Saturday, August 23, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Fly Free, Little Blog
With this post, this blog has turned from a tadpole for a Harvard journalism class assignment into a frog, I mean, blog, for the world.
What do I have to say? What can I add to the pile of media blitz out there? What can you tell me? Fran, come in, please. You tried to post a comment but I didn't receive it. Is this some science fiction weirdness?
I know people with thousands of Friends on Faceook. What is a friend these days?
I sort of like seeing people's eyeballs to call them friends, window to the soul and all that.
Why would anyone want to read this? I love me, Barney loves me too, but really, I gotta go out in the world and tell you what I see. That's worth my time at least.
What do I have to say? What can I add to the pile of media blitz out there? What can you tell me? Fran, come in, please. You tried to post a comment but I didn't receive it. Is this some science fiction weirdness?
I know people with thousands of Friends on Faceook. What is a friend these days?
I sort of like seeing people's eyeballs to call them friends, window to the soul and all that.
Why would anyone want to read this? I love me, Barney loves me too, but really, I gotta go out in the world and tell you what I see. That's worth my time at least.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Sunday Night
Two trends in the news invite comment:
1. The almost naked volleyball women playing in the Olympics. I don't remember Olympic women playing in bikinis when I was younger. But my skittishness made me feel like a prude. Then I read in today's Boston Globe "Brainiac" column that advertisers decide what to broadcast based on probable audience numbers. And guess who gets the best numbers, women in the Winter Olympics in parkas and ski wear, or women in bikini-like volleyball uniforms? Right, it's the bikinis that get broadcast before many other events.
2. The "Weird Dude of Boston" story. I know the story of Clark Rockefeller, (aka a million other names) is not hard news. But it is fascinating from a human interest perspective. I wonder why I am so hooked into this one probably nutty guy?
a) Journalism angle - The Globe actually shipped someone over to Bergen, Germany to bug the old mother and the brother and the neighbors as to what little Christian was like. I know it had to be done, but that's a lot of money to spend.
b) Who wouldn't want to just disappear and start over some days? I once read a novel about a housewife who did this, but she just ended up collecting another family. I would like to take off about now, since the final paper is due Tuesday. "Paper? What paper?"
c) The wife. How is it that with so much income and book learning, she was such a poor judge of character? They were together for years. He had a sweet smile, though, and he was probably useful as a childcare giver. I've picked some doozies, but nothing near to this woman's mistake.
And so ends the class blog for me. I am lighting a mental candle to its future as an ongoing project. In the meantime, I can't help giving one last note of ol' fart advice to the young future journalists in the class. If you end up working in a university library for 25 years (ahem), it won't be the end of the world. You will find a way to have fun and be of use, if you've made it this far. For a summary of my career path, see the letter I wrote to the Boston University alumni magazine:
Back to the Future
“Boston Rocks,” along with the “Retro” piece (Summer 2007) about the Sanctuary at Marsh Chapel, sold me on reading Bostonia again. I am one of the Silber-era dropout alumni, but now a fresh breeze is blowing, given the new president, the new dean of CAS, and new general manager of WBUR, all fine people. I remember James Montgomery playing me some blues records (a suitcase full of them — did he pack any clothes?) in Myles, where all the musicians and painters lived amidst a fog of Jack Daniels, B.O., Galoises, oil paint, and more. I remember sitting in at Sanctuary as a freshman and fanning out in Brookline to discuss racism with the neighborhood when Martin Luther King, Jr., was shot. I remember meeting Father Jim (now Boston writer James Carroll), eating at the Hedge School, and organizing rallies with Howard Zinn. I even taught a course on Women’s Images in the Media one summer at the “Communiversity” (a free give-a-course, take-a-course radical school), noting that Lassie was the only positive show I could find, and even she was a boy dog.
Something irreversible happened to me at BU. I realized that I did not want to be a concert harpsichord player; I wanted to serve the people and ever since I have lived a rich, unpredictable life. Eventually, I got a master’s in feminist studies in folklore and helped form a local feminist band called the New Harmony Sisterhood Band. So BU did its job, whether it intended to or not. I am a citizen of my world, and although I have turned out to be a generalist, not a specialist, and a liberal arts library worker, not an academic, I realized there that history was in the streets as well as in the books.
Marcia Deihl (DGE’69, CAS’71)Cambridge, Massachusetts
See: http://www.bu/edu/alumni/bostonia/2007/fall/letters/index.html
Stay in touch. Let's comment on each others' ongoing blogs. I know, people always say that, but it will be good for us and I have to know how everyone's "Lois Lane" life turned out.
MD
1. The almost naked volleyball women playing in the Olympics. I don't remember Olympic women playing in bikinis when I was younger. But my skittishness made me feel like a prude. Then I read in today's Boston Globe "Brainiac" column that advertisers decide what to broadcast based on probable audience numbers. And guess who gets the best numbers, women in the Winter Olympics in parkas and ski wear, or women in bikini-like volleyball uniforms? Right, it's the bikinis that get broadcast before many other events.
2. The "Weird Dude of Boston" story. I know the story of Clark Rockefeller, (aka a million other names) is not hard news. But it is fascinating from a human interest perspective. I wonder why I am so hooked into this one probably nutty guy?
a) Journalism angle - The Globe actually shipped someone over to Bergen, Germany to bug the old mother and the brother and the neighbors as to what little Christian was like. I know it had to be done, but that's a lot of money to spend.
b) Who wouldn't want to just disappear and start over some days? I once read a novel about a housewife who did this, but she just ended up collecting another family. I would like to take off about now, since the final paper is due Tuesday. "Paper? What paper?"
c) The wife. How is it that with so much income and book learning, she was such a poor judge of character? They were together for years. He had a sweet smile, though, and he was probably useful as a childcare giver. I've picked some doozies, but nothing near to this woman's mistake.
And so ends the class blog for me. I am lighting a mental candle to its future as an ongoing project. In the meantime, I can't help giving one last note of ol' fart advice to the young future journalists in the class. If you end up working in a university library for 25 years (ahem), it won't be the end of the world. You will find a way to have fun and be of use, if you've made it this far. For a summary of my career path, see the letter I wrote to the Boston University alumni magazine:
Back to the Future
“Boston Rocks,” along with the “Retro” piece (Summer 2007) about the Sanctuary at Marsh Chapel, sold me on reading Bostonia again. I am one of the Silber-era dropout alumni, but now a fresh breeze is blowing, given the new president, the new dean of CAS, and new general manager of WBUR, all fine people. I remember James Montgomery playing me some blues records (a suitcase full of them — did he pack any clothes?) in Myles, where all the musicians and painters lived amidst a fog of Jack Daniels, B.O., Galoises, oil paint, and more. I remember sitting in at Sanctuary as a freshman and fanning out in Brookline to discuss racism with the neighborhood when Martin Luther King, Jr., was shot. I remember meeting Father Jim (now Boston writer James Carroll), eating at the Hedge School, and organizing rallies with Howard Zinn. I even taught a course on Women’s Images in the Media one summer at the “Communiversity” (a free give-a-course, take-a-course radical school), noting that Lassie was the only positive show I could find, and even she was a boy dog.
Something irreversible happened to me at BU. I realized that I did not want to be a concert harpsichord player; I wanted to serve the people and ever since I have lived a rich, unpredictable life. Eventually, I got a master’s in feminist studies in folklore and helped form a local feminist band called the New Harmony Sisterhood Band. So BU did its job, whether it intended to or not. I am a citizen of my world, and although I have turned out to be a generalist, not a specialist, and a liberal arts library worker, not an academic, I realized there that history was in the streets as well as in the books.
Marcia Deihl (DGE’69, CAS’71)Cambridge, Massachusetts
See: http://www.bu/edu/alumni/bostonia/2007/fall/letters/index.html
Stay in touch. Let's comment on each others' ongoing blogs. I know, people always say that, but it will be good for us and I have to know how everyone's "Lois Lane" life turned out.
MD
The Walter & Josh Shows
One thing I really enjoyed this summer was the array of visiting speakers via the Nieman Center (and the Globe tour, of course). The last two speakers, Walter Ray Watson of NPR and Josh Benton, Director of the Nieman Digital Journal Lab at Harvard, were a contrast in styles.
I once heard that in New York City, people are in such a hurry that if someone takes a while to make a point, they say, "Point? Point?" There are psychological studies of what it means to talk about, say, 20 ideas in five minutes versus one idea. I think it is supposed to reflect part of the IQ of the person. Anyway, Walter took ten minutes to make one point, but in his case, this deliberate nature might be mark of a good editor.
Josh, on the other hand, was making fast points, one after another, in an elegant power point speech (with ageist photos). It was the fast pace of the male young professional.
These observations mean nothing as far as content or professionalism, it's just something I always note. It's a sort of body language through talk. I like Southern accents, because I think so fast and they calm me down.
As for the content of their talks, Walter assured us that radio as a medium will be here for a while. As for newspapers, the prognosis is dimmer (except in Africa, as Claudia commented to me. Yes, don't assume everyone has a computer, Harvard folks!). Josh was implying that the grave is dug, and the public is slowly throwing metaphorical dirt on newspapers. I like newspapers. I like to get the Sunday Globe and flip through it, fold it, rip good stories out for friends and my mother, and put it under the cat's food dish. I mean, you can't put a computer under the cat's food dish. If we don't have newspapers, working class canaries all over the country will be pooping on Blackberries.
I look forward to "committing journalism as a retirement "hobby." I use quotes because I once filled out a computer dating profile by saying, "I don't have 'hobbies'--I have obsessions." I don't need to bring in as much money as before when I retire, which could be in three or four years. But I'd love to generate a bit of paid writing/editing work (someone said to try Craig's list). Also, I can promote my music. I want to keep the blog and opine about Cambridge news and arts and social justice. When I can spend the eight hours I formerly devoted to My Benevolent Plantation, I will have time for all sorts of projects. I hope that I have the courage to sign up at the city cable TV station to learn video to help with community journalism.
My heart goes out to those in the class who pictured themselves like Lois Lane, working side by side with Clark Kent (or perhaps Clark Rockefeller), saving the city via investigative jouralism. But if I had gotten a job in what I majored in, I'd be a professional harpsichordist now. What happened? The world changed in a thousand ways, and things I didn't expect, good and bad, came my way. I tried things I loved that either made no money or that compelled me to work with mean people. My 25 years at Harvard, sitting at a desk and ordering library paste have not been "fulfilling" per se, but they have been a good base of sanity and structure to fly from at times.
Ask a few grown ups what they majored in in college, and I predict there will be a very small percentage that ended up doing what they they pictured when they were in college. If you "row like you're the only one in the boat," don't forget to keep your eyes open for serendipity, fate, or (for "God's plan," if you will. It never ends until you're gone. May you live many lives.
I once heard that in New York City, people are in such a hurry that if someone takes a while to make a point, they say, "Point? Point?" There are psychological studies of what it means to talk about, say, 20 ideas in five minutes versus one idea. I think it is supposed to reflect part of the IQ of the person. Anyway, Walter took ten minutes to make one point, but in his case, this deliberate nature might be mark of a good editor.
Josh, on the other hand, was making fast points, one after another, in an elegant power point speech (with ageist photos). It was the fast pace of the male young professional.
These observations mean nothing as far as content or professionalism, it's just something I always note. It's a sort of body language through talk. I like Southern accents, because I think so fast and they calm me down.
As for the content of their talks, Walter assured us that radio as a medium will be here for a while. As for newspapers, the prognosis is dimmer (except in Africa, as Claudia commented to me. Yes, don't assume everyone has a computer, Harvard folks!). Josh was implying that the grave is dug, and the public is slowly throwing metaphorical dirt on newspapers. I like newspapers. I like to get the Sunday Globe and flip through it, fold it, rip good stories out for friends and my mother, and put it under the cat's food dish. I mean, you can't put a computer under the cat's food dish. If we don't have newspapers, working class canaries all over the country will be pooping on Blackberries.
I look forward to "committing journalism as a retirement "hobby." I use quotes because I once filled out a computer dating profile by saying, "I don't have 'hobbies'--I have obsessions." I don't need to bring in as much money as before when I retire, which could be in three or four years. But I'd love to generate a bit of paid writing/editing work (someone said to try Craig's list). Also, I can promote my music. I want to keep the blog and opine about Cambridge news and arts and social justice. When I can spend the eight hours I formerly devoted to My Benevolent Plantation, I will have time for all sorts of projects. I hope that I have the courage to sign up at the city cable TV station to learn video to help with community journalism.
My heart goes out to those in the class who pictured themselves like Lois Lane, working side by side with Clark Kent (or perhaps Clark Rockefeller), saving the city via investigative jouralism. But if I had gotten a job in what I majored in, I'd be a professional harpsichordist now. What happened? The world changed in a thousand ways, and things I didn't expect, good and bad, came my way. I tried things I loved that either made no money or that compelled me to work with mean people. My 25 years at Harvard, sitting at a desk and ordering library paste have not been "fulfilling" per se, but they have been a good base of sanity and structure to fly from at times.
Ask a few grown ups what they majored in in college, and I predict there will be a very small percentage that ended up doing what they they pictured when they were in college. If you "row like you're the only one in the boat," don't forget to keep your eyes open for serendipity, fate, or (for "God's plan," if you will. It never ends until you're gone. May you live many lives.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Stephen Glass, Markos Moulitas, and Bill Hummell
SHATTERED GLASS: Impressions
"Are you mad at me?" he kept saying, like a child. He seemed so young and unsure of himself that he invented his clever pieces, and they were clever, to get attention. This kid needed a good shrink since his family obviously did a number on him. That young woman had it right, "You're 24 years old! Just tell your parents you don't want to be a layer!" But I know the cultural and family bonds were strong and he just couldn't bust them.
I was confused when he was lecturing to empty chairs in a classroom--did he really end up talking in journalism schools to say "Don't do what I did" or was he once again imagining that he did? I mean to look up some of those pieces with clever titles, and in that way I will better understand why everyone tried to help him out and not throw the book at him.
The culture of the young writers, very tight, both genders, was impressive to me. They all had the fire and seemed very mature for their age (except for Glass). I like the explanation of how many editors and fact checkers go over a piece, and round in a circle again after its laid out. I always wanted to be a copy editor, and I bet those jobs are hard to find now, but I already get asked by friends who are writers and by my boss to do it.
KOS
A friend put me onto the Daily Kos but I dont' have the energy to read it daily. It's left of liberal and full of meaningful news that we don't get in mainstream media. I also get alternative news on Cambridge Cable Free Speech TV and Laura Flanders's show on that station, GritTV. I admire her and met her because she's the granddaughter of my best writing mentor, Hope Hale Davis, who published her novel (autobiographical, about being a commie in FDR's Agriculture Department) at age 96 and wrote right up to age 100.
A BRAVE MAN
The theme of the week seems to quality news vs. shareholders. These two entities seem to be opposing forces.
Locally, a reporter for a Rhode Island local news station named Jim Hummel quit because he didn't like the way the news biz was going (from hard news to sexy and cute "human interest" stories). This was echoed in the Frontline documentary we watched segments of in class.
When "60 Minutes" turned a profit, CBS took note. And it "begat" Dateline, Primetime, and other shows, but these shows now use more sexy and cute human interest stories instead of investigative reporting. Now with cable stations, on-demand news, and free internet news, local affiliates have had to cut back, please their sponsors, and turn a profit or die. I admire this guy. Problem is, he has to pay rent and eat (and or support a family). He shouldn't have to be a martyr to a cause. Will someone hire him? Will he end up on cable, keeping his ethics and taking a job as a grocery bagger? This is depressing, but it's real. Shareholders, not the public, are running the show. I'm beginning to think Karl Marx was right about capitalism bringing itself down. It's happening with gas and food, and culture as well.
JS Online: Reporter at Rhode Island TV station takes stand against ...
An investigative reporter for the ABC affiliate in Providence, R.I., took a stand this week against sensationalism. He quit. Jim Hummel, the reporter behind ...
http://www.jsonline.com/app/rssredir/?/columnists/timcuprisin.xml - 55k - Cached - Similar pages
INSIDE TV & RADIO Reporter at Rhode Island TV station takes stand ...
Aug 1, 2008 ... An investigative reporter for the ABC affiliate in Providence, R.I., took a stand this week against sensationalism. He quit. ...
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-16952259.html - 36k - Cached - Similar pages
AND IN VERY LOCAL NEWS
About to move on to my final project and I interviewed Sumbul yesterday for two hours. A very amazing young woman, but it must be news worthy. I hope it's more "60 Minutes" than "Dateline."
MD
"Are you mad at me?" he kept saying, like a child. He seemed so young and unsure of himself that he invented his clever pieces, and they were clever, to get attention. This kid needed a good shrink since his family obviously did a number on him. That young woman had it right, "You're 24 years old! Just tell your parents you don't want to be a layer!" But I know the cultural and family bonds were strong and he just couldn't bust them.
I was confused when he was lecturing to empty chairs in a classroom--did he really end up talking in journalism schools to say "Don't do what I did" or was he once again imagining that he did? I mean to look up some of those pieces with clever titles, and in that way I will better understand why everyone tried to help him out and not throw the book at him.
The culture of the young writers, very tight, both genders, was impressive to me. They all had the fire and seemed very mature for their age (except for Glass). I like the explanation of how many editors and fact checkers go over a piece, and round in a circle again after its laid out. I always wanted to be a copy editor, and I bet those jobs are hard to find now, but I already get asked by friends who are writers and by my boss to do it.
KOS
A friend put me onto the Daily Kos but I dont' have the energy to read it daily. It's left of liberal and full of meaningful news that we don't get in mainstream media. I also get alternative news on Cambridge Cable Free Speech TV and Laura Flanders's show on that station, GritTV. I admire her and met her because she's the granddaughter of my best writing mentor, Hope Hale Davis, who published her novel (autobiographical, about being a commie in FDR's Agriculture Department) at age 96 and wrote right up to age 100.
A BRAVE MAN
The theme of the week seems to quality news vs. shareholders. These two entities seem to be opposing forces.
Locally, a reporter for a Rhode Island local news station named Jim Hummel quit because he didn't like the way the news biz was going (from hard news to sexy and cute "human interest" stories). This was echoed in the Frontline documentary we watched segments of in class.
When "60 Minutes" turned a profit, CBS took note. And it "begat" Dateline, Primetime, and other shows, but these shows now use more sexy and cute human interest stories instead of investigative reporting. Now with cable stations, on-demand news, and free internet news, local affiliates have had to cut back, please their sponsors, and turn a profit or die. I admire this guy. Problem is, he has to pay rent and eat (and or support a family). He shouldn't have to be a martyr to a cause. Will someone hire him? Will he end up on cable, keeping his ethics and taking a job as a grocery bagger? This is depressing, but it's real. Shareholders, not the public, are running the show. I'm beginning to think Karl Marx was right about capitalism bringing itself down. It's happening with gas and food, and culture as well.
JS Online: Reporter at Rhode Island TV station takes stand against ...
An investigative reporter for the ABC affiliate in Providence, R.I., took a stand this week against sensationalism. He quit. Jim Hummel, the reporter behind ...
http://www.jsonline.com/app/rssredir/?/columnists/timcuprisin.xml - 55k - Cached - Similar pages
INSIDE TV & RADIO Reporter at Rhode Island TV station takes stand ...
Aug 1, 2008 ... An investigative reporter for the ABC affiliate in Providence, R.I., took a stand this week against sensationalism. He quit. ...
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-16952259.html - 36k - Cached - Similar pages
AND IN VERY LOCAL NEWS
About to move on to my final project and I interviewed Sumbul yesterday for two hours. A very amazing young woman, but it must be news worthy. I hope it's more "60 Minutes" than "Dateline."
MD
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
