job Satisfaction

“Don't you wish you had a job like mine? All you have to do is think up a certain number of words! Plus, you can repeat words! And they don't even have to be true!” 

—Dave Barry, newspaper columnist, on the joys of his work.

 

 

 

 

 

• Editorial Comment: Among those words, “Woof!” Also, “Woof.” Sweet.

 

 

PeezPIX 

Snow Art, 2014.

 

 

 

 

What’s so funny? The April issue of Senior News: Look Who’s Laughing. Check it out!

FREE! TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM This free “service” is sent to rafts of subscribers worldwide more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness 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: Don’t shoot the messenger. I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em.)

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”—Tom Stoppard

_____________
Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism

Writing Advice

 

“Just keep your arse in the chair. Arse in the chair. Arse in the chair.”

—Colum McCann, novelist, “So you want to be a writer? Essential tips for aspiring novelists,” The Guardian, May 13, 2017. Cartoon: Edward Steed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Editorial Comment: Repeat.

 

 

PeezPIX 

Mossy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What’s so funny? The April issue of Senior News: Look Who’s Laughing. Check it out!

FREE! TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM This free “service” is sent to rafts of subscribers worldwide more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness 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: Don’t shoot the messenger. I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em.)

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”—Tom Stoppard

_____________
Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism