National High School Journalism Convention

Last week I attended the Journalism Education Association/National Scholastic Press Association (JEA/NSPA) National Spring Convention in Denver. I took seven students with me. I hope they learned something. They paid over $400 each to go (and our program paid quite a bit for their registration and hotel). I know a few of them skipped a bunch of sessions. They won’t be allowed to go along next year when the convention is in Anaheim (aka Disneyland). Some lessons have to be learned the hard way.

I, on the other hand, attended a bunch of great sessions. Here’s a brief recap:

--The opening keynote (which the kids attended with me) was by Jim Sheeler. He’s a feature writer for the Rocky Mountain News here in Denver. He won the Pulitzer Prize a couple of years ago for a piece called “Final Salute.” In it, he spent a year following a Marine casualty notification officer—the man who has the horrible task of notifying families that their sons have been killed in action in Iraq. His presentation was very powerful, very moving.

View Final Salute at: http://denver.rockymountainnews.com/news/finalSalute/

--I attended a session on copyright and plagiarism. The focus was on papers that use photos from the internet without permission (which we do almost every issue), specifically movie stills and musicians/CD covers. The kids think that if you put “courtesy of ___________” then it’s OK. It’s not. You must receive permission. Something we need to do a better job of.
--Another session was for new advisers. The presenter was a retired journalism teacher. The best part was, at the end, she said she had a gift for us. She then pulled out a stack of CD’s and gave us each one. It was a copy of pretty much every journalism-related file she had on her computer. I popped it in my computer last night and there are over 500 documents on the disc. For example, lots of J-teachers give weekly AP style quizzes so the kids can brush up on their AP style (Associated Press style of journalistic writing). There are over 70 AP style quizzes on the disc. Nice gift.
--The best session of Day 1 was presented by brothers Steve and Luke Cyphers. Steve is a feature reporter for ESPN; Luke is a senior editor for ESPN The Magazine. They were there because they grew up in Grand Junction. They spoke about the differences between print and broadcast journalism. It was funny—they played off each other well. But in between the laughs, they both imparted a bunch of very insightful nuggets of real-world wisdom. If the kids were really listening, they should have learned a lot. One of the main things they talked about was the importance of paying your dues. No one starts at ESPN. Even the college kids who intern there have to go earn their chops in the small markets for their first jobs. ESPN doesn’t hire their interns when the internship ends. Every reporter for ESPN put in their time in small markets. So many kids operate under the delusion that they’ll get their first job in New York or LA. They won’t; their first job will be in Helena, Montana or Pasco, Washington or some podunk place like that. But it’s in those low-pay, do-everything jobs that they learn what it takes to be a journalist. Great session…and two great guys. I was able to chat with them for a minute afterwards.
--In the late afternoon while the kids were in their writing competitions, I walked over to the ESPN Zone restaurant for an early dinner. (May I recommend the Smokehouse Burger? Beef, cheese, pepper bacon, barbecue sauce, crispy onion straws, and chipotle mayo. Yum!)
--For Day 2, I started in a session called Changing the World. It was all about staff editorials. The presenter was Jack Kennedy—no relation. He was excellent and he gave the kids and advisers much to think about. His message was summed up in a final quote: The news, sports, feature, and entertainment pages of the paper mirror your school and community the way they are. The editorial page shows your school the way they could be. Shouldn’t our editorial topics deal with something loftier than a lack of school spirit (since no one knows what that exactly means anyway)?
--My next session was on how one school approximately our size puts out a 12-page paper every two weeks with only one work night that ends at 6:00. The bottom line was that kids waste a lot of time and aren’t held accountable. Raise the bar and the kids will go over it.
--The only bad session I attended was on incorporating a web presence for your paper. The presenter was a college kid who is much more adept behind a computer than in front of a crowd. Pretty bad.
--I then attended a session on how to organize your digital images. It was OK, but nothing I didn’t already know. (Back up your files.)

The last thing I attended was the adviser luncheon and awards ceremony. The food was nice and I met a very nice woman from Foley, Alabama—right on the Gulf Coast. She told me all about how her home was devastated by Hurricane Ivan and then a year later, Katrina came along and destroyed everything they had repaired from the first hurricane. She was happy because they just moved back into their house after being out for two and a half years. She was very nice. That was the good part of the lunch.

The only slightly negative part was the awards portion. Journalism teachers are the most “award-givingest” group of people I’ve ever met. Apparently, as a group, they must suffer from low self-esteem or something. Dear Lord, they give awards for everything. Newspaper adviser of the year, yearbook adviser of the year, distinguished adviser, lifetime achievement, most inspirational, First Amendment, the list went on interminably. Then came the Rising Star awards presented to advisers with five or fewer years of experience but who are making a mark. Finally came the CJE and MJE presentations. Those are for Certified Journalism Educators and Master Journalism Educators. At least for those, the recipients had to take a test.

I once saw a Jerry Seinfeld special in which he received an award at the HBO Comedy Festival and in his speech he ripped (tongue-in-cheek) the giving of self-serving awards. He went on to say that every insurance agent, car salesman, and hotel has some lame award hanging behind the desk—the Gold Circle Platinum Achievement Bullshit Award.

Recognition is fine; everyone needs that acknowledgement, that pat on the back. But journalism teachers seem to thrive on awards. From my very first day as a journalism adviser I’ve heard nothing but awards awards awards! Gotta get the All-American from NSPA and the Gold Crown from CSPA and the Gallup from Quill and Scroll and maybe…just maybe…you will be fortunate enough to win….the Pacemaker.

They’ll tell you they don’t set out to win awards—“it’s not about the awards” they’ll say—but their actions belie their words. If it’s not about the awards, how come there are so many of them?

More Track Pics of Eric

Here are a couple of pics of Eric at the JV track meet at Hanford this past week. My brother-in-law Scott Page took these. This first one Scott clamped the camera to a hurdle in the open lane next to Eric during the 110m high hurdles. You can't see the other hurdlers off to the right, but Eric won the race fairly easily.


This next picture is of Eric running the first leg of the 4 x 100m relay. They didn't do too well, but it's a great shot of Eric. I'm amazed at how defined Eric's physique is becoming. He's still only a sophomore. He'll catch me in heigth within the year. You can click on the photos to see the larger versions.

Two days after this meet, Eric ran the varsity event at Eisenhower HS in Yakima and set a PR in both the 110's and the 300m. Improvement in track comes in tenths of a second and he's getting better each day.

Easter

Eric got home today from his 1-week mission in Vancouver. It's nice to have him back. When the van arrived at the Church, we had a brief testimony meeting for the families, so the boys could share their testimonies and tell a little bit about their experiences.

It was touching to hear these 16-18 year old boys talking about the power of prayer, the strength they gained through reading the scriptures every morning, and feeling the spirit witness to them that what they were doing was true.

We got home (Eric and I--Shannon stayed at home because she was diagnosed this week with walking pneumonia) and Eric immediately went up and showered. Apparently, the shower that he had access to all week was only about four and a half feet high, so he had to practically shower on his knees. After that he came downstairs and shared a couple of stories with us.

As we listened, I was taken back to an Easter morning about 6 years ago. There was a Church-produced video called "The Lamb of God" which depicts Christ's final days, the crucifixion, and His resurrection. I wanted our family to watch it to put Easter into its proper perspective.

We started the video and as it got to the crucifixion, Eric got up and headed to his room. I asked him to come sit down and watch with us. He could spend 20 minutes with his parents on Easter Sunday and watch a video about the Savior. He sat back down and we returned our attention to the video.

The scene on the TV turned to putting Christ on the cross. The centurions were driving the nails through his hand and feet. The sounds were ominous and disturbing. Eric got up from his chair again. I blew up and ordered him to stay and watch the video with us. I looked at his face and there were tears in his eyes.

"Why are they doing that?" he sobbed. "Why are they killing him? Please can I go to my room?"

There have only been a few times in my life when I've felt small and insignificant...none moreso than at that moment. In my attempt to do what I thought was right, I overlooked the sweet spirit that is my son Eric. I was literally forcing him to watch the execution of someone he knew and loved. We turned the video off. I took him in my arms, apologized, and asked him to forgive me.

Eric has always been close to the Lord. His testimony of Jesus Christ is sweet and pure and simple. He knows that Jesus lives. He knows that Jesus loves all of us and through his sacrifice, we can return to our Heavenly Father. That testimony is evident in Eric's demeanor. He has always placed a premium on kindness.

Every Easter since then I remember the events of that morning. When Eric was gone this week, my worry and concern were tempered by the knowledge that he was doing what the Lord wanted him to do.

I Got My Astro Blasted!

Disneyland, March 2007

Just found this pic of Shannon and me at Disneyland on the Buzz Lightyear ride. I was way ahead of her on the scoreboard and then my trigger finger got tired and she made her move. We were both feeling pretty good about our scores until we saw the lady in the car behind us had scored over 60,000 points! All I am saying....is give peace a chance. (Must kill the Evil Zorg!!)

A Better Man Than I Am

Eric is spending his entire Spring Break serving a 1-week mission in Vancouver, WA. He's living and working with the full-time missionaries, going door to door, teaching the gospel, the whole bit. He has to follow all the rules that the full-time missionaries follow: no TV, popular music, newspaper, magazines, internet (except for a weekly e-mail home). He has 2 hours of scripture and gospel study in the mornings, tracting (door-to-door) in the afternoons, dinners at Church members' houses, and teaching appointments in the evenings. He left Sunday afternoon and will return Saturday night. He chose to give up sleeping in, earning money with his lawn mowing business, and hanging out with friends.

I'm very proud of him. This was TOTALLY his idea. We didn't push him or coerce him or anything. Like a 2-year full-time mission, it's completely his decision. He can only commit to it if it's his idea. But he is committed to it...it's something he's wanted to do since he was little. I've been purposefully hands-off on the subject. Too many LDS parents tell their boys "You're going on a mission." I couldn't in good conscience make my son go out for two years. A missionary gives his or her heart to the Lord. They commit all their time, talent, and energy to serving Him. They have to want to be there. And Eric does.

It's been hard not being able to contact him. He's been gone for a week at a time several times in the past--Scout Camps, EFY sessions at BYU, etc. But when he was at those things, I could call him if I needed to, even if I never did. Just knowing I could was enough. But now, I have to have faith that he's doing OK. It has increased my daily prayer.

In his e-mail home to us, he said:

Monday we began personal studying and comp studying. Wow it's hard to occupy two hours with studying! After that Elder Larsen and I went tracting for a few hours, and found the joy in having doors slammed in our faces by the dozens. I can't wait to serve a mission! We gave up our lunch hour to tract more, and I think we did pretty well. We had a district meeting, then had dinner at a family's house where we had stuffed pasta shells. After that we went tracting more, and gave a blessing to a girl who's having some sort of surgery. Then we went home and went to bed. I was exhausted.

I need to get going but i'll leave you with this. I know now why Ben (his cousin who is currently serving a mission in Ukraine) is having so much fun in the field. I know what we're doing is true, and I feel the spirit so much stronger than I have in the past.

He's quite a young man. He sets an example of excellence every day that I can only hope to emulate.

Who's Georgia O'Keeffe?

Marlee as Georgia O'Keeffe

Marlee's class did a living wax museum where each kid chose a famous historical figure, researched them, and recreated that person in a wax museum for the parents to come see. Marlee wanted to be a woman artist, so we looked at lots of them and she chose Georgia O'Keeffe. Needless to say, she was the only Georgia O'Keeffe amidst several Helen Kellers, Florence Nightingales and Albert Einsteins. She was pretty cute.