Dog’s Life

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Dear Millie . . .

“Most of the writers I know work every day, in obscurity and close to poverty, trying to say one thing well and true. Day in, day out, they labor to find their voice, to learn their trade, to understand nuance and pace. And then, facing a sea of rejections, they hear about something like Barbara Bush’s dog getting a book deal.” 

—Timothy Egan, journalist and award-winning writer, 2008

• Editorial Comment: Hey, kibbles don’t grow on trees.

See “‘Millie’s Book’ Sends Bushes’ Income Soaring,” LATimes, 1992




PeezPix by Ted Pease 

Fang is not amused








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, 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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Mad

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Not Funny

“Journalists expressed concern that, rather than being treated as essential checks on government and partners in ensuring a healthy democratic debate, they may be viewed as suspect for doing their jobs. One prominent journalist summed up what many seemed to be feeling: ‘I don’t want the government to force me to act like a spy. I’m not a spy; I’m a journalist.’” 

—Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union report, “With Liberty to Monitor All: How Large-Scale US Surveillance is Harming Journalism, Law, and American Democracy,” July 2014 

• Editorial Comment: What, me worry?


PeezPix by Ted Pease 

Harbor Fogrise









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, 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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Happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day

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Discoveries

(WORDmeister NOTE: Strictly speaking, this quote doesn’t have anything to do with journalism. On the other hand, Columbus didn’t have anything to do with discovering America, either. I’ll owe you one.)

“1492. As children we were taught to memorize this year with pride and joy as the year people began living full and imaginative lives on the continent of North America. Actually, people had been living full and imaginative lives on the continent of North America for hundreds of years before that. 1492 was simply the year sea pirates began to rob, cheat, and kill them.”

—Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007), author, from Breakfast of Champions

• Editorial Comment: Better Homeland Security screening measures were needed.

Related:  
• “Seattle Swaps Columbus Day for Indigenous Peoples’ Day,” NPR
• “Instead of Columbus Day, some communities celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day,” CNN
• “Stephen Colbert digs into the ‘white Christian establishment’ and its defense of Columbus Day,” Salon.com

PeezPix by Ted Pease 

Morning Walk







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, 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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Take a Hike

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Perambulations

“Perhaps the most profound relationship between walking, thinking, and writing reveals itself at the end of a stroll, back at the desk. There, it becomes apparent that writing and walking are extremely similar feats, equal parts physical and mental. . . . Walking organizes the world around us; writing organizes our thoughts.”

—Ferris Jabr, writer, “Why Walking Helps Us Think,” The New Yorker, September 2014 

• Editorial Comment: Funny. My managing editor said the first step was to apply butt to chair.


PeezPix by Ted Pease 

Yesterday Evening








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, 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 Cavalry’s Coming

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Barbara

“It was lonely and it was painful. At one point I was on the air with a male partner who really didn’t want me on and made things quite difficult for me, but what saved me — two things that I think: one was letters from other women saying, ‘We’re going through the same thing,’ in whatever field they were in, in whatever job they had, and ‘hang in there.’ And I knew I had their support. And the other thing was a telegram, believe it or not, that said, ‘Don’t let the bastards get you down,’ and it was signed John Wayne. And I felt the cavalry was coming! So it was a difficult time, but if it helped other women — and maybe it did — then it’s a legacy I’m extremely proud of.” 

—Barbara Walters, first woman network news anchor, at the end of a 53-year TV career, “Bye-Bye to Barbara Walters: A Long ‘View’ of a Stories Career,” National Public Radio, May 2014

• Editorial Comment: “And then came ‘The View.’

PeezPix by Ted Pease 

Buoys











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, 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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Ebola Hype

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Take a Breath
 

“I wish everyone could take a deep breath and take a break from trying to pull viewers in by scaring them and that’s what we’re seeing here. It borders on irresponsibility when people get on television and start talking that way when they should know better. They should do their homework, and they should report in a responsible manner. Unfortunately it’s a very competitive business we’re in, and there is a perception that by hyping up this threat, you draw people’s attention. That’s a shame to even say that and I get embarrassed for our brethren in journalism.”

“It’s offensive on several levels and reflects a level of ignorance which we should not allow in our media.”

—Miles O’Brien, PBS science correspondent, “PBS correspondent slams Fox News’ fear-based coverage of Ebola,” Salon.com, Oct. 6, 2014

• Editorial Comment: “Borders” on irresponsibility?


PeezPix by Ted Pease 

College Cove











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, 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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Tarheel

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The Jobs Picture

“‘We’ve frankly got enough psychologists and sociologists and political science majors and journalists. With all due respect to journalism, we’ve got enough. We have way too many,’ McCrory said . . . . He said we have too many lawyers too, adding that some mechanics are making more than lawyers.

 

“‘And journalists, did I say journalists?’

“‘People who can fix things and operate things and repair things, I’m envious of. That is a talent that is so valuable at this point in time. And there’s a shortage of people in those fields right now.’”

—North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, in Katie Arcieri’s “Gov. McCrory: We need fewer lawyers, fewer journalists and more truck drivers,” TriAdBizBlog, Sept. 25, 2014 

• Editorial Comment: More politicians who can fix things and operate things, please.


PeezPix by Ted Pease 

Sidewalk Pastels on the Plaza















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, 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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American Education

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Fat, Dumb and Happy

“Silly sensitivity has displaced intellectual honesty in American education. We’ve produced a generation with no sense of national identity and little connection to the nation’s collective memory. In the process, we’ve traded life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for fat, dumb and happy.” 

—Kathleen Parker, syndicated columnist, “Yo, George, Wassup?” 2007 Image: Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post

• Editorial Comment: Works for me. Pass the pork rinds.

• Related News Note: Students, teachers protest as Jefferson County, Colorado, school officials propose sanitized history curriculum to “promote citizenship.”

PeezPix by Ted Pease 

Goodies from Feisty Dog Orchard











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, 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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Twinkies & Tabloids

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G.I.G.O.*

“Food for the mind is like food for the body: the inputs are never the same as the outputs.” 

—Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980), sociologist

• Editorial Comment: *Garbage in, garbage out. I recommend more whole fibers. You can trust me. I’m a doctor.



PeezPix by Ted Pease 

Fog Games





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, 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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Fishing

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Casting About for the Right Word

“Both fishing and writing are largely acts of faith: you believe that there is indeed a rich run of ideas lurking below. The convoluted first drafts, the false casts and hooked branches are all a part of some cosmic ritual designed to seduce a shiny gem to the surface. You get a nibble and your mind sings as you play the idea and reel it in. Only sometimes is it a keeper.”

—Holly Morris, writer, editor, producer and fisherwoman, “Fumbling After Grace: Fishing and Writing,” The New York Times, 1997

• Editorial Comment: And then that gorgeous sentence starts and runs and dives under a deep log. Pfffttt! It’s gone.


PeezPix by Ted Pease 

Yellowfaces








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, 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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Old News

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Those Were the Days

“Isn’t the news itself still valuable to anyone? In any format, through any medium — isn’t an understanding of the events of the day still a salable commodity? Or were we kidding ourselves? Was a newspaper a viable entity only so long as it had classifieds, comics and the latest sports scores?”

—David Simon, former Baltimore Sun reporter-turned-executive producer of “The Wire,” in “Does the News Matter to Anyone Anymore?” The Washington Post, 2008 (Thanks to alert WORDster Campbell B. Titchener)

 

• Editorial Comment: Good for wrapping fish, too.


PeezPix by Ted Pease 

Low Tide





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, 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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Noun-Verb Agreement

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K.I.S.S.

“Success is keeping the students’ attention to start with, and then getting them to see that most of the rules are fairly simple. I always started by telling them not to be too concerned with stuff like weird verbs (swim, swum, swam) and just remember to make subject and verb agree. It’s like we say in AA: KISS . . . Keep it simple, stupid.” 

 —Stephen King, in Jessica Lahey’s “How Stephen King Teaches Writing,” The Atlantic, 2014 Image:
Mike Segar/Reuters

 

• Editorial Comment: How cool would his class be?

PeezPix by Ted Pease 

Squash Pile








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, 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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Get Reading

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Free Books

“With a library you are free, not confined by temporary political climates. It is the most democratic of institutions because no one — but no one at all—can tell you what to read and when and how.” 

—Doris Lessing (1919-2013), author and 2007 Nobel Prize for Literature winner

 

• Editorial Comment: Proud, card-carrying library patron.

PeezPix by Ted Pease 

Rock Art








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, 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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