A Couple Steps to Smarter Writing

So I hate it when people start blog posts like this. What does the "so" mean? Nothing. It has no function besides taking up space and making your writing look like a fifth-grader's.

Instead of, "So I had an epiphany today," write, "I had an epiphany today." It's easy.

And please stop writing "really" so much. If you were excited, you were excited. Don't bother telling me you were "really excited" because there's no such thing as half excited. You were or you weren't.

Most of all, please stop having your writing be passive. It should be made more active by you. An example will be provided by me now:

Bad: Millions of dollars are spent at Taco Bell by college students each year.
Good: Each year, college students spend millions of dollars at Taco Bell.

Yes, blogs are journals. Yes, they are your personal thoughts. But if your writing is sloppy on your blog, there's a good chance it's sloppy in your research papers and job applications, too.

In Memorium

It's been a deadly year for celebrities. And I'm truly sad to see some of them go.

Like Tim Russert, for example. The political analyst and host of NBC's "Meet the Press" was a favorite journalist of mine. I admired his fairness and his ability to broach sensitive topics with tact and grace. I've not read his memoir, Big Russ and Me, but it's on my to-read list.

Then there's Tony Snow. Snow was most recently the White House press secretary. Before that, he was a journalist, host of Fox News Sunday, and all-around nice guy. Even as he died of colon cancer, Snow handled himself with the kind of classiness most politicos wish they possessed.

Paul Newman was a true movie star. I fell in love with him when I saw Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (on DVD of course, since the film's from a bit before my time). I loved the chemistry between Newman and Robert Redford -- who also teamed with Newman in the Sting -- and I felt as if Butch and Sundance were my own best buddies. Also admirable was Newman's offscreen activism and charitable work.

Now, I'm mourning the death of writer Michael Crichton, author of Jurassic Park, Congo, the Andromeda Strain, Prey, Timeline, and other novels -- not to mention creator of the TV series ER. Crichton -- a graduate of Harvard Medical School -- blended fact and fiction like no one I've read, creating thrillers that terrified readers with scientific what-ifs. And they were fun to read. Along with his fiction, Crichton authored many essays on scientific matters, including the global warming theory.

I don't think George Carlin would want us to cry for him.

"No One" by Alicia Keys

Never pegged myself for an Alicia Keys fan, but I freaking love this song. Maybe I should start an "unlikely song choice of the week" series.

Oh by the way, Alicia Keys is a real grouch -- she won't let me embed the "No One" video, so you'll just have to follow the link above.

My Real Job

If anybody would like to see the work I'm doing for Goshen Public Library, go here. I spend about 6 hours a week (I work at the desk the other 34) posting stuff to the teen blog, tweeting, and using Facebook to promote the Library.

I also sit around and dream up ways to get teens excited about reading. That's the important thing. That's my real job. Heck, just getting them inside the building is huge. If a Wii party or Guitar Hero tournament gets kids into the library, count me in! Who cares if it's not library-ish, or if it's a bit noisy?

Bottom line: I'd rather buck library tradition for the sake of teen literacy than promote the idea that libraries are boring. Now I just need to get everybody else to think the same way.

Jay-Z Covers Oasis, Pretends to Play Guitar

You might have heard that Jay-Z headlined Glastonbury — England’s biggest rock festival — last weekend. After Oasis frontman Noel Gallagher questioned the rapper’s presence at a rock festival, Jay-Z took to the stage sporting a Fender Stratocaster. He then responded to Gallagher’s comments by covering Oasis’ “Wonderwall” while pretending to strum his guitar.

Here’s the video. It’s hilarious. Oh, and if you want to see the real “Wonderwall” video, go here.

Coldplay Tickets Bought, but Not Without Stress

I'll be in Chicago with my brothers Derek and Ethan on July 23 to see Coldplay. Tickets went on sale at exactly 1:00 p.m. EDT on Saturday, and I was ready and waiting at my laptop.

When the clock struck 1:00 I immediately searched for three tickets in the highest price bracket -- we had agreed to indulge, realizing it may be a once-in-a-lifetime chance -- only to find a message from Ticketmaster explaining my search hadn't yielded any results. My mind was officially blown.

Crazy that tickets to any act can begin to sell out within mere seconds of going on sale. I'm happy to say that I ended up with tickets. They're no VIP seats, but I consider myself blessed to have them at all.

In other news, I'm toying with the idea of moving my blog to Wordpress. Seems like I could do a lot of cool stuff over there, but I don't want to make a rash decision.

What do you think? Pros? Cons?

Sheckler Returns to Blog, Explains Absence -- Excuses Abound

This is my first post in awhile. I would say it's because I'm lazy, but I've actually had a bunch of other, possibly more important things on my mind.

I finished my first year of higher education on May 1 and began a two-week summer course four days later. I managed to post a couple times during those two weeks, but after I finished my class I turned my attention to the dreaded summer job-hunt.

I was lucky enough to score a full-time job at the Goshen Public Library, where I've been employed on a part-time basis for over three years. One of my responsibilities at GPL is to help promote young adult activities such as the Teen Summer Reading Experience.

So, I'm experimenting with a wide variety of PR tools. I'm blogging about teen library events here, as well as trying out Twitter as a way of informing the public about library activities.

On a side note, has anybody had any success using Twitter as a PR tool for a company or organization? If so, I'd love to hear how you pulled it off.

Anyway, I'm pretty excited about the blogging/PR experience I'm getting at GPL. I haven't had time to blog here as much, but it's been worth it.

Now that I'm settling into my summer routine, I expect to start posting here more. Bear with me.

Local News All About Forward-Thinking

The more I read national "news," the more I want to stay away from that world. Local news is where you find the good stuff anyway.


At a local level, you find the stories that validate journalism as a contribution to society. Whether it's a story about a downtown revitalization project or a report on area schools, local news seems to always look toward the future with a sense of hope and optimism.

Local economy stagnant? Let's find out how people are making it better. New businesses? New restaurants? New housing?

Poor standardized test scores? Let's ask the school systems what they're doing to improve education.

Record-high gas prices? Let's see how factory workers and stay-at-home moms are adapting.

You see, local news is all about forward-thinking, and it's stuff that matters to real people.

Average Joe doesn't want to hear why Oliver Stone thinks Bush is the worst president in history. Or about the falling-out between Obama and his psychotic former pastor.

It'll be interesting to see if news becomes more localized as print journalism dies.

Expect to Pay Out the Ear for Transatlantic Shipping

I don't buy a lot of imported British merchandise, so I never knew the cost of shipping for transatlantic purchases. Nor had I fully realized the exchange-rate between the British pound and the US dollar.

A couple weeks ago, my brother bought a Radiohead tee-shirt from the band's online store (based in England of course). That brought home the relative worthlessness of the USD, as the shirt's 15-pound British price tag translated to about 30 USD.

Last week, I pre-ordered the May 5 issue of British music magazine NME to get a free copy of Coldplay's new single "Violet Hill." The magazine itself cost only 1.87 British pounds -- roughly 5 USD -- but the total came out to 8.10 pounds. That's 6.23 -- more than 10 bucks -- in shipping costs!

It'll be worth it once I spin that "7 vinyl on my record player. But, like any self-respecting consumer, I still had to whine a little.

Trying to Get My Priorities Straight

Whenever I turn on my computer and open Safari (Apple's version of Internet Explorer for all you Mac-illiterate readers), there are a couple of things I check before moving to anything else. These are my top priorities:

1. Grace College email. I've pretty much given up checking my Hotmail inbox, so I rely on my Outlook account for anything important. Although, I still give my Hotmail address sometimes in an effort to divert junkmail.
2. Facebook. Yes, it's true. At least I'm man enough to admit it.
3. Grace Portal. I like to keep an eye on my grades.
4. Ryan Sholin. Actually I get Twitter alerts when he posts, so I'm not sure why this is the case.
5. Sean Blanda. Journalist first, student second. It's refreshing.

I think there's something missing from my internet priorities list. News. Since college started, I've felt like I haven't had the time to read the paper. But staying informed is just as important a part of my education as classes (if not more so), so I'm trying harder to keep up with local, national, and world news.

For my local news, I mostly read the (Elkhart, IN) Truth at eTruth.com. The Truth gives pretty good coverage of the entire Elkhart area, and they're working at developing a strong online presence. They've also get a few interesting staff blogs.

For national news, I've been reading the LA Times, primarily because I like their website. I also like to browse links at the Drudge Report.

I go to the BBC for most of my world news. The British perspective is fun, especially during campaign season. They seem to find the American political process most fascinating. Which is kinda weird because I stopped caring about the Democratic primaries months ago.

Twitter Great Tool for Following Favorite Bloggers

I've been hearing about Twitter since I began following big-name bloggers like Howard Owens and Ryan Sholin, but only yesterday did I check it out for the first time. Basically, it's like Facebook stripped to the bare minimum. And it's pretty cool.

Twitter works like this: 

• First, you visit twitter.com and sign up for an account.
  
• Then, you write a 140-or-fewer-word status update. This is a lot like the status updates on Facebook, but you can be a little more in-depth.
• If you want, you can find friends, family, or colleagues to "follow" on Twitter. When you "follow" someone, you will be alerted whenever his/her status changes.

That's pretty much all there is to it. The "follow" feature is the coolest part. You can even set up your cell phone or certain IM services to receive text updates when the status of someone you're following changes. And -- even cooler -- you can change your own status from anywhere using your phone!

Right now I'm following Ryan Sholin, Howard Owens, and Sean Blanda, so I can keep up with their blogs. Feel free to follow me too (I know, it's kinda presumptuous of me to think anyone wants to know what I'm doing 24/7). Point is, Twitter's a great tool. 

For Those of You Who Have Terrible Grammar

For those of you who have terrible grammar -- and don't mind being corrected on it -- here's a post by none other than my little brother, Ethan. I almost fell on the floor laughing. Enjoy.

Tales of a Canadian Hitchhiker

In my last post, I expressed my desire to get out in the real world and find real stories. Recently I'd begun to doubt if other journalism students shared my aspirations. Then I met Drew.

When Drew showed up at random on the Grace campus, I assumed he was a prospective student or a friend of a friend. Later I learned that he is a Canadian university student hitchhiking across the U.S. before going back to school in the fall.

Like myself, Drew is majoring in journalism. Makes sense. Journalists write stories, and Drew will have one heckuva story by the time he arrives in California.

Since leaving Toronto, Drew has slept outside and scrounged for food. He's gone a week without a shower and waited eight hours straight to be picked up. He's bummed rides in an ice cream truck and a shiny Lincoln.

People go entire lifetimes and never end up with stories like these. And these are just the ones he told me over popcorn chicken at Arby's.

Later that night, I was talking with my roommate Ryan. "I want to do that someday," I said. "Well," replied Ryan, "You'll never do it if you keep saying 'someday.'"

He's probably right. But I still dream of doing it -- for the sake of the stories.

Class Assignments or Real Life?

I'm in journalism because I like to write and I love a good story. Good stories are all over the place -- too bad school makes it tough to get out and find them. 

I mean, I'm learning great stuff in class. But if I spend lots of time on assignments, I feel like I'm missing out on the real stories -- the kind that happen in the real world. So I have to choose. And given the choice between real stories and class assignments, I'd choose...real stories.

Like Sean Blanda says in his post "Confessions of a Journalism Student," employers in the journalism trade seem not to care much about GPA. It's all about the work you've done. Of course, I'm not saying journalism students should simply ignore their assignments for real stories. Mostly, I just try to combine them.

However, it takes a lot of work and time-budgeting to kill these two birds with one stone. It's easy to write a story on some campus event and turn it in for class. It's more difficult to get out in the community, do research, and report real news -- even harder when you've waited until the last minute and you've got exams to study for. But man, it's worth it.

Can't wait till summer, when I can dig up some great stories without those pesky class assignments breathing down my neck.

Back to Blogging

After a two-week break, I'm back to the ol' blog. I didn't plan to go on blog-vacation -- it just sort of happened. It's not that my well of inspiration dried up, either.

 In fact, I've had plenty of ideas that excited me over the last couple of weeks. I'd think, "Hey, that would be a great post!" Then I would start writing and get distracted before I could finish.

So what caused my distraction? Well, that's the funny part. I've been concentrating on class assignments and freelance work lately, so I haven't had the time for blogging.

Ironic that I hail blogging as the future of media, only to become "distracted" by classic print journalism. 

Ignorance In Motion

Here's a link to a post by John Robinson. Read the post for a little background, and then read the comments. Pay attention to the back-and-forth between Robinson and the reader named "Skeet Club Savage."

This is what happens when ignorant people try to debate informed people.

Big Words

Why do some people like to use big words? Well, it's probably because they think big words say "I'm smart. Don't believe me? Just listen to the big words I say."

It's funny to note, then, that some very small words can garner the respect of one's peers. Like the word "garner." Is anybody impressed with me for using it? If so, it's not for the word's length. After all, the word is only six letters long.

I believe that it's the infrequency of a word's usage that makes it impressive. Here's an example from the other side of the spectrum. The word "interesting" is eleven letters long and has a whopping four syllables. And yet, no one would ever think twice about my using it. That's because everyone uses it. It's an overused pat word.

Bet you're impressed with me for saying "pat." And it's three letters.

The Good Life

At the moment, I'm sitting in a coffee shop. I've been here for almost three hours. I just finished my mocha with caramel, and I had to plug my laptop charger into the wall because my trusty computer is about to run out of juice.

I'm spending the day in the coffee shop with my laptop because I have a story to write, and my deadline is lurking around the corner. Needless to say (but as always I'll say it anyway), I'm pretty stressed.

The thought occurs to me: I want to do this for the rest of my life.

My First Real Interview

Tuesday afternoon  I did my first real interview. I botched it. I've had a couple of days to think about it, and I think I've identified the main culprits in the killing of my interview.

The location was all wrong. When I first approached my interviewees (there were three of them), I was thinking maybe we could chat over coffee. We ended up talking in a waiting room of sorts -- a pretty distracting environment -- outside a youth pastor's office. Strike one.

There were too many people. This wouldn't really have been a problem -- but they all knew the people I was interviewing, and they were all curious. Strike two.

I didn't prepare. I had two days to write down questions, but when Tuesday rolled around I didn't know what to ask. Also, I forgot to bring a tape recorder. Had I brought one, I could have focused on having a real conversation without frantically scribbling notes. Strike three.

In the end, it was a great learning experience. And years from now, I'll have a great story to tell a new crop of journalists.

A Must-Read -- But I Didn't Write It

I normally try to come up with original material, but this post from the Editor's Log is just too brilliant. I sadly cannot link directly to the post, but it's easy to find.

Just go here and look for the post from February 25 entitled "Editor to journalist: Find something else to do."

Think you want to go into journalism? You need to read this post.

That's Amore

Tonight I spent three hours watching The Fellowship of the Ring -- with two couples. Two very, er, affectionate couples, at that. There was one other single person there (I actually do have a lovely girlfriend, Megan, but I was on my own tonight).

Having a sixth-wheel there didn't help all that much. I did my fair share of squirming as the lovebirds cuddled, whispered, and giggled.

Oh well. That's amore.

Objectivity

I came across an interesting post the other day while reading John Robinson's blog. An unhappy reader had expressed disappointment with the Greensboro News and Record's "biased" sports coverage.

 Said the reader:

"I am so sick and tired of the Greensboro Daily News' obvious bias when it comes to your so-called sports coverage. Whatever happened to objective reporting? And not just in the stories but in the placement of stories. Any journalism 101 class teaches that a newspaper should be fair to both sides."

This argument for objectivity is invalid because it assumes that objectivity and fairness mean the same thing. But they don't.

 If you are objective, it means that you are not influenced by personal feelings or opinions. No one is objective because it's impossible to be. No matter how hard you try, you will always bring your own unique worldview -- a professor of mine calls it "luggage" -- to your writing.

So all a journalist can do is try to be fair. To be fair is to treat both sides the same, despite your inner bias. It doesn't mean you try to deny the fact that your biases exist, only that you suppress them for the sake of integrity.

Bias is a fact of life. Objectivity is a myth. The day journalism 101 classes teach students to be objective is the day they teach them not to be human.

Global Warming

Where I am, it's currently 9 degrees outside. Add wind chill and it feels like 1 degree. An hour and a half north, school is cancelled because little kids would get frostbite halfway through recess. Darned global warming.

Music Spotlight: Wilco

A little jazz. A little folk. A little acid-rock. Chicago-based rockers Wilco have been bending genres since the release of their debut record "A.M." in 1995.  The sextet's latest effort, "Sky Blue Sky," boasts a refreshing tracklist -- from the haunting "Impossible Germany" to the breezy title track to the bluesy "Hate It Here." Frontman Jeff Tweedy is a great vocalist and a gifted songsmith with a knack for out-there rythms and impossibly catchy melodies. Wilco does have a penchant for extended jams, and some may consider this self-indulgent -- yet fans of the Grateful Dead and Phish will appreciate the quick, melodic guitar solos that comprise the jams. Listeners with greater-than-average attention spans should check out the Grammy-nominated* "Sky Blue Sky." 

Learn more about Wilco at wilcoworld.net

*Best Rock Album

Journalism #1

I became addicted to blogs in mid-January. Since then, I've asked four or five other journalism students if they read blogs or have their own. None of them do. I've heard that a journalist should write daily to nurture creativity, and it makes sense.

Still, many student journalists limit their writing to the campus newspaper. These are the students who are content to learn their trade without really doing it. Theory is fine, but it means nothing apart from application.

Of course, application is impossible without inspiration. A writer needs something to write about. But stories don't just fall out of the sky -- that's why I'm such a big fan of blogs. There are so many blogs out there, each with a unique spin on things. I often publish my own post in reaction to something  I read in another blog. The blogosphere is such a great resource, every journalist should take advantage of it.

Journalists, consider this post an admonition.

White Noise

There was a time when people actually listened to music. In those days, listening to the radio was an activity. We've all seen black and white photographs of familes gathered around the console radio, listening to Tommy Dorsey or Duke Ellington or Benny Goodman. Music was special, a privilege, and people treated it as such by giving it their complete attention.

Those days are long past. Music is no longer an activity, but rather a suplement to our other activities. We "listen" to music while we eat. Or while we study. They now make iPod armbands so we can "listen" to music in the gym, and waterproof radios so we can "listen" to music in the shower. We might "listen" to music because it helps us concentrate. We might "listen" to music just because we can't stand silence. The fact is that nowadays we "listen" to music for practically every reason except for the sake of listening itself.

The post-modern craving for efficiency is clearly the source of this trend. We want to do lots of things at once, so we get our music to go, and we don't want to be distracted by annoyances such as other people, so we block them out with earphones. We apparently want a greater quantity of life. Well that's obviously impossible, as everyone gets the same twenty-four hours in a day. But we still try to get more out of life, and in doing so sacrifice the quality of our life. For example, you could cook a microwave dinner and have it in two minutes - very efficient - but you would be left with a mediocre dinner. The same principle applies to music. The more efficient we make our "listening" - by combining it with other activities and so on - the less we will enjoy it. 

Music has much to offer, but not if we limit our "listening" to the gym and the shower. Perhaps post-modern listeners will learn to prefer quality over quantity, enjoyment over efficiency, and - as in the good old days - make listening an activity.

Numbers Game

8,000,000:

Copies sold of Hey Jude, the Beatles all-time bestselling single.

9:

Weeks spent by Hey Jude as the number one single on Billboard's Top 100.

6:

Days taken for Hey Jude to become a certified gold record.

5:

Countries in which Hey Jude achieved number one status.

Limitations

Monday, my writing prof. told us pupils to form a fifty-word summary of our normal doings. Ah, but a tricky catch. Prof. Sprong put a fairly difficult limitation on said summary: no word symbols which "d" and "f" flank! It took a good bit of thinking, but I did it. What a load off my mind!

Lyrics Really Affect You, So Be Ignorant and Lazy

It's astonishing how many Christian music fans - and by this I mean music fans who are Christians - decide to give up listening to "secular" music. Of course they mean well. I'll often here them say something like this: "I realized how much lyrics can affect you, so I want to listen only to music that has positive lyrics." So they throw away all of their "secular" music and tune in to "Christian" radio stations. This is terribly lazy. There are lots of "secular" artists that put out quality, thoughtful work - one just needs to find it. 

Classless Colts?

A fellow blogger recently scolded Indianapolis Colts fans for booing a 14 year-old girl at the RCA Dome. The girl, Anna Grant, was representing the New England Patriots, having won the NFL's Punt, Pass, and Kick competition for her age group. Apparently Patriots owner Robert Kraft felt badly about the incident and has decided to honor Grant at the AFC championship game Sunday in Foxborough, Mass. (Read the entire ESPN story here.)

 Anyhow, the critical blogger (who shall remain unnamed) decried the booing of the Indy fans as "classless" and applauded the Patriots for their "classy" behavior.

 Well sure, it was just a 14 year-old, but it was nothing personal. After all, Grant was wearing a Patriots jersey; the Patriots are the Colts' arch-rivals, and a New England jersey is bound to elicit a negative reaction in the RCA Dome. Said Grant, "People at the game came up to me afterward and said, 'It's not you. It's your jersey.'"

Also, call me cynical, but it seems easy for Patriots boss Kraft to honor Grant, a native of New Hampshire and an obvious Pats fan. Had a Colts jersey-wearing child been booed in Foxborough - which he or she almost certainly would have been, considering the volatile nature of Massachusetts sports fans - surely the Colts organization would have extended the same invitation.

The Stock Market

Lately, my roommate Ryan has been teaching me about the stock market. It's really quite a fascinating topic, and I've had a lot of questions. Ryan has been able to answer all of my questions, as well as provide some investing tips and tricks. He's really read up on the subject, as evidenced by his bookshelf, which looks like the financial section at Barnes and Noble. To be honest, Ryan has inspired me to read more about my potential careers, especially writing and editing. Excuse me while I browse amazon.com.