Trapped in the closet

Wonder what R. Kelly would think of this.

Journalists being intimidated in Egypt

Protesters believed to support embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak have been carrying out a campaign intimidating members of the fourth estate covering the crisis. Check out the clip below.

Post-dated Jan. 28 Challenger entry

Backdated for Jan. 28, 2011, 25 years after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
Perhaps what gave the event the impact that it had was that Christa McAuliffe was to have been the first-ever teacher in space and children all over the country were watching live. She, along with six others, in the words of President Ronald Reagan, who was quoting poet John Magee, "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God," and there has never been a teacher in space.
Did you know there was also supposed to be a journalist in space?http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011101270352
So NASA, as the space shuttle program winds down, I officially throw my press hat in the ring to represent both teachers and journalists on a future flight. I'd only take up one seat. You know where to find me.

I'm back!

Resurrecting the blog to follow my students' beat blogs. I'm Twittering as well.

Another Blog Bites the Dust?

Seems people are blogging themselves to death. No, this is not the English teacher in me speaking metaphorically about my students' on-line activities or the journalist in me reporting sarcastically. People are literally dropping dead over the constant demand for content. Check out the New York Times story here.

The Deep End of the Pool

The NCAA Tournament is underway -- Day 2 of Round 1 is today -- and offices everywhere are filled with the sounds of would-be bracket bosses crumpling their selection sheets while Judy from Accounting laughs all the way to the bank because she made her picks based on which school's color schemes she liked the best. Every year at this time I hear the same question, again and again: Do you want to be in a pool? The answer, year after year since 1997, has been a resounding "No."

Let me explain. At Columbia University School of Journalism in the spring semester of 1998, my Sports Writing professor, Sandy Padwe, expressly forbade his students from any gambling of any kind while we were covering sports in his class. This included everything, even fantasy leagues. He kept tabs on us. Little did we know he was saving us. It just so happened the Feds raided a ring right off campus that spring and a number of students were nabbed, but none of Sandy's sportwriters.

Ever since then, having covered professional sports, I just can't bring myself to gamble. Not even to stick a quarter in a slot machine. I guess I just don't get it. I'd rather save the little money that I have.

The last time I did enter a pool was March of my senior year at Providence College. The Friars made the tournament that year and were the last team eliminated from the Elite Eight, falling to eventual champion Arizona. The Providence men's team I covered for "The Cowl" at the time -- Sandy hadn't educated me in ethics yet -- also happened to be the only one of my Final Four picks that didn't pan out. Karma, perhaps?

Belated Blog on the Tri-State Trifecta

Boy, I've been delinquent in my blogging responsibilities! I would be remiss if I did not -- like every media outlet out there -- mention a certain former governor who made headlines recently. That got me thinking: does anybody realize that in the space of less than four years the governors of the three tri-states have all resigned in disgrace? New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer became the latest to join Connecticut Gov. John Rowland and New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey to bow out. The number of other governors to step aside in that time? Zero.
If I am the governor of Delaware, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania or Rhode Island, I would be on my best behavior.