Sharpton Redux [Instructor Eats Crow]

May 27th, 2009
Feature Writing, Spring 2009.

Feature Writing, Spring 2009.

Email sent to my Feature Writing students after the Thursday, April 30 class:
Andrea Leon convinced me that I missed the big picture and that she has a story that no journalist, pro or student (in recent memory), has regarding Sharpton. So, I would really appreciate it if everyone in class would send her three or four sentences regarding their likes and dislikes about Sharpton. Try to be specific about why you like or don’t like or respect or disrespect about him.

Please let her know if you can use your name or not in this special she’s working on.

For pedagogical reasons, I will offer a brief recap and opinion at the beginning of class because the tiff illustrates some journalistic matters that can’t be taught via book/class and have to be learned via real-world experience.

Thanks,

gm

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Working the Crowd

May 26th, 2009

When I worked for the the Democrat & Chronicle in Rochester, New York and the Washington Star in Washington, D.C. (before it was crushed by the Washington Post), and later the New York Post, I always felt the rush, as if the dopamine was coursing full speed when I waded into a crowd to ask questions of strangers who had no real reason to answer me.

Metropolitan Museum of Art – May 24, 2009

May 26th, 2009

While my department dillydallies over its future, I’m exploring new ways to teach. That means a lot of field testing. The latest: Visiting the MET Sunday, May 24. Armed with a Panasonic Luminix DMC-LX3 point-n’-shoot. For now, I want to keep things simple: Pictures of MET visitors taking pictures.

Going to the MET was a friend’s idea.

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So Much to Do

May 25th, 2009

Because I was so wrapped up in trying to get my students credentials for the 2008 Democratic Convention in Denver in August, and getting them prepped once they were notified by New America Media that three were going, and trying later for a WORD presence at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis (my trying was not as serious nor as successful as my efforts for the DNC in Denver) and then the Presidential Inaugural in D.C. (which they accomplished by themselves), I had slacked off a lot.

And I am still playing catch-up.

MEDP 292 – Basic Reporting, Spring, 2009 – Took It on the Chin

May 24th, 2009
Started with 16, ended with them

Started with 16, ended with them

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Random Shots, May 23, 2009, A Work in Progress

May 23rd, 2009
Brooklyn Bridge, About 3 p.m. Shot quickly.

Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Side, About 3 p.m. Shot quickly. May 23

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A Clarence Thomas Twit

May 23rd, 2009

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas – “No compassion in these kids nowadays. I just witnessed a group of punks defacing a Memorial Day decorative wreath. I was mortified.”

This post has a remote link to Journalism … I’m not one of his fans but I follow.

I, of course, replied: “But did you call the cops?”

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The Last D:/F/M Faculty Meeting of the Semester

May 21st, 2009

Cryptic but will have to do until I get back from the New America Media expo in Atlanta, June 4 -5. And by that I mean:

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A Xmas Present for The Four Barnacles of the Apocalypse?

May 18th, 2009

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Commute

May 18th, 2009

Students in my feature writing are completing a nonfiction writing experiment about their commutes to and from campus. Some are adding pics with their features, some aren’t. The pub date is to begin late this week.

The 299.47 Feature Writing Posse

The 299.47 Feature Writing Posse

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