Grapes of Crap

. 
Journalism’s ‘Purity’
 

“What can I say about journalism? It has the greatest virtue and the greatest evil. It is the first thing a dictator controls. It is the mother of literature and the perpetrator of crap. In many cases it is the only history we have and yet it is the tool of the worst men. But over a long period of time and because it is the product of so many men, it is perhaps the purest thing we have. Honesty has a way of creeping into it even when it was not intended.” 

—John Steinbeck (1902-1968), Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist (Thanks to alert—and dogged—WORDster Christine Fairbanks)

• Editorial Comment: Those were the days, my friend.

PeezPIX by Ted Pease
 

Roots





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

TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM is a free “service” sent to the 1,800 or so misguided volunteer 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: While I just quote ’em, I don't necessarily endorse ’em. All contain at least a kernel of insight. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff
Utah State University, Logan, Utah, & Humboldt State University, Arcata, Calif.

To receive Today's Word on Journalism, send "subscribe" to ted.pease@gmail.com

“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
.

Semicolon

. 
Wink Wink
 

“I use a whole lot of half-assed semicolons; there was one of them just now; that was a semicolon after ‘semicolons,’ and another one after ‘now.’” 

—Ursula K. Le Guin, fantasy writer; science fiction author

• Editorial Comment: Semicolons can only be half-assed, right?

PeezPIX by Ted Pease
 

Whale Tail



Original PeezPix archival prints, matted at sizes from 5x7" to 16x20" or larger, available for sale. ted.pease@gmail.com

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

TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM is a free “service” sent to the 1,800 or so misguided volunteer 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: While I just quote ’em, I don't necessarily endorse ’em. All contain at least a kernel of insight. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff
Utah State University, Logan, Utah, & Humboldt State University, Arcata, Calif.

To receive Today's Word on Journalism, send "subscribe" to ted.pease@gmail.com

“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
.

Fear of Grammar

. 
Dangling Whosits
 

“[D]iagramming sentences and identifying the parts of speech never made it into my repertoire. And so grammarians intimidate me. Once someone starts talking about verb moods, dangling whosits, and misplaced whatsits, I squirm. When I try to struggle through their prose explanations, my brain hurts. 

“I’ve learned enough to be able to explain basic things to my students about common writing mistakes, but I can’t get technical. . . . When I tell students that adverbs are not their friends, I explain I mean words with ‘-ly’ on their tail. . . . 

“I’m not convinced that studying grammatical labels would help my prose, though it might make me a more intimidating teacher.”

 —Rachel Toor, creative writing prof, Eastern Washington University, “My Little Bag of Writing Tricks,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 2013.

• Editorial Comment: Beware Conan the Grammarian.

PeezPIX by Ted Pease
 

What •Is* a Kohlrabi, Anyway?











Original PeezPix archival prints, matted at sizes from 5x7" to 16x20" or larger, available for sale. ted.pease@gmail.com

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

TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM is a free “service” sent to the 1,800 or so misguided volunteer 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: While I just quote ’em, I don't necessarily endorse ’em. All contain at least a kernel of insight. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff
Utah State University, Logan, Utah, & Humboldt State University, Arcata, Calif.

To receive Today's Word on Journalism, send "subscribe" to ted.pease@gmail.com

“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
.

Chamfrained?

. 
Say Again?
 

“I recently read Vladimir Nabokov’s autobiographical masterpiece Speak, Memory. One learns there that Nabokov read in English before reading in his native Russian. Having said that, his embrace of what I would still call his second language is dizzying and unrelenting. Here are a few of his words that I wrote down: ‘fritillary,’ ‘chamfrained,’ ‘ghyll,’ and ‘laciniate.’ Now you know why God invented the Oxford English Dictionary.” 

 —Alex Beam, “Confessions of a Word Snob,” The New York Times, April 29, 2013  

• Editorial Comment: Dizzying, indeed.
PeezPIX by Ted Pease
 

Trinidad Bay paddlers




Original PeezPix archival prints, matted at sizes from 5x7" to 16x20" or larger, available for sale. ted.pease@gmail.com

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

TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM is a free “service” sent to the 1,800 or so misguided volunteer 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: While I just quote ’em, I don't necessarily endorse ’em. All contain at least a kernel of insight. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff
Utah State University, Logan, Utah, & Humboldt State University, Arcata, Calif.

To receive Today's Word on Journalism, send "subscribe" to ted.pease@gmail.com

“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
.

Newsroom Cuts. Again.

. 
The Amazing Shrinking Tribune
 

“News costs money. Local news is particularly expensive. I won't insult you by saying we can do more with less. We can’t. What we can do is manage smartly, choose carefully and remain committed to Journalism with a capital J. We intend to keep the printed newspaper worthy of you — our readers.”

—Nancy Conway, whose retirement as editor of the Salt Lake Tribune was announced Thursday, in a column written in July. Nine Tribune newsroom staff were laid off in May; another 17—20% of the newsroom—lost their jobs Thursday.

• Editorial Comment: Managing newspapers smartly. That’s Depressing with a capital D.

PeezPIX by Ted Pease
 

Trinidad Bay paddlers




Original PeezPix archival prints, matted at sizes from 5x7" to 16x20" or larger, available for sale. ted.pease@gmail.com


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

TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM is a free “service” sent to the 1,800 or so misguided volunteer 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: While I just quote ’em, I don't necessarily endorse ’em. All contain at least a kernel of insight. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff
Utah State University, Logan, Utah, & Humboldt State University, Arcata, Calif.

To receive Today's Word on Journalism, send "subscribe" to ted.pease@gmail.com

“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
.

Freaks

. 
Elements of Style
 

“Newspaper reporters and technical writers are trained to reveal almost nothing about themselves in their writing. This makes them freaks in the world of writers, since almost all of the other ink-stained wretches in that world reveal a lot about themselves to readers. We call these revelations, accidental and intentional, elements of style.”

—Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007), writer 

• Editorial Comment: I dunno. I already know more about a lot of these wretches than I really want to.

PeezPIX by Ted Pease
 

Humboldt Bay Coast Guard Station, Samoa, Calif.



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

TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM is a free “service” sent to the 1,800 or so misguided volunteer 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: While I just quote ’em, I don't necessarily endorse ’em. All contain at least a kernel of insight. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff
Utah State University, Logan, Utah, & Humboldt State University, Arcata, Calif.

To receive Today's Word on Journalism, send "subscribe" to ted.pease@gmail.com

“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
.

9/11 Remembered

. 
The Press’s Dark Days

“The atmosphere was one of fear, suspicion, a tremendous emphasis on patriotism, on getting on board. It put pressure on journalists to conform, to go with the pack.

“And people who asked questions that were regarded as too uncomfortable were berated or accused of being unpatriotic, or marginalized. A lot of voices were left out of the debate.”

—Michael Massing, journalist, who called 9/11 reporting “one of the greatest institutional failures in the news media,” quoted in “9/11 raised debate on responsible reporting,” Radio France Internationale, 2011

• Editorial Comment: Deafening silence.

PeezPIX by Ted Pease
 

Above the Sidelines Bar, Arcata, Calif.





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

TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM is a free “service” sent to the 1,800 or so misguided volunteer 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: While I just quote ’em, I don't necessarily endorse ’em. All, in theory, contain at least a kernel of insight. But don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff
Utah State University, Logan, Utah, & Humboldt State University, Arcata, Calif.

To receive Today's Word on Journalism, send "subscribe" to ted.pease@usu.edu

“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
.

Cheap Thrills

. 
Filling Dead Spots

“Books are the perfect entertainment: no commercials, no batteries, hours of enjoyment for each dollar spent. What I wonder is why everybody doesn't carry a book around for those inevitable dead spots in life.”  

—Stephen King, writer

• Editorial Comment: Batteries not included.

PeezPIX by Ted Pease
 

Peach & Blackberry Pie











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

TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM is a free “service” sent to the 1,800 or so misguided volunteer 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: While I just quote ’em, I don't necessarily endorse ’em. All, in theory, contain at least a kernel of insight. But don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff
Utah State University, Logan, Utah & Humboldt State University, Arcata, Calif.

To receive Today's Word on Journalism, send "subscribe" to ted.pease@usu.edu

“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
.

The Reading Public

. 
Marketing

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“The reading public is intellectually adolescent at best, and it is obvious that what is called ‘significant literature’ will only be sold to this public by exactly the same methods that are used to sell it toothpaste, cathartics and automobiles.” 

—Raymond Chandler (1888-1959), mystery novelist and screenwriter, letter to fellow detective novelist Erle Stanley Gardner, 1946.

• Editorial Comment: Literary toothpaste?

PeezPIX by Ted Pease
 

Trinidad Sunset





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

TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM is a free “service” sent to the 1,800 or so misguided volunteer 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: While I just quote ’em, I don't necessarily endorse ’em. All, in theory, contain at least a kernel of insight. But don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff
Utah State University, Logan, Utah & Humboldt State University, Arcata, Calif.

To receive Today's Word on Journalism, send "subscribe" to ted.pease@usu.edu

“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
.

Career Advice

. 
Happy Delusion

“When you’re trying to create a career as a writer, a little delusional thinking goes a long way.”

—Michael Lewis, author of Why We Write: 20 Acclaimed authors on How and Why They Do What They Do (2013)

 





• Editorial Comment: This year I'm gonna finish that novel. First step: Start the damn thing.




PeezPIX by Ted Pease
 

Trinidad Sunset





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

TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM is a free “service” sent to the 1,800 or so misguided volunteer 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: While I just quote ’em, I don't necessarily endorse ’em. All, in theory, contain at least a kernel of insight. But don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff
Utah State University, Logan, Utah & Humboldt State University, Arcata, Calif.

To receive Today's Word on Journalism, send "subscribe" to ted.pease@usu.edu

“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
.

Godwin’s Law

. 
Incivility

“Godwin’s Law is the only half-facetious observation of Internet guru Mike Godwin that, ‘as an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.’ 

“Whether it’s Nazis or something else, the broader point is that commentary in any online forum seems to veer towards the vicious or extreme. (Indeed, a contemporary equivalent of the two-decades-old Godwin’s Law might focus on Obama: No matter what the topic, sooner or later someone blames the president). 

“Sometimes, it appears, there is no room for moderation on the Internet.” 

—Tom Keane, columnist, “Not just for the witless”

The Boston Globe, on HuffPost’s decision to ban anonymous online comments, Aug. 27, 2013 URL (Thanks to alert WORDster Javan Kienzle)

 
• Anonymous Editorial Comment: $^&*%¢∞§¶º^%$!!!! Nazi Kenyan Social Democrats!

PeezPIX by Ted Pease
 

Stella’s life jacket









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

TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM is a free “service” sent to the 1,800 or so misguided volunteer 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: While I just quote ’em, I don't necessarily endorse ’em. All, in theory, contain at least a kernel of insight. But don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff
Utah State University, Logan, Utah & Humboldt State University, Arcata, Calif.

To receive Today's Word on Journalism, send "subscribe" to ted.pease@usu.edu

“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
.

Monkeys & Sheep Lice

. 
Why We Write

“We are a species that needs and wants to understand who we are. Sheep lice do not seem to share this longing, which is one reason why they write so little. But we do. We have so much we want to say and figure out.”

 —Anne Lamott, writer, in Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (1994)

• Editorial Comment: How about all those monkeys with typewriters? Oh, wait. That was my old newsroom.

PeezPIX by Ted Pease
 

Lobstah Dinnah.






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

TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM is a free “service” sent to the 1,800 or so misguided volunteer 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: While I just quote ’em, I don't necessarily endorse ’em. All, in theory, contain at least a kernel of insight. But don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff
Utah State University, Logan, Utah & Humboldt State University, Arcata, Calif.

To receive Today's Word on Journalism, send "subscribe" to ted.pease@usu.edu

“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
.

Divine

. 
Clean-up Crew

“To write is human. To edit is divine.”

 —Stephen King, writer

 

• Editorial Comment: Send your editor a nice box of chocolates.









PeezPIX by Ted Pease
 

Sunset over the fleet, Woodley Island, Eureka, Calif.




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

TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM is a free “service” sent to the 1,800 or so misguided volunteer 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: While I just quote ’em, I don't necessarily endorse ’em. All, in theory, contain at least a kernel of insight. But don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff
Utah State University, Logan, Utah & Humboldt State University, Arcata, Calif.

To receive Today's Word on Journalism, send "subscribe" to ted.pease@usu.edu

“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
.