Here's an interesting question Harrison Scott Key raises in his Worldmag blog.
Those who can’t do, teach is the aphorism that makes MFAs and PhDs wince and get all defensive, and Those who write, teach is the title of this essay from the Times magazine about how that might be true for writers.
The operative question here is simply this: are writers less productive when they are also teachers? This is an important question for the literature of our nation and culture, given the fact that most writers are also teachers. And if it’s true that they don’t write as well when they teach, then maybe our national literature is suffering in some immeasurably destitute way.
It’s fine for writing teachers to talk in self-help jargon about how their lives require “balance” and “shifting gears” between teaching and writing, but below that civil language lurks the uncomfortable fact that the creation of literature requires a degree of monomania, and that it is, at least in part, an irrational enterprise. It’s hard to throw your whole self into something when that self has another job.
For five years, I have had a very mediocre creative writing PhD from a forgettable regional university. For 30 of those months, I have been a teacher, for the other 30 of those months, I have been something else, and throughout it all, I have been a writer. When it’s all said and done, I have to say that I’ve written better things as a non-teacher than a teacher. What does this mean? Nothing, other than the phrase “summers off” may not be as delightful as it sounds.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Can One College Determine the Presidential Vote?
Do you have a reaction to this idea? How would you respond if you were a Liberty student? How would you respond if Grace College's administration did this?
Conservative university could swing Virginia
By Shea Connelly
Cavalier Daily
(UWIRE) -- The commonwealth of Virginia has traditionally been a Republican stronghold -- the last time a Democratic presidential candidate won the state was in 1964.
But with recent polls showing Sen. John McCain only slightly ahead of Sen. Barack Obama, Virginia remains up for grabs. And the last two statewide offices -- for governor and U.S. senator -- have been won by Democrats.
Given the close nature of the presidential race, Jerry Falwell, Jr., chancellor of Liberty University, recently launched an ambitious effort to register all 10,500 eligible student voters at the fundamental Baptist institution in Lynchburg, Virginia.
Falwell kicked off the voter registration drive September 22, urging students -- including those from out-of-state -- to register locally.
"Liberty students have never been permitted to register locally in the past. The recent change in election law is giving Liberty University the chance to make history," Falwell stated in an e-mail addressed to faculty and staff. "Liberty University's 11,000 students and 4,000 faculty and staff could cause Liberty to become known as the university that elected a president!"
Since the announcement of the registration campaign, students have been offered voter registration forms by resident advisers during residence hall meetings and by professors during class. Jonathan Woods, a junior at Liberty and resident adviser, said he and fellow RAs were instructed to educate their residents about registering to vote during a regular RA meeting.
"That night, in our hall meetings, we had to explain that it's a good and unique opportunity," Woods said, "because not too long ago they [out-of-state students] weren't able to register in Virginia."
Liberty sophomore Zach Rowe said Falwell has been pressuring students not only to vote, but also to register to vote in Virginia.
"It's definitely been pushed to vote," Rowe said, "especially to vote locally." Rowe noted, however, that he still plans to vote in Pennsylvania by absentee ballot.
"Pennsylvania is a swing state, too," he said.
In addition to the increased availability of voter registration forms, classes will be canceled on Election Day, and buses will be available to shuttle students to the polls.
"It's a major election -- they really want students to vote," Liberty freshman Bethany Hernandez said. "Some teachers are giving extra credit if you register to vote."
Falwell's belief that Liberty could impact the outcome of Virginia's election may seem like wishful thinking, but Virginia's 2006 U.S. Senate race was decided by slightly less than 10,000 votes.
"The majority of Liberty students want McCain to win," Woods said. "If you have a few thousand people voting for one candidate, who weren't [initially] voting in Virginia, it could possibly make a difference."
Ashley Barbera, communications director of the College Republicans National Committee, said college students have the potential to significantly impact the outcome of this election.
"I think you're going to see young voters and young activists playing a very important and crucial role," Barbera said, noting that many of the swing states, such as Virginia and Ohio, are home to a number of large universities.
"They're states where College Republicans federations are really stepping up to the plate," Barbera said.
Though the College Republicans National Committee is not working specifically with Liberty University's administration, Barbera said Liberty's voter registration efforts are consistent with College Republicans' national mission.
"Virginia is obviously a swing state, and the polls are showing how close that state is on a day-to-day basis," Barbera said. "If you could get potentially an extra thousand votes there, that could swing a state and that could determine an election."
Though Falwell may believe Liberty students can help to secure Virginia for McCain, College Democrats of America President Katie Naranjo is not worried.
"I feel very comfortable that young people will sway the vote in Virginia," Naranjo said, "and it will be a victory for Senator Obama."
Naranjo, referencing recent national polls showing Obama ahead by a few percentage points, suggested, "Maybe that's why Liberty is scared."
Jared Leopold, communications director for the Democratic Party of Virginia's Coordinated Campaign, said the Democratic Party of Virginia encourages all efforts to reach out to college students.
"This is a historic election," Leopold said. "For many young people this will be the first election they'll participate in. We encourage all college students to get registered." Though a majority of the students registered at Liberty will be voting for McCain, Leopold is not concerned.
"We've seen a lot of college students register across the state," Leopold said. "We're confident that a large majority of college students and young people will side with Barack Obama and the democratic ticket."
Regardless of whether Liberty voters affect the outcome of this election, Hernandez said the voter registration drive might just be the beginning of Liberty University's political influence.
"It could be a starting point. Maybe it won't change anything this time, but in the future," she said. "If the school keeps up the initiative, even just one little change is probably going to affect the future."
Conservative university could swing Virginia
By Shea Connelly
Cavalier Daily
(UWIRE) -- The commonwealth of Virginia has traditionally been a Republican stronghold -- the last time a Democratic presidential candidate won the state was in 1964.
But with recent polls showing Sen. John McCain only slightly ahead of Sen. Barack Obama, Virginia remains up for grabs. And the last two statewide offices -- for governor and U.S. senator -- have been won by Democrats.
Given the close nature of the presidential race, Jerry Falwell, Jr., chancellor of Liberty University, recently launched an ambitious effort to register all 10,500 eligible student voters at the fundamental Baptist institution in Lynchburg, Virginia.
Falwell kicked off the voter registration drive September 22, urging students -- including those from out-of-state -- to register locally.
"Liberty students have never been permitted to register locally in the past. The recent change in election law is giving Liberty University the chance to make history," Falwell stated in an e-mail addressed to faculty and staff. "Liberty University's 11,000 students and 4,000 faculty and staff could cause Liberty to become known as the university that elected a president!"
Since the announcement of the registration campaign, students have been offered voter registration forms by resident advisers during residence hall meetings and by professors during class. Jonathan Woods, a junior at Liberty and resident adviser, said he and fellow RAs were instructed to educate their residents about registering to vote during a regular RA meeting.
"That night, in our hall meetings, we had to explain that it's a good and unique opportunity," Woods said, "because not too long ago they [out-of-state students] weren't able to register in Virginia."
Liberty sophomore Zach Rowe said Falwell has been pressuring students not only to vote, but also to register to vote in Virginia.
"It's definitely been pushed to vote," Rowe said, "especially to vote locally." Rowe noted, however, that he still plans to vote in Pennsylvania by absentee ballot.
"Pennsylvania is a swing state, too," he said.
In addition to the increased availability of voter registration forms, classes will be canceled on Election Day, and buses will be available to shuttle students to the polls.
"It's a major election -- they really want students to vote," Liberty freshman Bethany Hernandez said. "Some teachers are giving extra credit if you register to vote."
Falwell's belief that Liberty could impact the outcome of Virginia's election may seem like wishful thinking, but Virginia's 2006 U.S. Senate race was decided by slightly less than 10,000 votes.
"The majority of Liberty students want McCain to win," Woods said. "If you have a few thousand people voting for one candidate, who weren't [initially] voting in Virginia, it could possibly make a difference."
Ashley Barbera, communications director of the College Republicans National Committee, said college students have the potential to significantly impact the outcome of this election.
"I think you're going to see young voters and young activists playing a very important and crucial role," Barbera said, noting that many of the swing states, such as Virginia and Ohio, are home to a number of large universities.
"They're states where College Republicans federations are really stepping up to the plate," Barbera said.
Though the College Republicans National Committee is not working specifically with Liberty University's administration, Barbera said Liberty's voter registration efforts are consistent with College Republicans' national mission.
"Virginia is obviously a swing state, and the polls are showing how close that state is on a day-to-day basis," Barbera said. "If you could get potentially an extra thousand votes there, that could swing a state and that could determine an election."
Though Falwell may believe Liberty students can help to secure Virginia for McCain, College Democrats of America President Katie Naranjo is not worried.
"I feel very comfortable that young people will sway the vote in Virginia," Naranjo said, "and it will be a victory for Senator Obama."
Naranjo, referencing recent national polls showing Obama ahead by a few percentage points, suggested, "Maybe that's why Liberty is scared."
Jared Leopold, communications director for the Democratic Party of Virginia's Coordinated Campaign, said the Democratic Party of Virginia encourages all efforts to reach out to college students.
"This is a historic election," Leopold said. "For many young people this will be the first election they'll participate in. We encourage all college students to get registered." Though a majority of the students registered at Liberty will be voting for McCain, Leopold is not concerned.
"We've seen a lot of college students register across the state," Leopold said. "We're confident that a large majority of college students and young people will side with Barack Obama and the democratic ticket."
Regardless of whether Liberty voters affect the outcome of this election, Hernandez said the voter registration drive might just be the beginning of Liberty University's political influence.
"It could be a starting point. Maybe it won't change anything this time, but in the future," she said. "If the school keeps up the initiative, even just one little change is probably going to affect the future."
Monday, September 29, 2008
T Matt Goes After LA Times on AP Style
There's a fascinating discussion going on over at Terry Mattingly's blog about MSM coverage of Sarah Palin, and especially about the use/misuse of the word "fundamentalist" as prescribed in the AP stylebook.
I'll let you look up some of his posts by clicking here, but reproduced here is a bit of his thinking about what is ethical and what is not, based upon AP stylebook-prescribed use of language:
Let’s be clear what MZ is saying. She is talking about the AP Stylebook and what these words actually mean. This has been a major theme here at GetReligion since day one. Click here to see some of that.
The best evidence is that Palin is an “evangelical” in the context of US religious history, not a “fundamentalist” as that movement defined itself. That is why the AP Stylebook says that the F-word should not be used in this kind of context, as an unsupported slur. To say that some one believes the Bible or believes that it is “literally true,” whatever that means, is not enough to label that person a “fundamentalist.” If the person is a Protestant, it probably is safe to say they are an “evangelical.”
Now, historically speaking, you can’t be a Pentecostal Christian — some of whom are not Trinitarian believers — and a fundamentalist. These movements actually clash on a regular basis. Ask any reporter currently covering some battles within the Southern Baptist Convention.
It is true that many newspapers have, even AP reporters have, misused the F-word in violation of their own stylebook. That’s the point of MZ’s post.
The stylebook does not address the blurring of definitions between creationism and evolution, but it should. Historically, the word Creationism referred to people who accepted a seven-, 24-hour day version of the biblical creation story.
Now, the word seems to apply to anyone who believes that God played any discernible role in creation — even through a gradual, change-over-time, common descent method of creation. The key is whether this person rejects the philosophical view that the process was random and without purpose. You would think that this position would be called “theistic evolution,” but it is not. The Materialist interpretations of the Darwinian mechanism are what the late Pope John Paul II spoke out against, while noting that their are multiple interpretations of Darwinian theory.
What MZ is calling for is a better use, by journalists, of these important words — which have historical meanings. Use neutral language. Describe people’s actions, without speculating on what they mean. Allow them to label themselves, the way you do other religious believers.
MZ is taking a side on the JOURNALISTIC issue, based on history and journalistic principles. When newspapers — such as the Los Angeles Times in this case — violate basic journalistic principles, it begins to feel like an editorial attack on a certain group or class of people.
The bottom line: It’s bad, inaccurate, journalism. And, as an agnostic Jewish friend of mine once said, any industry that spends a lot of its time mocking, or at best ignoring, the most cherished beliefs of roughly 30 to 40 percent of its potential audience is not an industry that is serious about its own survival. Is the goal to produce smaller and smaller niche publications after killing mainstream journalism?
I'll let you look up some of his posts by clicking here, but reproduced here is a bit of his thinking about what is ethical and what is not, based upon AP stylebook-prescribed use of language:
Let’s be clear what MZ is saying. She is talking about the AP Stylebook and what these words actually mean. This has been a major theme here at GetReligion since day one. Click here to see some of that.
The best evidence is that Palin is an “evangelical” in the context of US religious history, not a “fundamentalist” as that movement defined itself. That is why the AP Stylebook says that the F-word should not be used in this kind of context, as an unsupported slur. To say that some one believes the Bible or believes that it is “literally true,” whatever that means, is not enough to label that person a “fundamentalist.” If the person is a Protestant, it probably is safe to say they are an “evangelical.”
Now, historically speaking, you can’t be a Pentecostal Christian — some of whom are not Trinitarian believers — and a fundamentalist. These movements actually clash on a regular basis. Ask any reporter currently covering some battles within the Southern Baptist Convention.
It is true that many newspapers have, even AP reporters have, misused the F-word in violation of their own stylebook. That’s the point of MZ’s post.
The stylebook does not address the blurring of definitions between creationism and evolution, but it should. Historically, the word Creationism referred to people who accepted a seven-, 24-hour day version of the biblical creation story.
Now, the word seems to apply to anyone who believes that God played any discernible role in creation — even through a gradual, change-over-time, common descent method of creation. The key is whether this person rejects the philosophical view that the process was random and without purpose. You would think that this position would be called “theistic evolution,” but it is not. The Materialist interpretations of the Darwinian mechanism are what the late Pope John Paul II spoke out against, while noting that their are multiple interpretations of Darwinian theory.
What MZ is calling for is a better use, by journalists, of these important words — which have historical meanings. Use neutral language. Describe people’s actions, without speculating on what they mean. Allow them to label themselves, the way you do other religious believers.
MZ is taking a side on the JOURNALISTIC issue, based on history and journalistic principles. When newspapers — such as the Los Angeles Times in this case — violate basic journalistic principles, it begins to feel like an editorial attack on a certain group or class of people.
The bottom line: It’s bad, inaccurate, journalism. And, as an agnostic Jewish friend of mine once said, any industry that spends a lot of its time mocking, or at best ignoring, the most cherished beliefs of roughly 30 to 40 percent of its potential audience is not an industry that is serious about its own survival. Is the goal to produce smaller and smaller niche publications after killing mainstream journalism?
Martin Marty Speaks on 'Pulpit Freedom Sunday'
Martin Marty of the U. of Chicago is not someone with whose views I generally agree. However, I reproduce here a part of his recent "Sightings" newsletter because, tying in to the current "Pulpit Freedom" controversy is the story of one or several non-profit publications who voluntarily gave up their tax-exempt status in order to be able to endorse candidates. This is a gutsy move, and has significant implications. Here is a portion of Marty's newsletter:
Pulpit Freedom from the IRS
-- Martin E. Marty
Less noticed than its law-breaking advocates hoped it would be, given the
economic turmoil of the week, dozens of churches defied federal regulations
and used their pulpits yesterday to challenge IRS regulations, which insist
that tax exempt organizations dare not spend a "substantial part of [their]
activities in carrying on propaganda, or otherwise attempting, to influence
legislation." When this line was added to the tax code, the intention was
not to target religious organizations but to deny tax-exemption to "sham" or
"front" organizations which used religion to propagate a particular agenda.
Also added to the code in 1954 by Senator Lyndon B. Johnson was a denial of
tax exemption to organizations that "participate in, or intervene in
(including the publishing or distribution of statements), any political
campaign on behalf of any candidate for public office."
Yesterday, as announced, preachers and congregations, with the backing and on the impulse of the Alliance Defense Fund, staged a "Come and get us!" program called "Pulpit Freedom Sunday."
Preachers announced that they, in the name of "pulpit freedom," would very explicitly taunt and defy the IRS, which does try to be non-partisan and fair in efforts to enforce the law.
My May 19th column described how *The Christian Century*, which was and is close to my heart and word-processor, had to give up tax-exemption in 1964 when, in a momentary fit of Goldwater-as-President panic, it ran a cover supporting Johnson.
One of our Catholic counterparts chose to give up tax-exemption rather than comply with regulations; that was an act of integrity few religious organizations could even contemplate imitating.
On subjects like this, most citizens come to recognize that there can be no
pure, clear, determinative, or final decision as to what is involved. It is
hard to define "religion" or "organization" or "substantial" support. It is
easy to see that tax-exemption, a privilege taken for granted but argued for
on often-shaky grounds, is secure: Try to get elected to Congress while
advocating removal of the privilege.
It is hard to know exactly when someone oversteps the boundaries. Catholics, Lutherans, the Salvation Army, and many other public policy groups devise legally air-tight separate divisions for advocacy or political action, and refrain from mixing "religion" with those divisions.
No doubt myriad violations occur in pulpits and church bulletins, but most
of them tend to be casual or subtle or only semi-substantial. The Pulpit
Freedom Sunday of the Alliance Defense Fund does not want to be casual or
subtle or less than substantially substantial. The preachers it backs and
propels want to make this a law-defying act of "freedom."
We can be sure that opponents of this generally right-wing political cause will be provoked into counter-testing, asking the IRS and the feds to insist on support of law.
Is this a real "pulpit freedom" issue? Some want to compare it to Martin Luther King and conscientious objectors and any who appeal to a "higher law." But King and the objectors know that they are vulnerable to arrest or penalties, and have often paid them by sitting in jails.
The Pulpit Freedom advocates appeal to no "higher law;" they simply want the freedom to break existing laws. They may serve some purpose by forcing more definition from IRS and church leadership, but most immediate purposes are to be straight-out political and to have the citizenry at large pay, indirectly, to subsidize their messages.
Pulpit Freedom from the IRS
-- Martin E. Marty
Less noticed than its law-breaking advocates hoped it would be, given the
economic turmoil of the week, dozens of churches defied federal regulations
and used their pulpits yesterday to challenge IRS regulations, which insist
that tax exempt organizations dare not spend a "substantial part of [their]
activities in carrying on propaganda, or otherwise attempting, to influence
legislation." When this line was added to the tax code, the intention was
not to target religious organizations but to deny tax-exemption to "sham" or
"front" organizations which used religion to propagate a particular agenda.
Also added to the code in 1954 by Senator Lyndon B. Johnson was a denial of
tax exemption to organizations that "participate in, or intervene in
(including the publishing or distribution of statements), any political
campaign on behalf of any candidate for public office."
Yesterday, as announced, preachers and congregations, with the backing and on the impulse of the Alliance Defense Fund, staged a "Come and get us!" program called "Pulpit Freedom Sunday."
Preachers announced that they, in the name of "pulpit freedom," would very explicitly taunt and defy the IRS, which does try to be non-partisan and fair in efforts to enforce the law.
My May 19th column described how *The Christian Century*, which was and is close to my heart and word-processor, had to give up tax-exemption in 1964 when, in a momentary fit of Goldwater-as-President panic, it ran a cover supporting Johnson.
One of our Catholic counterparts chose to give up tax-exemption rather than comply with regulations; that was an act of integrity few religious organizations could even contemplate imitating.
On subjects like this, most citizens come to recognize that there can be no
pure, clear, determinative, or final decision as to what is involved. It is
hard to define "religion" or "organization" or "substantial" support. It is
easy to see that tax-exemption, a privilege taken for granted but argued for
on often-shaky grounds, is secure: Try to get elected to Congress while
advocating removal of the privilege.
It is hard to know exactly when someone oversteps the boundaries. Catholics, Lutherans, the Salvation Army, and many other public policy groups devise legally air-tight separate divisions for advocacy or political action, and refrain from mixing "religion" with those divisions.
No doubt myriad violations occur in pulpits and church bulletins, but most
of them tend to be casual or subtle or only semi-substantial. The Pulpit
Freedom Sunday of the Alliance Defense Fund does not want to be casual or
subtle or less than substantially substantial. The preachers it backs and
propels want to make this a law-defying act of "freedom."
We can be sure that opponents of this generally right-wing political cause will be provoked into counter-testing, asking the IRS and the feds to insist on support of law.
Is this a real "pulpit freedom" issue? Some want to compare it to Martin Luther King and conscientious objectors and any who appeal to a "higher law." But King and the objectors know that they are vulnerable to arrest or penalties, and have often paid them by sitting in jails.
The Pulpit Freedom advocates appeal to no "higher law;" they simply want the freedom to break existing laws. They may serve some purpose by forcing more definition from IRS and church leadership, but most immediate purposes are to be straight-out political and to have the citizenry at large pay, indirectly, to subsidize their messages.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Is This a Despicable Practice, or Acceptable?
This column by LA Times writer Tim Rutten raises a very serious journalistic ethics question--called "checkbook journalism" in the trade. What are your responses? Should a reputable organization like ABC have a different standard than TMZ? Is this practice OK? Or is it always wrong?
Into the gutter again with O.J.
His current trial in Las Vegas brings out the worst in journalism.
Tim Rutten
September 24, 2008
If you practice journalism long enough, you begin to develop a mental list of characters you hope never again to type in a particular sequence.
Take, for example, the letters that spell "O.J. Simpson."
Like most sensible people, you've probably been doing something useful with your time recently -- figuring out, say, what "field dressing a moose" actually entails, watching your 401(k) implode or setting up a rescue program for rabid skunks. You haven't, in other words, been following the latest legal melodrama in which the one-time football star turned superstar defendant has managed to embroil himself.
Just to bring the sane up to speed: Simpson is being tried on armed robbery and other charges in Las Vegas. Authorities there allege that the former USC and NFL running back and a number of gun-wielding confederates entered a hotel room and held up two dealers in sports collectibles, making off with an estimated $100,000 worth of memorabilia, some of it from Simpson's career, some of it related to other professional athletes.
The former Heisman Trophy winner denies guns were used and says he simply was reclaiming items -- some of them family photos -- that had been stolen from his home. If convicted, Simpson could spend the rest of his life in prison, which surely would make a lot of people happy and probably wouldn't bother that many others.
So what makes all this more than a curiosity -- or, perhaps, a minor-key argument that justice deferred isn't always or necessarily justice denied?
Well, if you take a step back for a second, you may recall that Simpson's trial for the murder of his estranged wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ron Goldman -- a young waiter out to do a customer a good turn -- was more than just another "trial of the century." The Simpson case was a journalistic battering ram that breached the wall between the celebrity-obsessed tabloids and serious mainstream news organizations, leaving gaps in values and practices that never have been adequately repaired.
Suffice to say, everybody -- including this newspaper -- decided to jump through the breach and into the swamp, and, to an extent too easily accepted, there we all have remained. Thus the various frenzies over Anna Nicole Smith or Michael Jackson or Paris Hilton or this month's missing blond.
Tabloid subjects are bad enough; tabloid methods are something else entirely. What makes the tawdry little trial now underway in Las Vegas such a melancholy affair is the revelation that a key figure in the whole sordid sequence of events has been paid to tell his story, and not only by the Los Angeles-based tabloid website TMZ but also by the semi-respectable syndicated television show "Entertainment Tonight" and the previously respectable ABC News.
On Monday, a witness named Thomas Riccio testified that TMZ paid him $150,000 and "Entertainment Tonight" and ABC shelled out $25,000 and $15,000, respectively, to obtain interviews, photographs and audio recordings he made of the alleged robberies. (We'll leave it to the jury to sort out what to make of the fact that Riccio arranged the meeting between Simpson and the memorabilia dealers, secretly recorded what happened and then sold the recordings to TMZ before making them available to police.)
There's nothing to be said about TMZ other than the fact that the people who run it are the informational equivalent of pimps and panderers. But what to make of "Entertainment Tonight," which has a reasonable reputation, and of ABC News? Riccio testified Monday that producers from both organizations told him that although they couldn't ethically pay for interviews, they could pay for his photographs and audiotape. Given the fact that these are evidence of an alleged crime, that's pushing the ethical envelope, but you've got to love what came next.
According to Jeffrey Schneider, a spokesman for ABC News, Riccio was paid so that the network could broadcast his audiotape on "Good Morning America." When parts of it turned out to be inaudible, Riccio had to be interviewed and that conversation was broadcast on the show. Right.
The argument against paying for the news is simple enough: When you pay sources for news, they have an economic stake in telling you what you want to hear and, anymore, telling you the most sensational thing you want to hear. The implications aren't hard to foresee -- unless, of course, you're trying to carve out a future alongside the tabloids in the gutter, while pretending to be somewhere else.
Into the gutter again with O.J.
His current trial in Las Vegas brings out the worst in journalism.
Tim Rutten
September 24, 2008
If you practice journalism long enough, you begin to develop a mental list of characters you hope never again to type in a particular sequence.
Take, for example, the letters that spell "O.J. Simpson."
Like most sensible people, you've probably been doing something useful with your time recently -- figuring out, say, what "field dressing a moose" actually entails, watching your 401(k) implode or setting up a rescue program for rabid skunks. You haven't, in other words, been following the latest legal melodrama in which the one-time football star turned superstar defendant has managed to embroil himself.
Just to bring the sane up to speed: Simpson is being tried on armed robbery and other charges in Las Vegas. Authorities there allege that the former USC and NFL running back and a number of gun-wielding confederates entered a hotel room and held up two dealers in sports collectibles, making off with an estimated $100,000 worth of memorabilia, some of it from Simpson's career, some of it related to other professional athletes.
The former Heisman Trophy winner denies guns were used and says he simply was reclaiming items -- some of them family photos -- that had been stolen from his home. If convicted, Simpson could spend the rest of his life in prison, which surely would make a lot of people happy and probably wouldn't bother that many others.
So what makes all this more than a curiosity -- or, perhaps, a minor-key argument that justice deferred isn't always or necessarily justice denied?
Well, if you take a step back for a second, you may recall that Simpson's trial for the murder of his estranged wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ron Goldman -- a young waiter out to do a customer a good turn -- was more than just another "trial of the century." The Simpson case was a journalistic battering ram that breached the wall between the celebrity-obsessed tabloids and serious mainstream news organizations, leaving gaps in values and practices that never have been adequately repaired.
Suffice to say, everybody -- including this newspaper -- decided to jump through the breach and into the swamp, and, to an extent too easily accepted, there we all have remained. Thus the various frenzies over Anna Nicole Smith or Michael Jackson or Paris Hilton or this month's missing blond.
Tabloid subjects are bad enough; tabloid methods are something else entirely. What makes the tawdry little trial now underway in Las Vegas such a melancholy affair is the revelation that a key figure in the whole sordid sequence of events has been paid to tell his story, and not only by the Los Angeles-based tabloid website TMZ but also by the semi-respectable syndicated television show "Entertainment Tonight" and the previously respectable ABC News.
On Monday, a witness named Thomas Riccio testified that TMZ paid him $150,000 and "Entertainment Tonight" and ABC shelled out $25,000 and $15,000, respectively, to obtain interviews, photographs and audio recordings he made of the alleged robberies. (We'll leave it to the jury to sort out what to make of the fact that Riccio arranged the meeting between Simpson and the memorabilia dealers, secretly recorded what happened and then sold the recordings to TMZ before making them available to police.)
There's nothing to be said about TMZ other than the fact that the people who run it are the informational equivalent of pimps and panderers. But what to make of "Entertainment Tonight," which has a reasonable reputation, and of ABC News? Riccio testified Monday that producers from both organizations told him that although they couldn't ethically pay for interviews, they could pay for his photographs and audiotape. Given the fact that these are evidence of an alleged crime, that's pushing the ethical envelope, but you've got to love what came next.
According to Jeffrey Schneider, a spokesman for ABC News, Riccio was paid so that the network could broadcast his audiotape on "Good Morning America." When parts of it turned out to be inaudible, Riccio had to be interviewed and that conversation was broadcast on the show. Right.
The argument against paying for the news is simple enough: When you pay sources for news, they have an economic stake in telling you what you want to hear and, anymore, telling you the most sensational thing you want to hear. The implications aren't hard to foresee -- unless, of course, you're trying to carve out a future alongside the tabloids in the gutter, while pretending to be somewhere else.
Community Journalism is Good for Longevity!
America's oldest worker is Midwest writer, 100
Astrid Munn
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON – One way to get the news in small-town Nebraska is to open the phone book, call a number and ask whoever answers if he or she has a story. Another way is to call a neighbor who has cars with out-of-town license plates parked out front and ask questions.
That’s how Mildred Heath has been getting the scoop in her central Nebraska community.
At 100, she is the Overton, Neb., population 659,correspondent for the Beacon-Observer, a weekly newspaper her family owns. The paper has a second office in Elm Creek and 1,500 subscribers.
Heath’s dedication has won her the 2008 America’s Oldest Worker award, as well as an honorary membership in the National Press Club, which also turned 100 this year.
Experience Works, a nonprofit program that provides job training for older workers, organizes the award.
And Heath does work hard – 30 hours a week – pursuing community news. As well as never smoking or drinking, she credits her longevity to her active social life.
“I’ve always been very active and take part in things,” she said. “Working with people is what it’s all about.”
Heath started her career at age 15, running a Linotype – a machine that turned hot lead into lines of type for the printing press.
She married Blair Heath in 1927 and bought the now-defunct Farnam Echo and founded the Overton Observer. For many years, Heath and her husband lived in the rooms behind the Observer office with their three daughters – all of whom she has outlived. Her husband died in 1985 at age 80.
The Observer became the Beacon-Observer when Heath’s family purchased the Elm Creek Beacon.
“She used to run the show and hasn’t backed off much,” said Norm Taylor, 69, Heath’s son-in-law and the Beacon-Observer’s owner. “She doesn’t want to. She always says, ‘I feel needed. As long as I’m needed, I’ll do it.’ ” Heath was named Nebraska’s oldest worker 10 years ago, and this year’s award marked her first visit to the nation’s capital.
Astrid Munn
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON – One way to get the news in small-town Nebraska is to open the phone book, call a number and ask whoever answers if he or she has a story. Another way is to call a neighbor who has cars with out-of-town license plates parked out front and ask questions.
That’s how Mildred Heath has been getting the scoop in her central Nebraska community.
At 100, she is the Overton, Neb., population 659,correspondent for the Beacon-Observer, a weekly newspaper her family owns. The paper has a second office in Elm Creek and 1,500 subscribers.
Heath’s dedication has won her the 2008 America’s Oldest Worker award, as well as an honorary membership in the National Press Club, which also turned 100 this year.
Experience Works, a nonprofit program that provides job training for older workers, organizes the award.
And Heath does work hard – 30 hours a week – pursuing community news. As well as never smoking or drinking, she credits her longevity to her active social life.
“I’ve always been very active and take part in things,” she said. “Working with people is what it’s all about.”
Heath started her career at age 15, running a Linotype – a machine that turned hot lead into lines of type for the printing press.
She married Blair Heath in 1927 and bought the now-defunct Farnam Echo and founded the Overton Observer. For many years, Heath and her husband lived in the rooms behind the Observer office with their three daughters – all of whom she has outlived. Her husband died in 1985 at age 80.
The Observer became the Beacon-Observer when Heath’s family purchased the Elm Creek Beacon.
“She used to run the show and hasn’t backed off much,” said Norm Taylor, 69, Heath’s son-in-law and the Beacon-Observer’s owner. “She doesn’t want to. She always says, ‘I feel needed. As long as I’m needed, I’ll do it.’ ” Heath was named Nebraska’s oldest worker 10 years ago, and this year’s award marked her first visit to the nation’s capital.
Oops! Let's Hope it Was Accidental!
Iowa college apologizes for offensive typo
DES MOINES, Iowa -- The president of an Iowa college says he's sorry about an unfortunate and offensive typo in a school handbook.
A calendar entry for Feb. 16, 2009, was supposed to read "Black History Lunch and Learn." Instead, it says "Black History Linch and Learn."
It sounds like "lynch," a term commonly used for hangings by a mob.
The handbook was distributed to about 10,000 students before the mistake was discovered.
Des Moines Area Community College President Rob Denson says stickers are available to place over the entry, which will be corrected in the next printing.
DES MOINES, Iowa -- The president of an Iowa college says he's sorry about an unfortunate and offensive typo in a school handbook.
A calendar entry for Feb. 16, 2009, was supposed to read "Black History Lunch and Learn." Instead, it says "Black History Linch and Learn."
It sounds like "lynch," a term commonly used for hangings by a mob.
The handbook was distributed to about 10,000 students before the mistake was discovered.
Des Moines Area Community College President Rob Denson says stickers are available to place over the entry, which will be corrected in the next printing.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Religion Newswriters Announce Awards
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Michael Paulson of the Boston Globe took top honors in the Religion Newswriters Association's annual contests for a package of stories highlighted by a series on the trials of an inner-city church.
Paulson received first place in both the Templeton Award for Religion Reporting and the Supple Award for Religion Writing categories from the RNA, which seeks to improve coverage of religion in the secular press.
Other first-place winners presented at the group's annual conference in Washington:
Cornell Award for Religion Reporter of the Year - Mid-sized Newspapers: Jennifer Green of Canada's Ottawa Citizen.
Cassels Award for Religion Reporter of the Year - Small Newspapers: Sara Schilling of the Tri-City Herald in Kennewick, Wash.
Schachern Award for Best Religion Section or Pages: The Salt Lake Tribune
Chandler Award for Best Student Religion Reporter: Heather Donckels, The Master's College in Santa Clarita, Calif.
Best Television Religion Reporting: Kim Lawton of Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly
Best Radio Religion Reporting: Jason DeRose, for work done at Chicago Public Radio
---
http://www.rna.org
Paulson received first place in both the Templeton Award for Religion Reporting and the Supple Award for Religion Writing categories from the RNA, which seeks to improve coverage of religion in the secular press.
Other first-place winners presented at the group's annual conference in Washington:
Cornell Award for Religion Reporter of the Year - Mid-sized Newspapers: Jennifer Green of Canada's Ottawa Citizen.
Cassels Award for Religion Reporter of the Year - Small Newspapers: Sara Schilling of the Tri-City Herald in Kennewick, Wash.
Schachern Award for Best Religion Section or Pages: The Salt Lake Tribune
Chandler Award for Best Student Religion Reporter: Heather Donckels, The Master's College in Santa Clarita, Calif.
Best Television Religion Reporting: Kim Lawton of Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly
Best Radio Religion Reporting: Jason DeRose, for work done at Chicago Public Radio
---
http://www.rna.org
Formatting Your Stories
As I read through the stories you submitted for last week's class, it is obvious I haven't done a good job of giving you guidelines on formatting a news story.
1. Stories should be double-spaced, with paragraphs indented. Don't add additional spaces between the paragraphs.
2. Each story should have a headline (with subject and verb) and a byline that identifies you as author. You don't need a date, my name, or any other information.
3. At the end of the story, include one of the standard endmarks to tell the editor that the story has ended. Typical would be -30- or ###
4. If the story goes more than one page, put (more) at the bottom right of the first page and put a slugline at the top of page two (Davidson - Cafeteria - 2)
5. Three more observations:
a. NEVER EVER start a story with a date. Until the reader knows what the story is about, he/she has no interest in hearing WHEN it happened
b. News stories must be cleansed of personal opinion, both overt and implied. I'm finding unquoted, unsubstantiated opinion wording all through the submitted work
c. All news stories are to be in third person. No use of "I," "we," "our," "us," etc.
I give this feedback now, so you have time to correct some of these issues before handing in Monday's assignment.
Call, e-mail, or stop in to my office if you have questions.
-tw
1. Stories should be double-spaced, with paragraphs indented. Don't add additional spaces between the paragraphs.
2. Each story should have a headline (with subject and verb) and a byline that identifies you as author. You don't need a date, my name, or any other information.
3. At the end of the story, include one of the standard endmarks to tell the editor that the story has ended. Typical would be -30- or ###
4. If the story goes more than one page, put (more) at the bottom right of the first page and put a slugline at the top of page two (Davidson - Cafeteria - 2)
5. Three more observations:
a. NEVER EVER start a story with a date. Until the reader knows what the story is about, he/she has no interest in hearing WHEN it happened
b. News stories must be cleansed of personal opinion, both overt and implied. I'm finding unquoted, unsubstantiated opinion wording all through the submitted work
c. All news stories are to be in third person. No use of "I," "we," "our," "us," etc.
I give this feedback now, so you have time to correct some of these issues before handing in Monday's assignment.
Call, e-mail, or stop in to my office if you have questions.
-tw
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Religious Newswriters Meet
From Publisher's Weekly:
Publishers Give Religion Reporters Food (for Thought) at Journalists' Annual Conference
by Marcia Z. Nelson
Those who think the news is grim in publishing as sales stay soft and heads of houses revise resumes need to know it could be worse: you could be a religion reporter working for a newspaper. The atmosphere was sober (except at the closing night party) and buyouts were the subject of many a conversation at the 59th annual conference of the Religion Newswriters Association held Sept. 18-21 in Washington, D.C.
Religion publishers pitched tents and titles in an exhibitors room to reporters whenever journalists took a break from panels about religion and the 2008 elections, new media and blogging, and writing with nuance about Islam. Jossey-Bass, Baylor University Press and HarperOne all held press conferences for a captive and well-fed audience to promote or debut key titles.
Chris Korzen and Alexia Kelley, co-authors of A Nation for All: How the Catholic Vision of the Common Good Can Save America from the Politics of Division (Jossey-Bass, May), offered background analysis and answers about what is looking to be the crucial Catholic vote in the fall elections.
Baylor University religion sociologist Rodney Stark was principal presenter of new findings and topics from a series of Baylor surveys of American religious beliefs and practices, the results of which are summarized in Stark's What Americans Really Believe: New Findings from the Baylor Surveys of Religion (Baylor Univ., Sept.).
HarperOne debuted The Green Bible (Oct.), a "green-letter" edition that highlights more than 1,000 verses dealing with caring for God's creation. The environmentally friendly edition features a cotton-linen cover, recycled paper and soy-based ink, as well as an introduction by South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and essays by environmental scholars and leaders.
Zondervan feted religion columnist Cathleen Falsani to introduce her Sin Boldly: A Field Guide for Grace (Sept.), already going back to press. Other publishers reeling in reporters, or trying their best: Baker Publishing Group, Paraclete Press, SkyLight Paths/Jewish Lights, Westminster John Knox, and Islamica publisher Tughra, which set out a seductive platter of Turkish delight for browsers.
Publishers Give Religion Reporters Food (for Thought) at Journalists' Annual Conference
by Marcia Z. Nelson
Those who think the news is grim in publishing as sales stay soft and heads of houses revise resumes need to know it could be worse: you could be a religion reporter working for a newspaper. The atmosphere was sober (except at the closing night party) and buyouts were the subject of many a conversation at the 59th annual conference of the Religion Newswriters Association held Sept. 18-21 in Washington, D.C.
Religion publishers pitched tents and titles in an exhibitors room to reporters whenever journalists took a break from panels about religion and the 2008 elections, new media and blogging, and writing with nuance about Islam. Jossey-Bass, Baylor University Press and HarperOne all held press conferences for a captive and well-fed audience to promote or debut key titles.
Chris Korzen and Alexia Kelley, co-authors of A Nation for All: How the Catholic Vision of the Common Good Can Save America from the Politics of Division (Jossey-Bass, May), offered background analysis and answers about what is looking to be the crucial Catholic vote in the fall elections.
Baylor University religion sociologist Rodney Stark was principal presenter of new findings and topics from a series of Baylor surveys of American religious beliefs and practices, the results of which are summarized in Stark's What Americans Really Believe: New Findings from the Baylor Surveys of Religion (Baylor Univ., Sept.).
HarperOne debuted The Green Bible (Oct.), a "green-letter" edition that highlights more than 1,000 verses dealing with caring for God's creation. The environmentally friendly edition features a cotton-linen cover, recycled paper and soy-based ink, as well as an introduction by South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and essays by environmental scholars and leaders.
Zondervan feted religion columnist Cathleen Falsani to introduce her Sin Boldly: A Field Guide for Grace (Sept.), already going back to press. Other publishers reeling in reporters, or trying their best: Baker Publishing Group, Paraclete Press, SkyLight Paths/Jewish Lights, Westminster John Knox, and Islamica publisher Tughra, which set out a seductive platter of Turkish delight for browsers.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Where Have All the Commas Gone?
Here's a great little column from the current CJR. Click on the link at right to read more.
Where Have All The Commas Gone?
The joys of the parenthetical comma
By Merrill Perlman
(Voice of police dispatcher): “Calling all cars! Calling all cars! Be on the lookout for escaped commas. Last seen after years that follow dates, and after state names that follow cities. Can be recognized by their downward curves. Please recapture and replace immediately. Reward is clarity of meaning.”
We’re talking about a parenthetical comma, which sets off information: “She was born July 20, 1995, and went to school in Springfield, Ill., where she graduated at the top of her eighth-grade class.” The loss of all those commas may not be a crime, but it certainly is a mystery.
The parenthetical comma isn’t an optional comma. It serves two purposes: the first is to set off the year/state from the date, and the second is to set off the year/state from the rest of the sentence. Without it, readers can be momentarily distracted into thinking that the year/state is part of phrase by which it is followed.
Here are some examples. Not too long ago, a CNN news crawl read: “A judge in Alexandria, Virginia ruled yesterday that …” Was the judge in Alexandria named Virginia? Of course not. (We will not discuss why CNN chose not to abbreviate Virginia in this case.) And the cornerstone laid at the base of the Freedom Tower at ground zero reads: “To honor and remember those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001 and as a tribute to the enduring spirit of freedom.” In both cases, the first comma, following the city and date, is missing its mate, which is supposed to follow the extra information of the state and year.
So far, I have not found a single grammar book, style guide, or other advisory that approves the omission of that second comma. And much of the time, that comma is missing even if followed by an independent clause that would have been set off by a comma anyway. Yet time and again, in court documents, news stories, and books—not to mention granite—that comma has gone missing.
If anyone has an explanation for this phenomenon, please forward it. And if you recognize yourself, please turn yourself in, and reward your readers.
Where Have All The Commas Gone?
The joys of the parenthetical comma
By Merrill Perlman
(Voice of police dispatcher): “Calling all cars! Calling all cars! Be on the lookout for escaped commas. Last seen after years that follow dates, and after state names that follow cities. Can be recognized by their downward curves. Please recapture and replace immediately. Reward is clarity of meaning.”
We’re talking about a parenthetical comma, which sets off information: “She was born July 20, 1995, and went to school in Springfield, Ill., where she graduated at the top of her eighth-grade class.” The loss of all those commas may not be a crime, but it certainly is a mystery.
The parenthetical comma isn’t an optional comma. It serves two purposes: the first is to set off the year/state from the date, and the second is to set off the year/state from the rest of the sentence. Without it, readers can be momentarily distracted into thinking that the year/state is part of phrase by which it is followed.
Here are some examples. Not too long ago, a CNN news crawl read: “A judge in Alexandria, Virginia ruled yesterday that …” Was the judge in Alexandria named Virginia? Of course not. (We will not discuss why CNN chose not to abbreviate Virginia in this case.) And the cornerstone laid at the base of the Freedom Tower at ground zero reads: “To honor and remember those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001 and as a tribute to the enduring spirit of freedom.” In both cases, the first comma, following the city and date, is missing its mate, which is supposed to follow the extra information of the state and year.
So far, I have not found a single grammar book, style guide, or other advisory that approves the omission of that second comma. And much of the time, that comma is missing even if followed by an independent clause that would have been set off by a comma anyway. Yet time and again, in court documents, news stories, and books—not to mention granite—that comma has gone missing.
If anyone has an explanation for this phenomenon, please forward it. And if you recognize yourself, please turn yourself in, and reward your readers.
Assignment for Monday, September 29
Assignment for September 29:
Choose a newsmaker on campus – the college president, a faculty member, a student government candidate, missionary in residence, summer missionary, student leader, athlete, etc. – and interview that person on a topic important to your school. Write a story, two pages maximum, double-spaced, based on the interview, using at least two other sources to make the story complete. Use correct AP style.
In class next week, we will review a sampling of your stories, discussing how the interviews went, what problems arose, and how you dealt with them. What would you do differently if you were to re-do the interview?
Next week, come prepared to take notes on the in-class presentation I will give, followed by a short Q&A for any clarification needed. You will write the story for submission on October 6, as though it were for the Warsaw Times-Union readership.
Choose a newsmaker on campus – the college president, a faculty member, a student government candidate, missionary in residence, summer missionary, student leader, athlete, etc. – and interview that person on a topic important to your school. Write a story, two pages maximum, double-spaced, based on the interview, using at least two other sources to make the story complete. Use correct AP style.
In class next week, we will review a sampling of your stories, discussing how the interviews went, what problems arose, and how you dealt with them. What would you do differently if you were to re-do the interview?
Next week, come prepared to take notes on the in-class presentation I will give, followed by a short Q&A for any clarification needed. You will write the story for submission on October 6, as though it were for the Warsaw Times-Union readership.
WJI Names New Schaeffer Scholar
Anthony Bradley appointed World Journalism Institute's Francis Schaeffer
Scholar
New York, N.Y., September 22, 2008-Dr. Anthony B. Bradley has been appointed
to the Francis Schaeffer Chair of Apologetics at the World Journalism
Institute for the academic year of 2008-2009. Bradley will retain all his
full time teaching responsibilities at Covenant Theological Seminary in St.
Louis, and will teach for WJI in its 2009 journalism course at The King's
College in New York City.
WJI Director Robert Case said, "We're honored to have Bradley as our
Schaeffer Scholar, a high standard set by Nancy Pearcey, Bill Edgar and
others. He's one of America's brightest young theologians; the students will
be blessed to learn from him."
Dr. Bradley is assistant professor of apologetics and systematic theology at
Covenant Theological Seminary, where he joined the faculty in fall 2005.
Bradley serves as a research fellow for the Acton Institute for the Study of
Religion and Liberty in Grand Rapids, Mich. His doctoral work focused on the
intersection of black liberation theology with economics. His interests
include the Scottish Reformation, the emerging church, welfare, education,
and modern international forms of social injustice, slavery, and oppression.
Bradley brings a wide range of ministry experience to his teaching,
including leadership in youth ministry and Christian high school education
and administration.
Dr. Bradley holds a bachelor of science from Clemson University, Master of
Divinity from Covenant Seminary, and PhD, from Westminster Theological
Seminary.
The World Journalism Institute, located in New York City, was founded in
1998 and holds courses and conferences throughout the year to recruit,
equip, place and encourage Christian journalists in America's newsrooms. For
more information, see www.worldji.com or call 800-769-7870.
Media Contact:
Kim Collins
Deputy Director
World Journalism Institute
800-769-7870
kcollins@worldji.com
www.worldji.com
Scholar
New York, N.Y., September 22, 2008-Dr. Anthony B. Bradley has been appointed
to the Francis Schaeffer Chair of Apologetics at the World Journalism
Institute for the academic year of 2008-2009. Bradley will retain all his
full time teaching responsibilities at Covenant Theological Seminary in St.
Louis, and will teach for WJI in its 2009 journalism course at The King's
College in New York City.
WJI Director Robert Case said, "We're honored to have Bradley as our
Schaeffer Scholar, a high standard set by Nancy Pearcey, Bill Edgar and
others. He's one of America's brightest young theologians; the students will
be blessed to learn from him."
Dr. Bradley is assistant professor of apologetics and systematic theology at
Covenant Theological Seminary, where he joined the faculty in fall 2005.
Bradley serves as a research fellow for the Acton Institute for the Study of
Religion and Liberty in Grand Rapids, Mich. His doctoral work focused on the
intersection of black liberation theology with economics. His interests
include the Scottish Reformation, the emerging church, welfare, education,
and modern international forms of social injustice, slavery, and oppression.
Bradley brings a wide range of ministry experience to his teaching,
including leadership in youth ministry and Christian high school education
and administration.
Dr. Bradley holds a bachelor of science from Clemson University, Master of
Divinity from Covenant Seminary, and PhD, from Westminster Theological
Seminary.
The World Journalism Institute, located in New York City, was founded in
1998 and holds courses and conferences throughout the year to recruit,
equip, place and encourage Christian journalists in America's newsrooms. For
more information, see www.worldji.com or call 800-769-7870.
Media Contact:
Kim Collins
Deputy Director
World Journalism Institute
800-769-7870
kcollins@worldji.com
www.worldji.com
Monday, September 22, 2008
Christian Writer's Conference in Indy Nov. 7-8
A nearby Christian writer's conference you may wish to know about:
Best-selling author Stan Toler and Thomas Nelson Publisher Mark Gilroy will headline the Indianapolis Christian Writers Conference, Nov. 7–8, 2008, at The Wesleyan Church World Headquarters
Toler is senior pastor of Trinity Church of the Nazarene in Oklahoma City and serves as the executive director of the Toler Leadership Center, located on the campus of Mid-America Christian University. Toler has written over 70 books, including Stan Toler’s Practical Guide to Pastoral Ministry and Total Quality Life.
Gilroy is a 20-year veteran in the publishing industry with significant experience in gift, inspirational, trade, periodical, and curriculum publishing. He has developed a number of successful series as a book packager including Crazy About You, God's Way, Nightstand Reader, and Whisper a Prayer with combined sales of over 750,000 units within two years of release.
For more information: www.wesleyan.org/writer
Best-selling author Stan Toler and Thomas Nelson Publisher Mark Gilroy will headline the Indianapolis Christian Writers Conference, Nov. 7–8, 2008, at The Wesleyan Church World Headquarters
Toler is senior pastor of Trinity Church of the Nazarene in Oklahoma City and serves as the executive director of the Toler Leadership Center, located on the campus of Mid-America Christian University. Toler has written over 70 books, including Stan Toler’s Practical Guide to Pastoral Ministry and Total Quality Life.
Gilroy is a 20-year veteran in the publishing industry with significant experience in gift, inspirational, trade, periodical, and curriculum publishing. He has developed a number of successful series as a book packager including Crazy About You, God's Way, Nightstand Reader, and Whisper a Prayer with combined sales of over 750,000 units within two years of release.
For more information: www.wesleyan.org/writer
Saturday, September 20, 2008
CJR Link Added
I've added a live link at right to Columbia Journalism Review, the highly-respected magazine on the media produced by the journalism school at Columbia University.
To link directly, click here. I suggest you browse its content at least once a month to stay current, as I've suggested you do with Editor and Publisher.
To link directly, click here. I suggest you browse its content at least once a month to stay current, as I've suggested you do with Editor and Publisher.
Stores Pull Magazine Because of Story
Here is an interesting incident where a scriptural position results in an action having an impact on the press. This is an excerpt. To read the article, click here.
S. Baptist Bookstores Pull Magazine Featuring Female Pastors
By Katherine T. Phan
Christian Post Reporter
Sat, Sep. 20 2008 02:25 PM EDT
Over 100 Christian bookstores run by the Southern Baptist Convention have pulled from their shelves this month's issue of Gospel Today Magazine, which features a cover story about female pastors.
The Sept./Oct. issue of Gospel Today Magazine, an urban publication with a circulation of nearly a quarter of a million, was pulled this from Lifeway Christian Bookstores for featuring a cover story about female pastors.Customers to Lifeway Christian Bookstores, located mostly in the Bible Belt with a handful of locations along the West Coast, will now have to request to buy the Sept./Oct. issue of Gospel Today Magazine, which have been placed behind the stores' counters.
The front cover of the latest issue of Gospel Today, an urban publication with a circulation of nearly a quarter of a million, features five smiling female pastors and was titled "Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Female Pastors." In the cover story, the five preachers talk about their roles and responsibilities, struggles and successes.
The Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's second largest Christian denomination, officially opposes females serving as pastors. In 2000, the denomination overwhelmingly adopted a revised statement of faith that said the pastoral role should be restricted to men.
"We have removed the September/October issue of Gospel Today from our shelves because the cover story, featuring female pastors, clearly advocates a position contrary to our denomination's statement of faith, the Baptist Faith & Message," Chris Turner, a spokesman for Lifeway Resources, told The Christian Post.
The Baptist Faith and Message declares that “While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.”
Friday, September 19, 2008
Newsweek Discusses the e-Newspaper
Newsweek dicusses e-newspapers in its September 15 edition. Here's a short excerpt--to read the entire article, click here.
A No-Paper Newspaper
After years of hype, 'e-newspapers' are getting closer to reality. Can they save a shrinking industry?
Daniel McGinn
NEWSWEEK
From the magazine issue dated Sep 15, 2008
When scientists inside the MIT Media Lab began toying with "electronic paper" more than a decade ago, much of their enthusiasm focused on single killer app: a portable, paperless newspaper.
E-newspapers would be a huge environmental win, eliminating the need to pulp trees and burn gasoline delivering the traditional folded parcels to readers' driveways. Like many technologies, however, e-paper has been slow to take off.
In the past year, since Amazon introduced its Kindle electronic reading device, thousands of Americans have experienced the pleasures of e-books—but for most people, e-newspapers aren't yet a reality.
Millions of us already read paperless newspapers and magazines on the Web, but e-newspapers, read on devices like the Kindle, would offer different benefits for both readers and publishers.
For consumers who already spend too many hours staring at PC screens, e-newspapers would offer portability and an uncluttered reading environment, blissfully free from e-mail bells ringing or IMs popping up mid-paragraph.
Among publishers, there's real hope readers will pay subscription fees for those benefits (something few Web readers do), and that advertisers will pay considerably more for ads on e-readers than they do on the Web. If these new streams of cash materialize, they could help an industry that's seen revenues fall sharply as readers and advertisers have begun abandoning high-margin print products. E-newspapers would also eliminate printing and delivery costs—typically half of what publishers spend to put out a newspaper.
For a primitive look at how e-newspapers might work, consider the Kindle. Amazon currently offers 24 newspapers for use on the device. Subscribers pay $5.99 to $14.99 per month, and each issue arrives wirelessly before sunup.
Even e-reader enthusiasts describe reading a newspaper on the Kindle as disappointing—and after reading four dailies on the device for the past two weeks, I'd have to agree. I loved not having to walk to the driveway to fetch my morning papers, and I enjoyed not having to recycle them afterward. But this convenience carries a cost.
The Kindle's black-and-white screen doesn't handle photographs or graphics well, and its e-papers carry no advertising. Navigating between stories is cumbersome. The biggest problem, though, is that e-readers work best for "linear reading"—reading long pages of text, as in a book—and not as well for the buffet-like browsing behavior that makes reading a newspaper one of life's great pleasures.
Instead of offering well-designed pages that entice readers to skim a story they might otherwise skip, today's e-newspapers merely list headlines or tops of articles, which makes it hard to decide what's worth reading. As a result, although some analysts predict Amazon will sell a half million Kindles in its first 13 months on the market, they estimate only a few thousand buyers have used the device to read a newspaper. (Amazon won't discuss its numbers.)
A No-Paper Newspaper
After years of hype, 'e-newspapers' are getting closer to reality. Can they save a shrinking industry?
Daniel McGinn
NEWSWEEK
From the magazine issue dated Sep 15, 2008
When scientists inside the MIT Media Lab began toying with "electronic paper" more than a decade ago, much of their enthusiasm focused on single killer app: a portable, paperless newspaper.
E-newspapers would be a huge environmental win, eliminating the need to pulp trees and burn gasoline delivering the traditional folded parcels to readers' driveways. Like many technologies, however, e-paper has been slow to take off.
In the past year, since Amazon introduced its Kindle electronic reading device, thousands of Americans have experienced the pleasures of e-books—but for most people, e-newspapers aren't yet a reality.
Millions of us already read paperless newspapers and magazines on the Web, but e-newspapers, read on devices like the Kindle, would offer different benefits for both readers and publishers.
For consumers who already spend too many hours staring at PC screens, e-newspapers would offer portability and an uncluttered reading environment, blissfully free from e-mail bells ringing or IMs popping up mid-paragraph.
Among publishers, there's real hope readers will pay subscription fees for those benefits (something few Web readers do), and that advertisers will pay considerably more for ads on e-readers than they do on the Web. If these new streams of cash materialize, they could help an industry that's seen revenues fall sharply as readers and advertisers have begun abandoning high-margin print products. E-newspapers would also eliminate printing and delivery costs—typically half of what publishers spend to put out a newspaper.
For a primitive look at how e-newspapers might work, consider the Kindle. Amazon currently offers 24 newspapers for use on the device. Subscribers pay $5.99 to $14.99 per month, and each issue arrives wirelessly before sunup.
Even e-reader enthusiasts describe reading a newspaper on the Kindle as disappointing—and after reading four dailies on the device for the past two weeks, I'd have to agree. I loved not having to walk to the driveway to fetch my morning papers, and I enjoyed not having to recycle them afterward. But this convenience carries a cost.
The Kindle's black-and-white screen doesn't handle photographs or graphics well, and its e-papers carry no advertising. Navigating between stories is cumbersome. The biggest problem, though, is that e-readers work best for "linear reading"—reading long pages of text, as in a book—and not as well for the buffet-like browsing behavior that makes reading a newspaper one of life's great pleasures.
Instead of offering well-designed pages that entice readers to skim a story they might otherwise skip, today's e-newspapers merely list headlines or tops of articles, which makes it hard to decide what's worth reading. As a result, although some analysts predict Amazon will sell a half million Kindles in its first 13 months on the market, they estimate only a few thousand buyers have used the device to read a newspaper. (Amazon won't discuss its numbers.)
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
'Shack' Author to Face Chatroom
From Christian Post. Entire article, click here.
'The Shack' Author to Face Fans, Critics via Chat
By Eric Young
Christian Post Reporter
Next month, the author of The Shack will be joining a public online chatroom to discuss his No. 1 New York Times best-selling book, which has received strong praise from some Christian circles and strong criticism from others.
Both fans and critics of William P. Young’s surprise best-seller will get the opportunity to submit questions to the author as part of Abunga.com’s bi-weekly “Authors at Abunga” chat, which connects avid book readers with their favorite authors.
And with all the buzz that has surrounded The Shack since its rise to success, the questions will likely be pouring in ahead of the high-anticipated Oct. 22 chat.
Though Young had not originally intended the novel to be for public consumption, since its debut on the market last year, The Shack has reaped in a surprising amount of success, generating a large amount of buzz – both positive and negative – within Christian circles.
“This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress did for his,” stated Eugene Peterson, Professor Emeritus Of Spiritual Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, in a published endorsement for the book. “It’s that good!”
'The Shack' Author to Face Fans, Critics via Chat
By Eric Young
Christian Post Reporter
Next month, the author of The Shack will be joining a public online chatroom to discuss his No. 1 New York Times best-selling book, which has received strong praise from some Christian circles and strong criticism from others.
Both fans and critics of William P. Young’s surprise best-seller will get the opportunity to submit questions to the author as part of Abunga.com’s bi-weekly “Authors at Abunga” chat, which connects avid book readers with their favorite authors.
And with all the buzz that has surrounded The Shack since its rise to success, the questions will likely be pouring in ahead of the high-anticipated Oct. 22 chat.
Though Young had not originally intended the novel to be for public consumption, since its debut on the market last year, The Shack has reaped in a surprising amount of success, generating a large amount of buzz – both positive and negative – within Christian circles.
“This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress did for his,” stated Eugene Peterson, Professor Emeritus Of Spiritual Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, in a published endorsement for the book. “It’s that good!”
Ouch! Publishing Losses Hurt
LifeWay Christian Resources, the Southern Baptist Convention's publishing and retailing arm, announced that it is cutting its workforce by five percent, or about 100 of its 2,000 jobs. LifeWay spokesman Rob Phillips told the Associated Baptist Press that 2008's income was outpacing 2007's revenue of $458.7 million, but was falling below projections.
After 99 issues and 26 years, Christianity Today sister publication Christian History & Biography has ceased its print publication. Christianity Today International, which purchased the quarterly magazine from the Christian History Institute in 1989, says it will continue to publish the title online at ChristianHistory.net.
After 99 issues and 26 years, Christianity Today sister publication Christian History & Biography has ceased its print publication. Christianity Today International, which purchased the quarterly magazine from the Christian History Institute in 1989, says it will continue to publish the title online at ChristianHistory.net.
Called Into Central Casting by God
Here's an imaginative piece of writing by a friend who is part of the Christian Writers Guild. Used by permission.
God's Central Casting for a Writer; If you were God, would you have chosen Dr. Luke as a writer?
God: "Sit down, young man. I hear you want to be cast in the role of a
writer. What makes you think you could become an effective writer?"
Luke: "Sir, I've been a doctor for 20 years and have observed a lot of
people. I've had some weird characters show up in my doctor's office and
they would make great anecdotes for an article or book. I've also seen some
miraculous healings. I think I could write an inspirational book that would
sell thousands of copies."
God: "Well, what I am really looking for is someone who will tell the story
of two of the greatest men of the past 50 years. I think it's time for a
fresh retelling of the story of my son Jesus. Now to do that you will have
to forget about your experiences, your miraculous healings. You will have to
write only about Jesus' remarkable birth and three years of ministry. The
miracles would be the ones he performed. Do you think you are willing to
sacrifice your own great story for that of another, my son Jesus?"
Luke: "I guess that means travel and research instead of just telling my own
great story. But since this Jesus did miracles greater than I have done I'm
willing to tackle this project."
God: "I've got another possible assignment for you, a really quite different
one. There's this man Paul, whom I rescued from persecuting Christians and
put on the road as my evangelist. To get his story you will need to become a
member of his team, go hungry and thirsty with him on his journeys, become
incredibly tired as you move from place to place, experience some quite
vicious attacks on him for his message, see him being set upon by angry
mobs. You might call this an assignment to a war zone, where you will know
from personal experience what it means to attack the forces of evil in a
variety of cultures. But what you will need to record is not only the
personal experiences of team members, but also what happens when people come
to faith in Christ in hostile cultures and organize themselves into
churches. Are you ready for an assignment into the war zone?
Luke: "Do I get to practice medicine while on the road with this evangelist?
You know, I need to keep up my certification as a physician, and that
requires a certain number of hours of hands-on medical experience."
God: "I think you'll get that experience just patching up my servant Paul
and his associate Silas! You'll have a whole range of wounds to take care
of. You'll possibly have to practice a little psychiatry because Paul will
sometimes get down on himself and need a little help with his depression."
Luke: "By the way, what's a church?"
God: "I'll let you experience a whole series of churches and let you make up
your own mind as to what a church is like. I want you to experience it
before you write about it."
Luke: "So who pays me?"
God: "Your pay will come out of central treasury, distributed by the people
who come to faith in Christ through the ministry of Paul. Sometimes you will
have to rely on the earnings of Paul as he plies his trade as tentmaker. You
might even be able to earn some on the side by applying your medical
knowledge to the needs of people with all kinds of wounds. You'll not be
writing about those opportunities, since the focus of the book is to be the
work of God through Paul and others on his team. Your job is to observe and
record."
Luke: "When do I start?"
I just read the biography of another medical doctor God called into central
casting. Dr. M. R. DeHaan was an incredibly good doctor in Michigan,
committed to his patients in ways that were often life-threatening. He was
truly beloved as physician. Despite caring for many patients during the flu
pandemic in the early 1920s he survived to keep on practicing medicine. But
he heard God's call in central casting and transitioned into the pastoral
ministry after seminary and into radio during the Great Depression. In time,
the Radio Bible Class became an international ministry, with son and
grandson following in Dr. DeHaan's steps in what is now RBC Ministries. You
might call him a modern Dr. Luke, since he wrote many books as well.
What has been your experience as you were called into central casting by
God? For me, the one that set my direction in life happened in a mining
company warehouse and First Aid office in northern British Columbia, Canada.
Every evening for a week after the miners had collected their supplies and
gone underground I read Scripture and prayed for direction for my life. The
Lord took me to Ezekiel and the call to stand in the gap for Him, then to
Moses and how God overcame his objections to God's call. And I read the
story of Charles Spurgeon in Shadow of the Broad Brim.
That week I committed myself to serving God on a worldwide basis to the
maximum of the ability He had given me. I did not realize what that really
meant, but lying in a hospital bed only weeks later with a split femur from
a mountain climbing accident I enrolled in a correspondence course entitled
"The Beginning Christian Writer." Two and a half years later, after
graduating from Bible college, God called me through one of his servants to
be the founding editor of a denominational weekly. I had moved from milking
cows and tending strawberries and raspberries to a typewriter, the start of
what became a worldwide outreach as writer.
Let me again ask the question: What happened when you were called into
central casting by God? What change in life direction did that precipitate?
Les Stobbe, Director
International Christian Writers
God's Central Casting for a Writer; If you were God, would you have chosen Dr. Luke as a writer?
God: "Sit down, young man. I hear you want to be cast in the role of a
writer. What makes you think you could become an effective writer?"
Luke: "Sir, I've been a doctor for 20 years and have observed a lot of
people. I've had some weird characters show up in my doctor's office and
they would make great anecdotes for an article or book. I've also seen some
miraculous healings. I think I could write an inspirational book that would
sell thousands of copies."
God: "Well, what I am really looking for is someone who will tell the story
of two of the greatest men of the past 50 years. I think it's time for a
fresh retelling of the story of my son Jesus. Now to do that you will have
to forget about your experiences, your miraculous healings. You will have to
write only about Jesus' remarkable birth and three years of ministry. The
miracles would be the ones he performed. Do you think you are willing to
sacrifice your own great story for that of another, my son Jesus?"
Luke: "I guess that means travel and research instead of just telling my own
great story. But since this Jesus did miracles greater than I have done I'm
willing to tackle this project."
God: "I've got another possible assignment for you, a really quite different
one. There's this man Paul, whom I rescued from persecuting Christians and
put on the road as my evangelist. To get his story you will need to become a
member of his team, go hungry and thirsty with him on his journeys, become
incredibly tired as you move from place to place, experience some quite
vicious attacks on him for his message, see him being set upon by angry
mobs. You might call this an assignment to a war zone, where you will know
from personal experience what it means to attack the forces of evil in a
variety of cultures. But what you will need to record is not only the
personal experiences of team members, but also what happens when people come
to faith in Christ in hostile cultures and organize themselves into
churches. Are you ready for an assignment into the war zone?
Luke: "Do I get to practice medicine while on the road with this evangelist?
You know, I need to keep up my certification as a physician, and that
requires a certain number of hours of hands-on medical experience."
God: "I think you'll get that experience just patching up my servant Paul
and his associate Silas! You'll have a whole range of wounds to take care
of. You'll possibly have to practice a little psychiatry because Paul will
sometimes get down on himself and need a little help with his depression."
Luke: "By the way, what's a church?"
God: "I'll let you experience a whole series of churches and let you make up
your own mind as to what a church is like. I want you to experience it
before you write about it."
Luke: "So who pays me?"
God: "Your pay will come out of central treasury, distributed by the people
who come to faith in Christ through the ministry of Paul. Sometimes you will
have to rely on the earnings of Paul as he plies his trade as tentmaker. You
might even be able to earn some on the side by applying your medical
knowledge to the needs of people with all kinds of wounds. You'll not be
writing about those opportunities, since the focus of the book is to be the
work of God through Paul and others on his team. Your job is to observe and
record."
Luke: "When do I start?"
I just read the biography of another medical doctor God called into central
casting. Dr. M. R. DeHaan was an incredibly good doctor in Michigan,
committed to his patients in ways that were often life-threatening. He was
truly beloved as physician. Despite caring for many patients during the flu
pandemic in the early 1920s he survived to keep on practicing medicine. But
he heard God's call in central casting and transitioned into the pastoral
ministry after seminary and into radio during the Great Depression. In time,
the Radio Bible Class became an international ministry, with son and
grandson following in Dr. DeHaan's steps in what is now RBC Ministries. You
might call him a modern Dr. Luke, since he wrote many books as well.
What has been your experience as you were called into central casting by
God? For me, the one that set my direction in life happened in a mining
company warehouse and First Aid office in northern British Columbia, Canada.
Every evening for a week after the miners had collected their supplies and
gone underground I read Scripture and prayed for direction for my life. The
Lord took me to Ezekiel and the call to stand in the gap for Him, then to
Moses and how God overcame his objections to God's call. And I read the
story of Charles Spurgeon in Shadow of the Broad Brim.
That week I committed myself to serving God on a worldwide basis to the
maximum of the ability He had given me. I did not realize what that really
meant, but lying in a hospital bed only weeks later with a split femur from
a mountain climbing accident I enrolled in a correspondence course entitled
"The Beginning Christian Writer." Two and a half years later, after
graduating from Bible college, God called me through one of his servants to
be the founding editor of a denominational weekly. I had moved from milking
cows and tending strawberries and raspberries to a typewriter, the start of
what became a worldwide outreach as writer.
Let me again ask the question: What happened when you were called into
central casting by God? What change in life direction did that precipitate?
Les Stobbe, Director
International Christian Writers
Cornerstone J-Blog is One to Watch
One of the J-school blogs I've been keeping an eye on is the work of Prof. Alan Blanchard at Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I find it stimulating, and would encourage you to check it regularly. I'll add it to the bloglist on the homepage. Here is a notice from the university:
The most recent blog started at Cornerstone can be found at www.cornerstoneonjournalism.wordpress.com with entries promoting the awareness of the journalism major, how students can use the major in their chosen vocation and what real journalists do.
“My latest blog entry is on the New York Times story on McCain and the female lobbyist,” said Alan Blanchard, assistant professor of journalism who started the blog in January. “We started the blog to increase awareness of students on and off campus of the journalism major and its three emphases of photojournalism, journalism and public relations.”
The journalism blog is also a free marketing tool, explained Blanchard, although the journalism blogs are about areas of newspapers, magazines, e-zines, book publishing, copy editing, photojournalism and writing for the Web.
Journalism bloggers include Cornerstone adjunct instructors: Bob Becker, retired sports editor of Grand Rapids Press; Dave Murray, Grand Rapids Press education reporter; Emily Zoladz, Grand Rapids Press photojournalist; Michael Shead, communications director for Resurrection Life Church and photojournalism instructor; and Ann Byle, former Grand Rapids Press copy editor, current book author and freelance reporter.
A high school student from Ohio found the journalism blogs helpful.
“I’m not quite sure exactly what I want to do in the journalism field yet, so I found ‘Consider Copy Editing’ to be helpful in the fact that it revealed yet another career opportunity,” said Lauren Honigford, a prospective student. “ I enjoyed the articles by Emily Zoladz, because I am really in to photography as well, and like to hear how involved Cornerstone is in photojournalism. I found the personal testimonies in ‘What it Takes to be a Reporter’, and ‘Live Your Life’, to be helpful, because they gave personal, first-hand accounts of journalists.”
“I definitely found this Web site to be helpful.”
The most recent blog started at Cornerstone can be found at www.cornerstoneonjournalism.wordpress.com with entries promoting the awareness of the journalism major, how students can use the major in their chosen vocation and what real journalists do.
“My latest blog entry is on the New York Times story on McCain and the female lobbyist,” said Alan Blanchard, assistant professor of journalism who started the blog in January. “We started the blog to increase awareness of students on and off campus of the journalism major and its three emphases of photojournalism, journalism and public relations.”
The journalism blog is also a free marketing tool, explained Blanchard, although the journalism blogs are about areas of newspapers, magazines, e-zines, book publishing, copy editing, photojournalism and writing for the Web.
Journalism bloggers include Cornerstone adjunct instructors: Bob Becker, retired sports editor of Grand Rapids Press; Dave Murray, Grand Rapids Press education reporter; Emily Zoladz, Grand Rapids Press photojournalist; Michael Shead, communications director for Resurrection Life Church and photojournalism instructor; and Ann Byle, former Grand Rapids Press copy editor, current book author and freelance reporter.
A high school student from Ohio found the journalism blogs helpful.
“I’m not quite sure exactly what I want to do in the journalism field yet, so I found ‘Consider Copy Editing’ to be helpful in the fact that it revealed yet another career opportunity,” said Lauren Honigford, a prospective student. “ I enjoyed the articles by Emily Zoladz, because I am really in to photography as well, and like to hear how involved Cornerstone is in photojournalism. I found the personal testimonies in ‘What it Takes to be a Reporter’, and ‘Live Your Life’, to be helpful, because they gave personal, first-hand accounts of journalists.”
“I definitely found this Web site to be helpful.”
When a Christian Celebrity has a Moral Fall
As writers/reporters with a biblical worldview, we are constantly faced with ethical decisions on what to do when well-known believers have a moral fall, are caught in fraud, or succumb to any one of a dozen other biblical failures.
The issue this particular week is the announcement by singer Ray Boltz that he is leaving the straight lifestyle, along with his wife and family, to join the gay community.
Lee Grady, editor of Charisma magazine, spoke to the issue of how we should react in his most recent e-newsletter, "Fireinmybones." I agree totally with Lee's position, but still struggle with what we should or shouldn't say, as an editor, publisher, or reporter, about this issue which has significant biblical and moral implications. I would be interested in your opinions as to whether--and how--Ray Boltz should be being discussed in the Christian media.
Here is an excerpt from Lee's newsletter. You can read the entire piece here.
"Ray Boltz’s disappointing decision represents a national trend. Many people today are embracing homosexuality as an appealing alternative. They are listening to teachers, psychiatrists, talk-show hosts, Hollywood celebrities, sympathetic family members and even some mainline Christian ministers who say sexual orientation is totally genetic—and unchangeable.
"These people have bought the lie that says a person who feels same-sex attraction must always be controlled by those desires. Not true! Jesus paid the ultimate price so that we can have freedom from every kind of sinful behavior.
"We don’t have the right to compromise God’s Word, no matter how many people decide to come out of the closet. But let’s remember that the message we are called to proclaim to the world is not “Homosexuality is wrong.” That’s a true statement, but it has no power to change anybody.
"The gospel we must shout from the housetops is that Jesus loves all of us, no matter our condition, and that His forgiveness can heal our brokenness. I pray Ray Boltz will soon discover that truth in a fresh way—and I hope he’ll write many more songs about it."
The issue this particular week is the announcement by singer Ray Boltz that he is leaving the straight lifestyle, along with his wife and family, to join the gay community.
Lee Grady, editor of Charisma magazine, spoke to the issue of how we should react in his most recent e-newsletter, "Fireinmybones." I agree totally with Lee's position, but still struggle with what we should or shouldn't say, as an editor, publisher, or reporter, about this issue which has significant biblical and moral implications. I would be interested in your opinions as to whether--and how--Ray Boltz should be being discussed in the Christian media.
Here is an excerpt from Lee's newsletter. You can read the entire piece here.
"Ray Boltz’s disappointing decision represents a national trend. Many people today are embracing homosexuality as an appealing alternative. They are listening to teachers, psychiatrists, talk-show hosts, Hollywood celebrities, sympathetic family members and even some mainline Christian ministers who say sexual orientation is totally genetic—and unchangeable.
"These people have bought the lie that says a person who feels same-sex attraction must always be controlled by those desires. Not true! Jesus paid the ultimate price so that we can have freedom from every kind of sinful behavior.
"We don’t have the right to compromise God’s Word, no matter how many people decide to come out of the closet. But let’s remember that the message we are called to proclaim to the world is not “Homosexuality is wrong.” That’s a true statement, but it has no power to change anybody.
"The gospel we must shout from the housetops is that Jesus loves all of us, no matter our condition, and that His forgiveness can heal our brokenness. I pray Ray Boltz will soon discover that truth in a fresh way—and I hope he’ll write many more songs about it."
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Men are from Nouns: Women are from Pronouns
From Netscape Communications Corporation:
So Personal! How You Write Reveals WHAT?
How you write--that is, how you string together verbs, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs to form a sentence like this one--bears an invisible stamp that actually reveals your gender.
Women use more pronouns: I, you, she, he, their, myself. Women write about people and relationships.
Men focus on words that identify or determine nouns: a, the, that. Men also use words that quantify those nouns: one, two, more. Men write about things.
This is the word from researchers at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel, who developed a computer program that uses a simple algorithm to analyze writing style and determine the author's gender, reports Nature News Service. Apparently, at some deep, unconscious level, we can't hide who we are.
Just by scanning key words and syntax, the computer program is 80 percent accurate at detecting if a nonfiction book or novel was written by a man or a woman. As Nature News says, the program confirms the stereotypes we have about the differences in language use by men and women. Men really do talk more about objects, while women focus more on relationships. Men categorize. Women personalize. Men have an informational style. Women have an involved style.
Led by Moshe Koppel, the Israeli researchers tested their algorithm on 566 English-language works in numerous genres both fiction and nonfiction that were primarily published after 1975 and were able to correctly ID the author's gender 80 percent of the time. One text that fooled the program was Kazuo Ishiguro's "The Remains of the Day."
But the idea that a computer can determine one's gender is creating quite a fuss in some academic quarters. Koppel said when he submitted his research for publication to the prestigious National Academy of Sciences, he was rejected "on ideological grounds." He told the Boston Globe, "They said, 'What do you mean? You're trying to make some claim about men and women being different, and we don't know if that's true. That's just the kind of thing that people are saying in order to oppress women.'"
Koppel insisted to the Scottish paper, The Scotsman, that he's just reporting the results of an artificial intelligence process that he considers almost flawless. Just to prove his theory correct, he ran dry, flat, academic prose through the program. Guess what? The computer won.
So Personal! How You Write Reveals WHAT?
How you write--that is, how you string together verbs, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs to form a sentence like this one--bears an invisible stamp that actually reveals your gender.
Women use more pronouns: I, you, she, he, their, myself. Women write about people and relationships.
Men focus on words that identify or determine nouns: a, the, that. Men also use words that quantify those nouns: one, two, more. Men write about things.
This is the word from researchers at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel, who developed a computer program that uses a simple algorithm to analyze writing style and determine the author's gender, reports Nature News Service. Apparently, at some deep, unconscious level, we can't hide who we are.
Just by scanning key words and syntax, the computer program is 80 percent accurate at detecting if a nonfiction book or novel was written by a man or a woman. As Nature News says, the program confirms the stereotypes we have about the differences in language use by men and women. Men really do talk more about objects, while women focus more on relationships. Men categorize. Women personalize. Men have an informational style. Women have an involved style.
Led by Moshe Koppel, the Israeli researchers tested their algorithm on 566 English-language works in numerous genres both fiction and nonfiction that were primarily published after 1975 and were able to correctly ID the author's gender 80 percent of the time. One text that fooled the program was Kazuo Ishiguro's "The Remains of the Day."
But the idea that a computer can determine one's gender is creating quite a fuss in some academic quarters. Koppel said when he submitted his research for publication to the prestigious National Academy of Sciences, he was rejected "on ideological grounds." He told the Boston Globe, "They said, 'What do you mean? You're trying to make some claim about men and women being different, and we don't know if that's true. That's just the kind of thing that people are saying in order to oppress women.'"
Koppel insisted to the Scottish paper, The Scotsman, that he's just reporting the results of an artificial intelligence process that he considers almost flawless. Just to prove his theory correct, he ran dry, flat, academic prose through the program. Guess what? The computer won.
'Fireproof' Book Pre-Sales Top 300,000
From Publisher's Lunch:
Book Spun from Movie Could Be Season's Christian Hit
Here's a twist on the usual formula. "Fireproof" is a movie set for release at the end of the month about a firefighter asked by his father to take a 40-day marriage challenge before divorcing his wife of seven years. The challenge involves reading and following an invented book THE LOVE DARE, "which eventually transforms him and his view of love, marriage, and faith." So test audiences for the movie asked how they could get the book--which didn't exist.
Brothers Alex Kendrick and Stephen Kendrick, pastors at Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia and creators of Sherwood Pictures, who directed and produced the movie, "shut out the world and wrote for several weeks" to create a book "that helps readers learn each day about a unique aspect of the nature of love and offers a 'dare' to help implement that characteristic into their marriage."
B&H Publishing Group says they have already sold 300,000 copies in advance of the movie's release and vp of marketing John Thompson says, "This is the fastest-selling book we've ever handled."
Book Spun from Movie Could Be Season's Christian Hit
Here's a twist on the usual formula. "Fireproof" is a movie set for release at the end of the month about a firefighter asked by his father to take a 40-day marriage challenge before divorcing his wife of seven years. The challenge involves reading and following an invented book THE LOVE DARE, "which eventually transforms him and his view of love, marriage, and faith." So test audiences for the movie asked how they could get the book--which didn't exist.
Brothers Alex Kendrick and Stephen Kendrick, pastors at Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia and creators of Sherwood Pictures, who directed and produced the movie, "shut out the world and wrote for several weeks" to create a book "that helps readers learn each day about a unique aspect of the nature of love and offers a 'dare' to help implement that characteristic into their marriage."
B&H Publishing Group says they have already sold 300,000 copies in advance of the movie's release and vp of marketing John Thompson says, "This is the fastest-selling book we've ever handled."
What's Wrong With This Story?
Hint: The AP violated one of its own style rules. See AP style manual, p. 226.
Smithsonian Institute to digitize its collection
By BRETT ZONGKER
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Smithsonian Institution will work to digitize its collections to make science, history and cultural artifacts accessible online and dramatically expand its outreach to schools, the museum complex's new chief said Monday.
"I worry about museums becoming less relevant to society," said Secretary G. Wayne Clough in his first interviews since taking the Smithsonian's helm in July.
Clough, 66, who was president of the Georgia Institute of Technology for 14 years, says he's working to bring in video gaming experts and Web gurus to collaborate with curators on creative ways to present artifacts online and make them appealing to kids.
Smithsonian Institute to digitize its collection
By BRETT ZONGKER
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Smithsonian Institution will work to digitize its collections to make science, history and cultural artifacts accessible online and dramatically expand its outreach to schools, the museum complex's new chief said Monday.
"I worry about museums becoming less relevant to society," said Secretary G. Wayne Clough in his first interviews since taking the Smithsonian's helm in July.
Clough, 66, who was president of the Georgia Institute of Technology for 14 years, says he's working to bring in video gaming experts and Web gurus to collaborate with curators on creative ways to present artifacts online and make them appealing to kids.
Assignment for Monday, September 22
Assignment for Monday, September 22
All due at beginning of class period next week
a. Choosing a news article of your choice, use the Fog Index procedure on page 51 of your text to analyze its grade level. Bring the article and your analysis to class to discuss.
b. Write a one-page article suitable for publication in the campus newspaper. Choose any of the topics we discussed September 15 or one of your own choosing. Use proper news and AP style.
c. Instructions: Using your Associated Press Stylebook, please correct all the style errors in the sentences below. Some sentences have only one style error; others have several. Print your answers for submission in class.
1. Doctor Bob White examined gov. Bill Paid and told him that he should prepare lieutenant governor I.M. Ready to take over the reins of the state.
2. Joe Java Junior joined the American Automobile Association, just like his father, Joe Java Senior.
3. The reporter said he would meet with the source at the American Broadcasting Company on November 12.
4. Early this a.m., he asked for the No. of your room.
5. The Pres. Of the U.S. lives in the white house at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
6. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official said the U.S. could launch ABM missiles at a moment’s notice.
7. Dr. Andrew Jones, Ph.D in psychology, is a pro-life advocate.
8. The fire department was dispatched to Nine Morningside Boulevard to fight a blaze set by accused arsonist Vern Embers.
9. The Chief of Staff in the President’s Administration admitted he was a homosexual.
10. The six-year-old girl was given aide by her brother, who is nine.
All due at beginning of class period next week
a. Choosing a news article of your choice, use the Fog Index procedure on page 51 of your text to analyze its grade level. Bring the article and your analysis to class to discuss.
b. Write a one-page article suitable for publication in the campus newspaper. Choose any of the topics we discussed September 15 or one of your own choosing. Use proper news and AP style.
c. Instructions: Using your Associated Press Stylebook, please correct all the style errors in the sentences below. Some sentences have only one style error; others have several. Print your answers for submission in class.
1. Doctor Bob White examined gov. Bill Paid and told him that he should prepare lieutenant governor I.M. Ready to take over the reins of the state.
2. Joe Java Junior joined the American Automobile Association, just like his father, Joe Java Senior.
3. The reporter said he would meet with the source at the American Broadcasting Company on November 12.
4. Early this a.m., he asked for the No. of your room.
5. The Pres. Of the U.S. lives in the white house at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
6. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official said the U.S. could launch ABM missiles at a moment’s notice.
7. Dr. Andrew Jones, Ph.D in psychology, is a pro-life advocate.
8. The fire department was dispatched to Nine Morningside Boulevard to fight a blaze set by accused arsonist Vern Embers.
9. The Chief of Staff in the President’s Administration admitted he was a homosexual.
10. The six-year-old girl was given aide by her brother, who is nine.
Excellent Writers' Newsletter, Free
Right Writing News is a free e-newsletter written by my friend and former colleague, Terry Whalin. Terry was an editor at the Billy Graham magazine "Decision," and is now a literary agent and an acquisitions editor. I highly recommend signing up for his newsletter and he will help keep you abreast of resources, ideas, and motivation in the field of publishing.
-tw
Welcome to the 35th issue to subscribers of Right Writing News. If you are reading this issue forwarded from someone, be sure and use the link below to get your own free subscription.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you like what you see here, please forward this copy and use this link to subscribe.
http://www.right-writing.com/newsletter.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table of Contents
1) The Connection Between Platform & Proposal
By W. Terry Whalin
2) Branding Or Waste of Time
By W. Terry Whalin
3)10 Blog Traffic Tips
By W. Terry Whalin
4) Principles To Help Any Writer
By W. Terry Whalin
5) A Unique Book Promotion
6) The Forgotten Path
By W. Terry Whalin
7) Writing Powerful Endings
By Laura Backes
-tw
Welcome to the 35th issue to subscribers of Right Writing News. If you are reading this issue forwarded from someone, be sure and use the link below to get your own free subscription.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you like what you see here, please forward this copy and use this link to subscribe.
http://www.right-writing.com/newsletter.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table of Contents
1) The Connection Between Platform & Proposal
By W. Terry Whalin
2) Branding Or Waste of Time
By W. Terry Whalin
3)10 Blog Traffic Tips
By W. Terry Whalin
4) Principles To Help Any Writer
By W. Terry Whalin
5) A Unique Book Promotion
6) The Forgotten Path
By W. Terry Whalin
7) Writing Powerful Endings
By Laura Backes
Monday, September 15, 2008
David Foster Wallace Obit from NYT
By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS
Published: September 14, 2008
David Foster Wallace, whose darkly ironic novels, essays and short stories garnered him a large following and made him one of the most influential writers of his generation, was found dead in his California home on Friday, after apparently committing suicide, the authorities said.
Wallace, 46, best known for his sprawling 1,079-page novel “Infinite Jest,” was discovered by his wife, Karen Green, who returned home to find that he had hanged himself, a spokesman for the Claremont, Calif., police said Saturday evening.
Mr. Wallace was a professor in the English department at Pomona College in Claremont.
“I know a great novelist has left the scene, but we knew him as a great teacher who cared deeply about his students, who treasured him. That’s what we’re going to miss,” said Gary Kates, the dean of Pomona College.
Mr. Wallace had taught at the small liberal arts college since 2002 and held the school’s Roy Edward Disney Chair in Creative Writing. He taught one or two classes each semester of about 12 students each, Mr. Kates said.
Mr. Wallace burst onto the literary scene in the 1990s with a style variously described as “pyrotechnic” and incomprehensible, and it was compared to those of writers including Jorge Luis Borges, Thomas Pynchon and Don DeLillo.
His opus, “Infinite Jest,” published by Little, Brown & Company in 1996, is set in the near future, in a time called the Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment and is, roughly, about addiction and how the need for pleasure and entertainment can interfere with human connection.
In a New York Times review of the book, Jay McInerney wrote that the novel’s “skeleton of satire is fleshed out with several domestically scaled narratives and masses of hyperrealistic quotidian detail.”
“The overall effect.” Mr. McInerney continued, “is something like a sleek Vonnegut chassis wrapped in layers of post-millennial Zola.”
The novel was filled with references to high and low culture alike, and at the end had more than 100 pages of footnotes, which were trademarks of Mr. Wallace’s work.
The blurbs are by contemporary novelists like Jonathan Franzen and Rick Moody, each of whom was a friend of Mr. Wallace.
Michael Pietsch, who edited “Infinite Jest,” said Saturday night that the literary world had lost one of its great talents.
“He had a mind that was constantly working on more cylinders than most people, but he was amazingly gentle and kind,” Mr. Pietsch said. “He was a writer who other writers looked to with awe.”
Mr. Wallace was born in Ithaca, N.Y. His father, James Donald Wallace, was a philosophy professor at the University of Illinois, and his mother taught English at a community college in Champaign, Ill.
Mr. Wallace majored in philosophy at Amherst College and had planned on embarking on a career in mathematics or philosophy. But after graduation in 1987, he enrolled in the creative writing program at the University of Arizona, where he wrote his first novel, “The Broom of the System,” which was praised by critics.
He followed a year later with a collection of short stories, “Girl with Curious Hair,” which cemented his reputation as a master of the postmodern. Eight years later returned with “Infinite Jest,” which became a literary sensation.
“It was ironic, but at the same time it was attempting to take emotional risk,” said Kathleen Fitzpatrick, chair of the media studies department at Pomona College, who knew Mr. Wallace. “A lot of contemporary literature uses irony as a self-protective gesture, but he never did that. He was like a lot of postmodern novelists, but braver.”
Mr. Pietsch said although Mr. Wallace’s work was complex and layered, it was his sense of humor that kept people reading.
“He wrote showstoppers,” Mr. Pietsch said. “He was brilliantly funny. People stayed with these long, complicated novels because they made them laugh."
Among his other works are “Brief Interviews with Hideous Men,” a short story collection, and “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again,” a collection of essays.
To read more from the Washington Post, click here.
Published: September 14, 2008
David Foster Wallace, whose darkly ironic novels, essays and short stories garnered him a large following and made him one of the most influential writers of his generation, was found dead in his California home on Friday, after apparently committing suicide, the authorities said.
Wallace, 46, best known for his sprawling 1,079-page novel “Infinite Jest,” was discovered by his wife, Karen Green, who returned home to find that he had hanged himself, a spokesman for the Claremont, Calif., police said Saturday evening.
Mr. Wallace was a professor in the English department at Pomona College in Claremont.
“I know a great novelist has left the scene, but we knew him as a great teacher who cared deeply about his students, who treasured him. That’s what we’re going to miss,” said Gary Kates, the dean of Pomona College.
Mr. Wallace had taught at the small liberal arts college since 2002 and held the school’s Roy Edward Disney Chair in Creative Writing. He taught one or two classes each semester of about 12 students each, Mr. Kates said.
Mr. Wallace burst onto the literary scene in the 1990s with a style variously described as “pyrotechnic” and incomprehensible, and it was compared to those of writers including Jorge Luis Borges, Thomas Pynchon and Don DeLillo.
His opus, “Infinite Jest,” published by Little, Brown & Company in 1996, is set in the near future, in a time called the Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment and is, roughly, about addiction and how the need for pleasure and entertainment can interfere with human connection.
In a New York Times review of the book, Jay McInerney wrote that the novel’s “skeleton of satire is fleshed out with several domestically scaled narratives and masses of hyperrealistic quotidian detail.”
“The overall effect.” Mr. McInerney continued, “is something like a sleek Vonnegut chassis wrapped in layers of post-millennial Zola.”
The novel was filled with references to high and low culture alike, and at the end had more than 100 pages of footnotes, which were trademarks of Mr. Wallace’s work.
The blurbs are by contemporary novelists like Jonathan Franzen and Rick Moody, each of whom was a friend of Mr. Wallace.
Michael Pietsch, who edited “Infinite Jest,” said Saturday night that the literary world had lost one of its great talents.
“He had a mind that was constantly working on more cylinders than most people, but he was amazingly gentle and kind,” Mr. Pietsch said. “He was a writer who other writers looked to with awe.”
Mr. Wallace was born in Ithaca, N.Y. His father, James Donald Wallace, was a philosophy professor at the University of Illinois, and his mother taught English at a community college in Champaign, Ill.
Mr. Wallace majored in philosophy at Amherst College and had planned on embarking on a career in mathematics or philosophy. But after graduation in 1987, he enrolled in the creative writing program at the University of Arizona, where he wrote his first novel, “The Broom of the System,” which was praised by critics.
He followed a year later with a collection of short stories, “Girl with Curious Hair,” which cemented his reputation as a master of the postmodern. Eight years later returned with “Infinite Jest,” which became a literary sensation.
“It was ironic, but at the same time it was attempting to take emotional risk,” said Kathleen Fitzpatrick, chair of the media studies department at Pomona College, who knew Mr. Wallace. “A lot of contemporary literature uses irony as a self-protective gesture, but he never did that. He was like a lot of postmodern novelists, but braver.”
Mr. Pietsch said although Mr. Wallace’s work was complex and layered, it was his sense of humor that kept people reading.
“He wrote showstoppers,” Mr. Pietsch said. “He was brilliantly funny. People stayed with these long, complicated novels because they made them laugh."
Among his other works are “Brief Interviews with Hideous Men,” a short story collection, and “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again,” a collection of essays.
To read more from the Washington Post, click here.
Atlantic Photo Makes McCain Look Sinister
Really big media flap over this weekend about the editorial use of a McCain photo to make him look bad. Here's an excerpt -- read more by clicking here.
How Jill Greenberg Really Feels About John McCain
When The Atlantic called Jill Greenberg, a committed Democrat, to shoot a portrait of John McCain for its October cover, she rubbed her hands with glee.
She delivered the image the magazine asked for—a shot that makes the Republican presidential nominee look heroic. Greenberg is well known for her highly retouched images of bears and crying babies. But she didn’t bother to do much retouching on her McCain images. “I left his eyes red and his skin looking bad,” she says.
After getting that shot, Greenberg asked McCain to “please come over here” for one more set-up before the 15-minute shoot was over. There, she had a beauty dish with a modeling light set up. “That’s what he thought he was being lit by,” Greenberg says. “But that wasn’t firing.”
What was firing was a strobe positioned below him, which cast the horror movie shadows across his face and on the wall right behind him. “He had no idea he was being lit from below,” Greenberg says. And his handlers didn’t seem to notice it either. “I guess they’re not very sophisticated,” she adds.
Click here to see Fox News' take on the issue.
Children's Writers to Gather November 7-8
This is not an endorsement--I don't know the people involved. Just an FYI if you're interested in writing for children.
Join Christian Children's Writers at the Write2Ignite Conference
Literature for children has changed dramatically in the last decade. Many children's books and programs have graphic materials and images that can frighten or confuse children. On November 7-8, 2008, editors, authors, and writers who write for children will gather for the Write2Ignite Conference in Indian Trail, NC, just outside of Charlotte, NC.
"Writing for children became a passion for me after I had my children. I found a few things that I could use to teach them godly messages but ended up using materials that I developed. I saw a need for a conference that helps those called to create works for children in the Christian arena. I attended a conference where I met Jean Hall and Samantha Bell and things moved from there," says Gail Hayes, Conference Director.
"I love to write for children. I see a need for writers like me to improve our skills so that we get the message of Christ to children through stories and lessons they enjoy. I also see a need for finding creative ways to publish our manuscripts and get them into the hands of those children," says Jean Hall, Conference Logistics Director. Hall, who also blogs about her work, regularly works with children.
This will be the first conference held that targets this specific market. The conference faculty includes author and speaker Pam Zollman, author and writing mentor Lisa Crayton, Focus on the Family editor, Jesse Florea, Karen Whiting, a prolific author of children's materials, and a host of others who create Christian works for children.
"With all the negative influences directed at our children today, I believe God is calling His people to move pro actively on their behalf. For some of us, this includes writing and this conference will help provide writers with the tools we need to share His message with the next generation," says Bel.l
"We hope to create a forum for those who have a passion for writing and creating Christian works for children. We invite them to come and be a part of this first time event not only to make the connection with others but to also be refreshed in their faith. We want them to come so that they can write to ignite the next generation with God's power. But above all else, we want God to be pleased," says Conference Director Hayes.
Visit the website at http://www.write2ignite.com for more information.
Join Christian Children's Writers at the Write2Ignite Conference
Literature for children has changed dramatically in the last decade. Many children's books and programs have graphic materials and images that can frighten or confuse children. On November 7-8, 2008, editors, authors, and writers who write for children will gather for the Write2Ignite Conference in Indian Trail, NC, just outside of Charlotte, NC.
"Writing for children became a passion for me after I had my children. I found a few things that I could use to teach them godly messages but ended up using materials that I developed. I saw a need for a conference that helps those called to create works for children in the Christian arena. I attended a conference where I met Jean Hall and Samantha Bell and things moved from there," says Gail Hayes, Conference Director.
"I love to write for children. I see a need for writers like me to improve our skills so that we get the message of Christ to children through stories and lessons they enjoy. I also see a need for finding creative ways to publish our manuscripts and get them into the hands of those children," says Jean Hall, Conference Logistics Director. Hall, who also blogs about her work, regularly works with children.
This will be the first conference held that targets this specific market. The conference faculty includes author and speaker Pam Zollman, author and writing mentor Lisa Crayton, Focus on the Family editor, Jesse Florea, Karen Whiting, a prolific author of children's materials, and a host of others who create Christian works for children.
"With all the negative influences directed at our children today, I believe God is calling His people to move pro actively on their behalf. For some of us, this includes writing and this conference will help provide writers with the tools we need to share His message with the next generation," says Bel.l
"We hope to create a forum for those who have a passion for writing and creating Christian works for children. We invite them to come and be a part of this first time event not only to make the connection with others but to also be refreshed in their faith. We want them to come so that they can write to ignite the next generation with God's power. But above all else, we want God to be pleased," says Conference Director Hayes.
Visit the website at http://www.write2ignite.com for more information.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Are Standalone Blogs Done-For?
This post is by CTI's Ted Olsen. Access it here.
Abandoning the Outpost
Joe Carter wonders about the future of standalone blogs.
Ted Olsen
A few days ago, I received a press release for GodblogCon, the annual gathering of Christian bloggers. The September 20-21 meeting in Las Vegas (it is scheduled to coincide with the mainstream BlogWorld and the New Media Expo) will feature several prominent Christian bloggers, like Tall Skinny Kiwi’s Andrew Jones, La Shawn Barber, and ScrappleFace satirist Scott Ott.
But at the top of the list, the press release mentioned that a key speaker would be “Joe Carter, the Christian blogosphere’s very own Bono.” Carter, formerly of Family Research Council, World Magazine, The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity, the Mike Huckabee campaign, The East Texas Tribune, and the U.S. Marine Corps, is perhaps best known as the creator of EvangelicalOutpost.com.
The five-year-old site became one of the most prominent evangelical blogs and was in many ways was as influential on its own as several of the organizations on Carter’s resume. (Not too many Christian bloggers’ views on bioethics have been profiled by The Washington Post.)
But there’s a new wrinkle. Carter is no longer speaking at GodBlogCon, and is no longer blogging at EvangelicalOutpost.com.
And according to a farewell post on Evangelical Outpost, Carter wonders about the future of independent sites like his.
“The future of the new media, in my opinion, is moving away from personal sites toward online collectives that are focused on particular interests,” he wrote. “The political left has been doing this for years (see: DailyKos) but the other areas of the blogging community have been slow to follow this approach. … [T]he future of online activity will move to ‘planned communities’ rather than, for example, the ‘ghettos’ that Christian bloggers have been trying to break out of for years.”
I wonder how that will go over at GodBlogCon, where the emphasis in recent years has been on personal sites rather than corporate blogs. (Carter has some more thoughts in an interview at Justin Taylor’s hugely popular independent Christian blog, Between Two Worlds.)
Carter isn’t giving up on blogging, though. His new outpost is one of those “planned communities” and “online collectives.” Carter is managing editor of Culture11.com, launched by former White House staffers Bill Bennett and David Kuo with David Gelernter. And he’s blogging with Kuo. (Though the title of the new blog, “Kuo & Joe, may be a massive misnomer: Carter’s posts significantly outnumber those from Kuo, who says he’s keeping his Beliefnet blog alive.)
Evangelical Outpost will stick around, too. Carter handed the keys off to Biola University's Torrey Honors Institute, which is the main sponsor of GodBlogCon.
Abandoning the Outpost
Joe Carter wonders about the future of standalone blogs.
Ted Olsen
A few days ago, I received a press release for GodblogCon, the annual gathering of Christian bloggers. The September 20-21 meeting in Las Vegas (it is scheduled to coincide with the mainstream BlogWorld and the New Media Expo) will feature several prominent Christian bloggers, like Tall Skinny Kiwi’s Andrew Jones, La Shawn Barber, and ScrappleFace satirist Scott Ott.
But at the top of the list, the press release mentioned that a key speaker would be “Joe Carter, the Christian blogosphere’s very own Bono.” Carter, formerly of Family Research Council, World Magazine, The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity, the Mike Huckabee campaign, The East Texas Tribune, and the U.S. Marine Corps, is perhaps best known as the creator of EvangelicalOutpost.com.
The five-year-old site became one of the most prominent evangelical blogs and was in many ways was as influential on its own as several of the organizations on Carter’s resume. (Not too many Christian bloggers’ views on bioethics have been profiled by The Washington Post.)
But there’s a new wrinkle. Carter is no longer speaking at GodBlogCon, and is no longer blogging at EvangelicalOutpost.com.
And according to a farewell post on Evangelical Outpost, Carter wonders about the future of independent sites like his.
“The future of the new media, in my opinion, is moving away from personal sites toward online collectives that are focused on particular interests,” he wrote. “The political left has been doing this for years (see: DailyKos) but the other areas of the blogging community have been slow to follow this approach. … [T]he future of online activity will move to ‘planned communities’ rather than, for example, the ‘ghettos’ that Christian bloggers have been trying to break out of for years.”
I wonder how that will go over at GodBlogCon, where the emphasis in recent years has been on personal sites rather than corporate blogs. (Carter has some more thoughts in an interview at Justin Taylor’s hugely popular independent Christian blog, Between Two Worlds.)
Carter isn’t giving up on blogging, though. His new outpost is one of those “planned communities” and “online collectives.” Carter is managing editor of Culture11.com, launched by former White House staffers Bill Bennett and David Kuo with David Gelernter. And he’s blogging with Kuo. (Though the title of the new blog, “Kuo & Joe, may be a massive misnomer: Carter’s posts significantly outnumber those from Kuo, who says he’s keeping his Beliefnet blog alive.)
Evangelical Outpost will stick around, too. Carter handed the keys off to Biola University's Torrey Honors Institute, which is the main sponsor of GodBlogCon.
Palin Book: Handling an Overnight Bestseller
Here's a little "insider information" from Book Business Magazine about what can happen when you unexpectedly have the blessing (curse) of the equivalent of a lightning strike in the book publishing business. His statement in the last paragraph about blogs is particularly revealing. Original is here.
Could You Handle an Overnight Best-seller?
Epicenter Press’ Kent Sturgis talks about how his small press tackled the instant, overwhelming demand for the only Sarah Palin biography.
Biographies of political hopefuls typically see a significant bump in demand during presidential election years. But a sudden spike in orders wasn’t something Publisher Kent Sturgis expected for Epicenter Press’ 2008 biography of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Kaylene Johnson’s “Sarah: How a Hockey Mom turned Alaska’s Political Establishment Upside Down”—the one and only biography of the 44-year-old politician in print at the time.
That all changed Friday, Aug. 29, when Sen. John McCain announced that Palin would be the Republican vice-presidential nominee. Almost immediately, Sturgis and his small publishing house, which consists of himself and three part-time employees, mobilized to meet the sudden, overwhelming demand for the title. Within a week, the company had 86,000 copies of the book in print.
Just a week after Sen. McCain’s selection, Epicenter Press announced a partnership with Chicago-based Tyndale House Publishers, who began shipping 250,000 copies of a trade paperback edition of “Sarah” yesterday. Earlier in the week, Zondervan announced that it would release a biography of Gov. Palin Oct. 10 entitled, “Sarah Palin: A New Kind of Leader,” by Joe Hilley.
Sturgis spoke with Book Business Extra about the challenges of having a regional title, with an initial run of 10,000 copies, become a national best-seller within a matter of days.
Book Business Extra: What were the first steps that you took once you realized there would be a significant increase in demand for “Sarah”? What was your initial reaction?
Kent Sturgis: It was a shock. The phone starting ringing immediately. Then the calls back and forth … began between ourselves and our distributor, Graphic Arts Center Publishing Co. They work with Ingram Publisher Services (IPS). Pretty quickly, we had a conference call with Graphic Arts, IPS and Lightning Source, [an Ingram content company]. We decided right away that we needed to release a trade paperback. It was pretty easy to put together. This was initially a regional book. With a little tweaking, it held up [for a national audience].
In a couple of days, we did 40,000—30,000 and then 10,000—digitally through Lightning Source. They were preparing them by Friday evening, and they were printing them all over the weekend. They shipped 34,000 on Tuesday. The orders continued to come in during the week. We [then] did … another … 6,000 and [then] 5,000. Yesterday, we just ordered our first offset supply. When those copies come in, we’ll have a total of 86,000 [in the first week].
Extra: Has Epicenter Press ever encountered anything like this before?
Sturgis: No. There was never anything like it—nothing remotely similar. We did have a best-seller 12 years ago. This was a publisher’s dream to have an overnight instant best-seller. …
… We had luck that we had the only biography of Gov. Sarah Palin in print when she was announced. It was partly luck and fortunate decisions that we were associated with Graphic Arts Center, having an established relationship with IPS and Lightning Source. All the Ingram companies pulled together for us. Those Ingram people are like a publishing S.W.A.T. team. They set up conference calls to get those books printed quickly. It went fairly smooth. …
Extra: What other hurdles did this sudden demand present to you and your staff?
Sturgis: There’s been several issues. … We’re a really small operation. … We only have two phone lines and a fax line. I think that … when McCain made his announcement, hundreds of reporters looked [on] Google, [and] the only thing they could find was this one book. A thousand reporters were calling us all at once to find the author. For a number of hours—for most of that Friday—we could hardly use the telephone. We had to use our cell phones. With a good recommendation, we got a publicist onboard—Andrea Burnett, who is in Berkeley, Calif. She used to do public relations for Chronicle Books. We funneled the media calls to the author through her, and we worked to exploit it to get our name out. The other (issue) was, we have a lot of other projects that we didn’t do a stick of work on in the past week.
Extra: What was the biggest thing that helped you fulfill your spike in orders?
Sturgis: Working with our distributor. They had influence with Lightning Source. They gave us an entire production line to print the books. And Lightning Source is pretty busy right now. They used that connection within the Ingram companies. The IPS sales staff went to work right away and aggressively. They had most of the accounts rounded up over the weekend. I’m pretty happy with the pricing. Everybody has been very cognizant from the very beginning … to do anything we can do to minimize returns. I just feel like I’ve been in very good hands. If we had been an independent without this adequate distribution network, boy, there’s no way in the world we could have responded. I would still be feeling my way through.
Extra: What were the advantages of partnering with Tyndale?
Sturgis: … Tyndale has the financial wherewithal to print 250,000 books and hit the market hard. We could not do that. Our arrangement with Tyndale also reduces our … risk.
Extra: What advice would you give to other publishers who may see unexpected demand for a title?
Sturgis: … I think we’ve been a little bit slow to respond to the new means of Internet marketing, such as blogs. … If you’re going to anticipate something overnight like this, it would behoove publishers to have a knowledge of these things in case they need to be used. They should also look at their publishing agreements. What if I sell 200,000 copies of a title? What are the various sub rights? Is this contract going to work? Ours is working quite well, but I think I will tweak it a bit in the future.
Could You Handle an Overnight Best-seller?
Epicenter Press’ Kent Sturgis talks about how his small press tackled the instant, overwhelming demand for the only Sarah Palin biography.
Biographies of political hopefuls typically see a significant bump in demand during presidential election years. But a sudden spike in orders wasn’t something Publisher Kent Sturgis expected for Epicenter Press’ 2008 biography of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Kaylene Johnson’s “Sarah: How a Hockey Mom turned Alaska’s Political Establishment Upside Down”—the one and only biography of the 44-year-old politician in print at the time.
That all changed Friday, Aug. 29, when Sen. John McCain announced that Palin would be the Republican vice-presidential nominee. Almost immediately, Sturgis and his small publishing house, which consists of himself and three part-time employees, mobilized to meet the sudden, overwhelming demand for the title. Within a week, the company had 86,000 copies of the book in print.
Just a week after Sen. McCain’s selection, Epicenter Press announced a partnership with Chicago-based Tyndale House Publishers, who began shipping 250,000 copies of a trade paperback edition of “Sarah” yesterday. Earlier in the week, Zondervan announced that it would release a biography of Gov. Palin Oct. 10 entitled, “Sarah Palin: A New Kind of Leader,” by Joe Hilley.
Sturgis spoke with Book Business Extra about the challenges of having a regional title, with an initial run of 10,000 copies, become a national best-seller within a matter of days.
Book Business Extra: What were the first steps that you took once you realized there would be a significant increase in demand for “Sarah”? What was your initial reaction?
Kent Sturgis: It was a shock. The phone starting ringing immediately. Then the calls back and forth … began between ourselves and our distributor, Graphic Arts Center Publishing Co. They work with Ingram Publisher Services (IPS). Pretty quickly, we had a conference call with Graphic Arts, IPS and Lightning Source, [an Ingram content company]. We decided right away that we needed to release a trade paperback. It was pretty easy to put together. This was initially a regional book. With a little tweaking, it held up [for a national audience].
In a couple of days, we did 40,000—30,000 and then 10,000—digitally through Lightning Source. They were preparing them by Friday evening, and they were printing them all over the weekend. They shipped 34,000 on Tuesday. The orders continued to come in during the week. We [then] did … another … 6,000 and [then] 5,000. Yesterday, we just ordered our first offset supply. When those copies come in, we’ll have a total of 86,000 [in the first week].
Extra: Has Epicenter Press ever encountered anything like this before?
Sturgis: No. There was never anything like it—nothing remotely similar. We did have a best-seller 12 years ago. This was a publisher’s dream to have an overnight instant best-seller. …
… We had luck that we had the only biography of Gov. Sarah Palin in print when she was announced. It was partly luck and fortunate decisions that we were associated with Graphic Arts Center, having an established relationship with IPS and Lightning Source. All the Ingram companies pulled together for us. Those Ingram people are like a publishing S.W.A.T. team. They set up conference calls to get those books printed quickly. It went fairly smooth. …
Extra: What other hurdles did this sudden demand present to you and your staff?
Sturgis: There’s been several issues. … We’re a really small operation. … We only have two phone lines and a fax line. I think that … when McCain made his announcement, hundreds of reporters looked [on] Google, [and] the only thing they could find was this one book. A thousand reporters were calling us all at once to find the author. For a number of hours—for most of that Friday—we could hardly use the telephone. We had to use our cell phones. With a good recommendation, we got a publicist onboard—Andrea Burnett, who is in Berkeley, Calif. She used to do public relations for Chronicle Books. We funneled the media calls to the author through her, and we worked to exploit it to get our name out. The other (issue) was, we have a lot of other projects that we didn’t do a stick of work on in the past week.
Extra: What was the biggest thing that helped you fulfill your spike in orders?
Sturgis: Working with our distributor. They had influence with Lightning Source. They gave us an entire production line to print the books. And Lightning Source is pretty busy right now. They used that connection within the Ingram companies. The IPS sales staff went to work right away and aggressively. They had most of the accounts rounded up over the weekend. I’m pretty happy with the pricing. Everybody has been very cognizant from the very beginning … to do anything we can do to minimize returns. I just feel like I’ve been in very good hands. If we had been an independent without this adequate distribution network, boy, there’s no way in the world we could have responded. I would still be feeling my way through.
Extra: What were the advantages of partnering with Tyndale?
Sturgis: … Tyndale has the financial wherewithal to print 250,000 books and hit the market hard. We could not do that. Our arrangement with Tyndale also reduces our … risk.
Extra: What advice would you give to other publishers who may see unexpected demand for a title?
Sturgis: … I think we’ve been a little bit slow to respond to the new means of Internet marketing, such as blogs. … If you’re going to anticipate something overnight like this, it would behoove publishers to have a knowledge of these things in case they need to be used. They should also look at their publishing agreements. What if I sell 200,000 copies of a title? What are the various sub rights? Is this contract going to work? Ours is working quite well, but I think I will tweak it a bit in the future.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Publishers Seek to Save Production, Printing Dollars
Dr. Sauders has passed along this interesting bit of newspaper industry information. TW note: the drop in classified revenue (Tampa Tribune) is attributed in some cities to the growth and use of CraigsList.
US Newspapers Move to Limiting Number of Sections
by Ken Doctor, Affiliate Analyst - San Jose, California
Saving money on production and printing is key, as publishers struggle to convince paying print readers that less doesn't seem like less.
Important Details: The New York Times is moving to a two-section local edition paper, starting Oct. 6. The Times will be putting its Sports section behind its Business section and its Local and Opinion page into its main section. The move affects only the metro New York City area, and not the Times' national edition. The purpose is clear: reduced costs in printing and production. Major costs saved are in labor, as the new scheme will significantly reduce overtime wages paid.
"We are not reducing the space devoted to Metro or Sports news," Times's publisher, Arthur Sulzberger Jr. told his staff in a memo.
The move follows a number of sectioning changes seen throughout the US this year. Numerous papers have cut standalone business sections, merging that content into other sections, as many have cut back on local business news staff (see recent report, Publishers Re-Target Local Business News Opportunity June 23, 2008).
Overall, most companies have cut back newsprint usage at least 10-15%, producing less news and displaying fewer ads. That has resulted in more thin -- often four-page -- sections, reinforcing for readers the shrinking product and offering new production configuration challenges and opportunities.
This week, word leaked out that the Tampa Tribune is considering a one-section paper. The Tribune, which has a daily circulation of more than 200,000, recently reported a 32.5% decrease in classified revenue for the second quarter.
As sections decrease, ad sales options change. Publishers will be more able to offer advertisers placement in the "A" section, long sought after by advertisers, and less able to offer preferred placement on section back pages, and on pages 2-5 in any particular section.
Implications: As some observers have pointed out, one section papers are nothing new -- tabloids have been doing it for decades. In Europe, two-section broadsheets are much more common than they have been in the US. Indeed, Outsell believes it's not the number of sections that is key, but rather the nature and fit of the daily print product in the internet age that's the biggest question going forward.
Certainly, publishers need to make many kinds of decisions to cut costs as long-stable revenue streams deteriorate. Production and printing -- the #2 cost after staff -- needs to be high on list.
The biggest questions here is what the daily, snapshot print product becomes. For some, it is becoming more an analytic read, a push that the Wall Street Journal started making back in 2006, and other papers are moving to as well. Some believe the newspaper needs to be more of a guide to the web, and that's true for those (especially younger) readers who use the news for web effortlessly. For baby boomer readers and up, though, it's that print edition that keeps the subscriber money coming in. This group is publishers' best hope for hanging on to as much print revenue for as long as possible, as they make digital transitions.
Consequently, for the next five years at least, it'll be a balancing act, between the more modern analysis/web pointer model and the traditional "paper of record." Finding that balance is the hard thing -- particularly when at the same time newspapers are try to convince increasingly skeptical readers that less isn't really less.
US Newspapers Move to Limiting Number of Sections
by Ken Doctor, Affiliate Analyst - San Jose, California
Saving money on production and printing is key, as publishers struggle to convince paying print readers that less doesn't seem like less.
Important Details: The New York Times is moving to a two-section local edition paper, starting Oct. 6. The Times will be putting its Sports section behind its Business section and its Local and Opinion page into its main section. The move affects only the metro New York City area, and not the Times' national edition. The purpose is clear: reduced costs in printing and production. Major costs saved are in labor, as the new scheme will significantly reduce overtime wages paid.
"We are not reducing the space devoted to Metro or Sports news," Times's publisher, Arthur Sulzberger Jr. told his staff in a memo.
The move follows a number of sectioning changes seen throughout the US this year. Numerous papers have cut standalone business sections, merging that content into other sections, as many have cut back on local business news staff (see recent report, Publishers Re-Target Local Business News Opportunity June 23, 2008).
Overall, most companies have cut back newsprint usage at least 10-15%, producing less news and displaying fewer ads. That has resulted in more thin -- often four-page -- sections, reinforcing for readers the shrinking product and offering new production configuration challenges and opportunities.
This week, word leaked out that the Tampa Tribune is considering a one-section paper. The Tribune, which has a daily circulation of more than 200,000, recently reported a 32.5% decrease in classified revenue for the second quarter.
As sections decrease, ad sales options change. Publishers will be more able to offer advertisers placement in the "A" section, long sought after by advertisers, and less able to offer preferred placement on section back pages, and on pages 2-5 in any particular section.
Implications: As some observers have pointed out, one section papers are nothing new -- tabloids have been doing it for decades. In Europe, two-section broadsheets are much more common than they have been in the US. Indeed, Outsell believes it's not the number of sections that is key, but rather the nature and fit of the daily print product in the internet age that's the biggest question going forward.
Certainly, publishers need to make many kinds of decisions to cut costs as long-stable revenue streams deteriorate. Production and printing -- the #2 cost after staff -- needs to be high on list.
The biggest questions here is what the daily, snapshot print product becomes. For some, it is becoming more an analytic read, a push that the Wall Street Journal started making back in 2006, and other papers are moving to as well. Some believe the newspaper needs to be more of a guide to the web, and that's true for those (especially younger) readers who use the news for web effortlessly. For baby boomer readers and up, though, it's that print edition that keeps the subscriber money coming in. This group is publishers' best hope for hanging on to as much print revenue for as long as possible, as they make digital transitions.
Consequently, for the next five years at least, it'll be a balancing act, between the more modern analysis/web pointer model and the traditional "paper of record." Finding that balance is the hard thing -- particularly when at the same time newspapers are try to convince increasingly skeptical readers that less isn't really less.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Is There Something Wrong With This Story?
From Wednesday's Warsaw Times-Union:
Warsaw Runners Split With Redskins
Dale Hubler
Times-Union Sports Editor
WINONA LAKE - Though highlighted by Erica Ridderman's new course record, it was team depth that prevailed in Warsaw's boys and girls cross country meet with Northern Lakes Conference foe Goshen Tuesday evening.
The Redskins and Tigers split victories at Goshen College's Miller Field, with Goshen winning the girls event 26-32 and the Warsaw boys posting a 22-34 win.
Warsaw Runners Split With Redskins
Dale Hubler
Times-Union Sports Editor
WINONA LAKE - Though highlighted by Erica Ridderman's new course record, it was team depth that prevailed in Warsaw's boys and girls cross country meet with Northern Lakes Conference foe Goshen Tuesday evening.
The Redskins and Tigers split victories at Goshen College's Miller Field, with Goshen winning the girls event 26-32 and the Warsaw boys posting a 22-34 win.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Walt Rodgers, Embedded Journalist, Writes
Here's the book I referred to Monday night by CNN's Walt Rodgers, embedded with troops in Iraq. More information here.
Here's what one review said about it:
From Booklist
Rodgers, a CNN correspondent, was embedded for three weeks in March 2003 with the Seventh Calvary, who advanced from the Kuwaiti border to Baghdad. In this fascinating account, he begins with his experiences at Embed U, the orientation school for journalists at which he was taught how to deal with chemical weapons, which were never used by the Iraqis.
He recalls going into war zones in a refitted Humvee purchased from King Hummer, a used-car salesman in Kuwait. Rodgers and his crew struggled along with the cavalry, trying to stay alive and developing close ties with the soldiers, who never questioned the legitimacy of their missions.
The benefit of embedding was the firsthand view of combat it offered the reporters, but Rodgers notes that the embedded journalist necessarily lacks a broader picture. Returning to Iraq a year later, Rodgers interviewed soldiers and Iraqis and found a higher level of danger since the invasion.
This stirring close-up account puts a human face on the bravery and determination of all those engaged in the conflict in Iraq.
Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
New Bible Style Guide for Journalists
Here is a fascinating new aid for journalists unfamiliar with biblical terms and concepts. Read the remainder of the article here. The author of this article, Michael Ireland, is also a former student of mine. You can download the guide free, and also check out the accompanying blog for journalists.
New style guide helps journalists ‘get to grips‘ with Bible
By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service
SWINDON, UNITED KINGDOM (ANS) -- Many secular reporters and journalists are not too familiar with the Bible. Perhaps they know the Lord's Prayer or Psalm 23.
Now a new reference tool to help journalists and broadcasters get up to speed on biblical issues has been released by Bible Society, based in the United Kingdom.
With the Bible increasingly cropping up in headlines, from the Anglican Church’s homosexuality rows to Kate McCann’s Bible being investigated by British police, and with its contents discussed, dissected and debated on a weekly basis, the style guide will be a vital tool for those in the media industry, said Bible Society.
A media release from the Bible Society explains: "The Bible Style Guide is an 80-page book packed with facts, figures, explanations and overviews to help media professionals report Bible stories with confidence.
New style guide helps journalists ‘get to grips‘ with Bible
By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service
SWINDON, UNITED KINGDOM (ANS) -- Many secular reporters and journalists are not too familiar with the Bible. Perhaps they know the Lord's Prayer or Psalm 23.
Now a new reference tool to help journalists and broadcasters get up to speed on biblical issues has been released by Bible Society, based in the United Kingdom.
With the Bible increasingly cropping up in headlines, from the Anglican Church’s homosexuality rows to Kate McCann’s Bible being investigated by British police, and with its contents discussed, dissected and debated on a weekly basis, the style guide will be a vital tool for those in the media industry, said Bible Society.
A media release from the Bible Society explains: "The Bible Style Guide is an 80-page book packed with facts, figures, explanations and overviews to help media professionals report Bible stories with confidence.
Next Week's Writing Assignments
Here is the writing assignment for next Monday night. Please e-mail your two exercises to me by 5 p.m. Friday, September 12, and we will discuss the exercises in class Monday, September 15.
Here are the instructions:
1. Log onto www.mhhe.com/harrower1
2. click on "student edition" in upper left corner
3. from the drop-down menu, click on chapter 3
4. complete exercise 3-2.3 (Oakdale firefighters) and 3-2.4 (emergency landing), writing your lead in the box provided
5. click "submit answers" and be sure to include your name, and e-mail to me at tdwhite@earthlink.net by 5 p.m. Friday, September 12
Thank you for your prayers and interest in my wife. She had the catheterization today, and although she did have a mild heart attack, no treatment is needed (stents or bypass). With proper treatment, the heart should heal in about two months.
The surgeon diagnosed it as Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy. Read more here. Fascinating. I'll tell you more Monday night about "broken heart."
We appreciate your prayers and concern.
Here are the instructions:
1. Log onto www.mhhe.com/harrower1
2. click on "student edition" in upper left corner
3. from the drop-down menu, click on chapter 3
4. complete exercise 3-2.3 (Oakdale firefighters) and 3-2.4 (emergency landing), writing your lead in the box provided
5. click "submit answers" and be sure to include your name, and e-mail to me at tdwhite@earthlink.net by 5 p.m. Friday, September 12
Thank you for your prayers and interest in my wife. She had the catheterization today, and although she did have a mild heart attack, no treatment is needed (stents or bypass). With proper treatment, the heart should heal in about two months.
The surgeon diagnosed it as Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy. Read more here. Fascinating. I'll tell you more Monday night about "broken heart."
We appreciate your prayers and concern.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Dark Horse Candidate URL
Here is the URL for the "dark horse candidate" video we viewed in class Monday night:
http://www.inews3.com/topstory.php?id=526f797c48616c62657267
http://www.inews3.com/topstory.php?id=526f797c48616c62657267
Zondervan to Publish Palin Biography
Zondervan will publish a new biography of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the running mate chosen by Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
To be released Oct. 10, Sarah Palin: A New Kind of Leader by Joe Hilley will explore Palin's career in politics, her life as a hockey mom and committed Christian faith, explaining how they influence her style of leadership and aligns with the country's changing economy in the information age, Zondervan officials said.
"Regardless of your political persuasion, it is clear that Sarah Palin has quickly electrified the 2008 election and sparked a nationwide dialogue and debate," said Moe Girkins, president and CEO of Zondervan.
Sarah Palin: A New Kind of Leader is the second biography to be released this year about Palin, who has been called "the most talked-about woman in America" since McCain's surprised announcement.
Fairbanks, Alaska-based Epicenter Press released Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska's Political Establishment Upside Down by Kaylene Johnson in May. Ingram Publisher Services—Ingram Book Group's distribution, sales and marketing services for publishers—recently agreed to print and distribute more than 30,000 copies of a paperback version of the book
ABC's Gibson Gets First Palin Interview
Charles Gibson of ABC News has been awarded the first interview with VP candidate Sarah Palin, to take place later this week in Alaska. Here is a short excerpt from an article announcing it -- to read the entire article click here.
"Why would we want to throw Sarah Palin into a cycle of piranhas called the news media that have nothing better to ask questions about than her personal life and her children?" Davis said. "So until at which point in time we feel like the news media is going to treat her with some level of respect and deference, I think it would be foolhardy to put her out into that kind of environment."
Palin's Democratic counterpart, Sen. Joe Biden, a veteran of the Sunday talk show circuit, challenged Palin to sit for interviews.
"Eventually she's going to have to sit in front of you like I'm doing and have done," Biden said on "Meet the Press" on NBC. "Eventually she's going to have to answer questions and not be sequestered. Eventually she's going to have to answer questions about her record."
Gibson, in the Web log posted the day after Palin's speech, said he thought it was a very successful night for her.
"Why would we want to throw Sarah Palin into a cycle of piranhas called the news media that have nothing better to ask questions about than her personal life and her children?" Davis said. "So until at which point in time we feel like the news media is going to treat her with some level of respect and deference, I think it would be foolhardy to put her out into that kind of environment."
Palin's Democratic counterpart, Sen. Joe Biden, a veteran of the Sunday talk show circuit, challenged Palin to sit for interviews.
"Eventually she's going to have to sit in front of you like I'm doing and have done," Biden said on "Meet the Press" on NBC. "Eventually she's going to have to answer questions and not be sequestered. Eventually she's going to have to answer questions about her record."
Gibson, in the Web log posted the day after Palin's speech, said he thought it was a very successful night for her.
Blogging Religious Content in Politics
Christianity Today's Unique Politics Blog
Christianity Today's Politics '08 blog launched only a few weeks ago, but it's already receiving recognition from journalistic peers. Michael Paulson's religion blog at The Boston Globe: "From a distance, the best coverage I've seen of the role of faith at the convention has been in the politics blog over at Christianity Today ..."
GetReligion: "Now, if you are interested in the actual religious content of the speech, you need to head over to the weblog at Christianity Today, where Ted Olsen, Sarah Pulliam and Co. have quite a bit of interesting material for you to read."
Christianity Today's online editor, Sarah Pulliam, reported live in Denver from the Democratic National Convention and also reported live from The Republican National Convention in Minneapolis. She liveblogs events, interviews experts, and gives analysis. Pulliam is available for interviews.
Christianity Today's Politics '08 blog launched only a few weeks ago, but it's already receiving recognition from journalistic peers. Michael Paulson's religion blog at The Boston Globe: "From a distance, the best coverage I've seen of the role of faith at the convention has been in the politics blog over at Christianity Today ..."
GetReligion: "Now, if you are interested in the actual religious content of the speech, you need to head over to the weblog at Christianity Today, where Ted Olsen, Sarah Pulliam and Co. have quite a bit of interesting material for you to read."
Christianity Today's online editor, Sarah Pulliam, reported live in Denver from the Democratic National Convention and also reported live from The Republican National Convention in Minneapolis. She liveblogs events, interviews experts, and gives analysis. Pulliam is available for interviews.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Beltway Boys/WSJ on Media Reaction
Here's some Beltway Boys commentary from the Wall Street Journal on media reaction to Mrs. Palin. Here's an excerpt. The entire article may be seen by clicking here (although I'm not sure whether you must register first):
The Beltway Boys
September 3, 2008; Page A22
Even as the Obama camp ponders how best to handle John McCain's veep pick of Sarah Palin, the high priests and priestesses of the media have marked her as an apostate. The Beltway class is in full-throated rebellion against a nondomesticated conservative who might pose a threat to their coronation of Barack Obama and the return of Camelot-on-the-Potomac.
Here is a sampler of media comment on Governor Palin this week:
- Eleanor Clift, the McLaughlin Group: "If the media reaction is anything, it's been literally laughter in many places across newsrooms."
- Sally Quinn, Newsweek: "It is a political gimmick . . . I find it insulting to women, to the Republican party, and to the country."
- E.J. Dionne, Washington Post: "Palin is, if anything, less qualified for the vice presidency (and the presidency) than [Harriet] Miers was for the court. But there is one big difference: Palin passes all the right-wing litmus tests."
- Maureen Dowd, New York Times: "They have a tradition of nominating fun, bantamweight cheerleaders from the West."
- Ruth Marcus, Washington Post: "But as a parent in the media, I also know that the Palins assumed this risk. Anyone who watched coverage of the Bush twins' barroom exploits knew that the avert-your-eyes stance toward candidates' children has its limits."
- Charlie Cook, Beltway pundit, on PBS's "Charlie Rose": "I had a friend that had a young person tell them that they had three interviews to get a job as a server at Ruby Tuesday! So this is like putting a whole -- for someone that hasn't played on a national -- Geraldine Ferraro had more -- Dan Quayle had undergone more scrutiny, had played on a bigger stage than this. This is putting an enormous risk on someone he didn't know. And he has to just pray that it works!"
This is the same media whose chant for weeks -- no, months -- has been "let McCain be McCain." If we know anything about John McCain, it is that he is by instinct a reformer, sometimes to a fault. Yet when he acts like McCain and picks a maverick reformer in his own mold, his former media cheering squad turns on him for not conforming to Beltway mores and picking someone they've all met 10 times in the CNN green room.
The Beltway Boys
September 3, 2008; Page A22
Even as the Obama camp ponders how best to handle John McCain's veep pick of Sarah Palin, the high priests and priestesses of the media have marked her as an apostate. The Beltway class is in full-throated rebellion against a nondomesticated conservative who might pose a threat to their coronation of Barack Obama and the return of Camelot-on-the-Potomac.
Here is a sampler of media comment on Governor Palin this week:
- Eleanor Clift, the McLaughlin Group: "If the media reaction is anything, it's been literally laughter in many places across newsrooms."
- Sally Quinn, Newsweek: "It is a political gimmick . . . I find it insulting to women, to the Republican party, and to the country."
- E.J. Dionne, Washington Post: "Palin is, if anything, less qualified for the vice presidency (and the presidency) than [Harriet] Miers was for the court. But there is one big difference: Palin passes all the right-wing litmus tests."
- Maureen Dowd, New York Times: "They have a tradition of nominating fun, bantamweight cheerleaders from the West."
- Ruth Marcus, Washington Post: "But as a parent in the media, I also know that the Palins assumed this risk. Anyone who watched coverage of the Bush twins' barroom exploits knew that the avert-your-eyes stance toward candidates' children has its limits."
- Charlie Cook, Beltway pundit, on PBS's "Charlie Rose": "I had a friend that had a young person tell them that they had three interviews to get a job as a server at Ruby Tuesday! So this is like putting a whole -- for someone that hasn't played on a national -- Geraldine Ferraro had more -- Dan Quayle had undergone more scrutiny, had played on a bigger stage than this. This is putting an enormous risk on someone he didn't know. And he has to just pray that it works!"
This is the same media whose chant for weeks -- no, months -- has been "let McCain be McCain." If we know anything about John McCain, it is that he is by instinct a reformer, sometimes to a fault. Yet when he acts like McCain and picks a maverick reformer in his own mold, his former media cheering squad turns on him for not conforming to Beltway mores and picking someone they've all met 10 times in the CNN green room.
To Kill a Book
Was Random House right to run scared in withdrawing this book? Would they face the same pressure if someone wrote a novel about Jesus' wife? If you were the publisher, how would you decide what to do?
Canceled Muhammad novel finds new publisher
By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS
Associated Press Writer
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) -- A historical novel about the prophet Muhammad and his child bride that was pulled by Random House over concerns it would anger Muslims has been sold to another publisher, the author said Wednesday.
"We do have a U.S. publisher," Sherry Jones, of Spokane, told The Associated Press in an e-mail Wednesday. "We can announce that, but not the name until they announce it."
Jones' agent, Natasha Kern, said a publisher for "The Jewel of Medina" in the United States and the United Kingdom will be announced later Wednesday.
Jones said her debut novel will be published in October, two months after it was to have been published by Random House Publishing Group.
"Now we can all move the conversation forward to address the themes in my debut novel and its sequel, of women's empowerment, reconciliation, and peace," Jones said.
The book will also be published in Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil and Hungary, Jones said. In August, Serbian publisher BeoBook released "The Jewel of Medina" but then quickly withdrew it from stores after protests from local Islamic leaders who said it insulted Muhammad and his family.
Random House, which paid Jones $100,000 for "The Jewel of Medina" and a second book, spiked the novel about Muhammad and his third wife, Aisha, after concerns were raised by non-Muslims that the contents might spark violence.
Random House said at the time that "credible and unrelated sources" had warned that the book "could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment."
Following the Random House decision, Salman Rushdie, whose "The Satanic Verses" led to a death decree in 1989 from Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini that forced the author to live under police protection for years, said the publisher had allowed itself to be intimidated.
"I am very disappointed to hear that my publishers, Random House, have canceled another author's novel, apparently because of their concerns about possible Islamic reprisals," Rushdie said in an e-mail sent last month to The Associated Press. "This is censorship by fear, and it sets a very bad precedent indeed."
Canceled Muhammad novel finds new publisher
By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS
Associated Press Writer
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) -- A historical novel about the prophet Muhammad and his child bride that was pulled by Random House over concerns it would anger Muslims has been sold to another publisher, the author said Wednesday.
"We do have a U.S. publisher," Sherry Jones, of Spokane, told The Associated Press in an e-mail Wednesday. "We can announce that, but not the name until they announce it."
Jones' agent, Natasha Kern, said a publisher for "The Jewel of Medina" in the United States and the United Kingdom will be announced later Wednesday.
Jones said her debut novel will be published in October, two months after it was to have been published by Random House Publishing Group.
"Now we can all move the conversation forward to address the themes in my debut novel and its sequel, of women's empowerment, reconciliation, and peace," Jones said.
The book will also be published in Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil and Hungary, Jones said. In August, Serbian publisher BeoBook released "The Jewel of Medina" but then quickly withdrew it from stores after protests from local Islamic leaders who said it insulted Muhammad and his family.
Random House, which paid Jones $100,000 for "The Jewel of Medina" and a second book, spiked the novel about Muhammad and his third wife, Aisha, after concerns were raised by non-Muslims that the contents might spark violence.
Random House said at the time that "credible and unrelated sources" had warned that the book "could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment."
Following the Random House decision, Salman Rushdie, whose "The Satanic Verses" led to a death decree in 1989 from Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini that forced the author to live under police protection for years, said the publisher had allowed itself to be intimidated.
"I am very disappointed to hear that my publishers, Random House, have canceled another author's novel, apparently because of their concerns about possible Islamic reprisals," Rushdie said in an e-mail sent last month to The Associated Press. "This is censorship by fear, and it sets a very bad precedent indeed."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
