Writing for money

Column writers chewing up local restaurants

2011-11-10T11:48:00.001-08:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif. USA - The columnistas from Journalism 131 are pumping out restaurant reviews this week, after last week's television program reviews.

Pretty obvious from reading both which the writers were more enthusiastic about.

Mexican restaurants, burger joints, Vietnamese places - and even a couple of 'hole-in-the-wall' establishments were reviewed by the class.

The review of Dad's by Ben Dewey is a keeper.

Twelve more reviews are due Friday by noon.

And all of them can be accessed via the links to the right.

Buen provecho.

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CSUS Writers hitting journalistic home runs left and write

2011-10-27T16:14:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The columnistas in the column writing class and the magazine writers in magazine writing at CSU, Sacramento are doing a great job this semester, with several getting promises of publication and/or contacts in the industry.

Alysha Garrett

But in column writing this past week, there was a special event, kind of a journalistic convergence, involving a writer (pictured to the left) who has twin career aspirations: to be a professional writer and a professional model.

And so in the course of writing an excellent column for the class, she ran across a female model (whose photo she used as an illustration in her column this week) with whom she seemed to share a lot of values and ideas.

Why not, she thought?

So Alysha Garrett submitted her modeling portfolio to the model's company. One email later and voila: she is now connected to the modeling agency of Natural Model Management of Los Angeles.

Serendipity is a wonderful thing to witness.

Here is a link to the writer's blog which fills in all the details and has a very cool illustration that helps explain why Barbie and Ken never have food in the Barbie house or camper: The Young Adult

Newswriting students swarm the CSUS Blood Drive, looking for news

2011-10-20T11:13:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Nearly 50 students from basic newswriting courses at CSU, Sacramento headed out of the classroom Wednesday to do a live newswriting exercise - covering the blood drive on campus at the University Union.

Most had never done an interview or headed out on a real news story. For some, it was very intimidating. Others took it in stride and dove in.

The staff of the blood drive, including Blood Source's Ashley Rebholtz, were very helpful and so most of the student reporters found this first attempt at live writing a good experience.

How the experience will translate into actual stories will be revealed Monday when they are turned in, completed, in class.

Ashley Rebholtz of Blood Source being interviewed by Sally Buckley

And more photos from the reporters at the blood drive

2011-10-19T15:07:00.001-07:00

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Second J30 class arrives at blood drive to write story

2011-10-19T14:59:00.001-07:00

The first J30 class has headed off to their computers to write a story about the blood drive, with the next class trickling in to start interviews.

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J students cover blood drive at CSUs

2011-10-19T14:03:00.001-07:00

Fifty students from two Journalism 30 classes descended on the blood drive today in the university union to get information for a story...

Here are some fotos.

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CSU, Sacramento column writers take a whack at Occupy Wall Street

2011-10-15T16:19:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The 25 or so columnistas of the Column Writing class at CSU, Sacramento have been busy penning columns about the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Like most columnists around the nation trying to figure this out, they have had varying levels of success.

One writer though the entire movement was about to dry and blow away:
Arronicals' take on OWS

While this writer wants to rename it American Spring:
Put It In Writing

All of the posted columns are listed to the right of this posting... Check out some - and comment, please.


Occupy Sacramento in Cesar Chavez Park

How those 'ah-ha' moments can be so satisfying

2011-10-11T12:57:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Two days and two major 'ah-ha' moments. Some kind of record, I suppose.

The most recent was a few hours ago, while stumped on how to explain the Occupy Wall Street movement in my Finger Lakes Times column. I'm in good company because just about everybody is stumped.

But I realized - as I donned my shoes to take a walk to clear my caffeinated brain - that media and everyone else is having trouble because we haven't seen anything exactly like this before. It's almost alien (as in not-of-this world, not the immigration type) in what we see.

And if what you see doesn't look like what you have seen before, well, you end up babbling like the airheads on Fox & Friends.

So my best shot in my column, and damn tricky to work in, is that the Occupy movement is a unicorn. It just can't be there, so we try to say it's a horse or a zebra or anything but what we can see right in front of us.

That's the way denial works.

And the other 'ah-ha' moment?

While having breakfast Sunday with an amigo, we chatted about our new iPads and how we needed some photographic equipment to go with them.

I'd say more, but a prototype is being put together and maybe coming to an Amazon.com near you sometime after a patent gets issued.

Quite the ah-ha moment because I told him I would buy one on the spot for a lot of money if he actually had started manufacturing.

In the meantime, I need to get back to writing about unicorns.

Almost putting my foot right in it - why double-checking is soooo important

2011-09-30T14:33:00.001-07:00

WATKINS GLEN, New York, USA - There is never a good excuse for being inaccurate, but sometimes columnists, like all journalists, can walk right up to the cliff.

If they are lucky, they catch themselves before they fall over and break their necks.

This week in New York I was precipitously close to the edge, but caught myself - with the help of a friend - before catapulting into the darkness.

The near fall was in a column about a state-sponsored public hearing. At the outset of it, the administrative law judge running the show made a big pronouncement that no local public officials would be testifying. Unfortunately, that bit of info got translated by most of the audience into that there were no public officials present.

And, if true, that would have been a big deal. The public hearing was to get public testimony about a very controversial proposal to store liquid propane gas in salt caverns near a populated area and a beautiful lake.

So if local government types took a pass, well, that would be too good to be true for a columnist looking for an angle.

It was too good to be true, as such things almost always are.

As I sat starting my column, the good angel on my right shoulder said 'check out if there were any public officials there.' The bad angel, resting on my left shoulder, said 'No, no, no... it's too good to pass up.'

Luckily, the good angel won out, and I asked the mayor of Watkins Glen via email if there were any public officials there (him included). There were, he said - lots of folks, actually. He even sent me a list of who he saw. And so instead of lambasting uncaring public servants, I was able to simply comment on the proceeding and include their quiet participation among my other thoughts on the lengthy meeting and what it means for the area.

Had I laid into the same public officials with a snarky 'Why weren't you there?' kind of piece, it would have been just short of disaster.

Actually no, it would have been a disaster, for me.

As it was, the incident and my exchange with my mayoral amigo has given me a couple of good ideas for future columns about public participation, decorum at public meetings, and the role of public hearings in making decisions.

And, because I checked before I published, I can write them without having to withdraw a metaphorical foot from my mouth.

Another lesson re-learned, and lesson now passed on.

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Speciality columns on the way, magazine writers do 'how-to' stories

2011-09-13T08:37:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The first set of columns based on the special areas of interest (chosen by the writers) are coming in by Wednesday noon. A second set will show up by Friday noon.

The specialities are all over the place: music, the arts, sports, cooking and a dozen others that I can't remember.

The first efforts are always interesting while the writers try to find their voices. Monday in class the writers got pretty animated about these columns. The hardest part is the research.

In magazine writing, the writers are starting on how-to stories. We have people writing about travel, tiling a countertop, selling and buying used clothes and even how to make tamales, menudo and a Thai soup. Quite the eclectic group.

One student has steadfastly insisted that he be able to write his how-to story on 'how to get through college with the least amount of work.' And the work he is talking about is college-work and studying. That one should be fascinating, but might require a few rewrites before it passes professional level muster - the class standard.

After the how-to stories, it's on to writing full length features and personality profiles for the magaziners. The column writers are now on task for one column per week for the balance of the semester - about 12 more columns by my count.

Columns come from reading, thinking, and, well, more reading

2011-09-11T13:58:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Every Friday, right after I read my column in the Finger Lakes Times (Geneva, NY), I experience a sense of satisfaction for a few hours, while I glow over the words that my editor Mike Cutillo chose to print.

Then I start to sweat: What the hell will I write about for next week?

It's not that there is a lack of topics, of course. There's an entire world for me to write about. But exactly what? And for me, exactly how?

My aim is not to write a news column. It would be easy to grab a screaming headline, do a 600-word riff on whatever noodle-headed thing the federal, state, or local government is up to and call it a column. Slam bam. Good God, newspapers and the internet are full of items that push my blood pressure into the stratosphere.

But I want to offer something a little more on the upscale side of column writing, something that I had to chew on for awhile before I put it up. Something that has not only research, substance, but a definite element that is uniquely mine.

Last week, I wrote about how a Taylor Swift concert affected me - and my sense of time passing. It's already drawn some good comments. I could have written about the glitter of her concert or her music. But that doesn't add anything to the conversation.

So this week what's up to write about? Well, the column is still very much in the thinking-researchr-reading stage. My tornado outline is a mess and barely readable with scribblings all over a page, in the margins and now on the backside of my legal notepad, too.

I read a half-dozen pieces about my possible theme by noon, though even that shifts the focus from article to article.

But the idea is forming like a hurricane in the south Atlantic. And with luck it will hit me squarely by Tuesday a.m. when I have to start the first draft to make my deadline.

Column writers heading toward the noon deadline

2011-09-09T11:22:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - A handful of column writers in J-131 at CSU, Sacramento are finishing up their second columns as I write this.

The majority turned their columns in way before the deadline.

And, for the most part, they were very interesting reading. I commented on almost all of them. A few had glitches that didn't allow columns.

That will get fixed soon.

Next week these columns will be the focus of in-class discussions and critiques Monday and Wednesday - at least for those columnistas who made the noon deadline.

Column writers take on 2nd piece, mag writers work on 'how to'

2011-09-08T21:08:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif. USA - The columnistas in the column writing class are scrambling to get their second columns in by a noon Friday deadline. You can find their latest efforts listed with links to the right.

And feel free to comment, by the way. They need to know that it's not just me scanning their efforts.

The topic for this week was either a college-related piece, or if they so chose, they could write about the GOP debate Wednesday night.

Newt Gingrich

Kee-rist it was awful. I fell asleep when Newt Gingrich started foaming at the mouth about the media.

I like Golden Oldies, but in music, not in politics.

The magazine writers are working on How-To stories. We have some how-to-make pizza kind of stories, of course, but a few people are getting daring.

I turned down a couple of sex-related story ideas. I don't care if it is my last semester of teaching.

In the basic newswriting classes, the students next week will start writing in the lab, most getting the shock of their lives when they have to be (to them) unnaturally accurate and clear.

I just love reading those first news stories.

7 a.m. writing deadlines are just plain cruel

2011-09-04T08:39:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The deadline for the review of Saturday night's Taylor Swift concert was 7 a.m., which would have been fine, had the concert been over, at, oh, say 9 p.m?

Taylor Swift

But by the time I rolled in from Power Balance Pavilion it was midnight. And that late, writing anything except for snarky emails and bombastic political screeds is out of the question.

Except when that's what the deadline is when you accept the assignment.

Que lastima!

So after pounding out 600 words by 1 a.m., I slept on the review, then checked it at 6 a.m., more than a little groggy after only 5 hours of relatively restless sleep. (Taylor Swift dreams most of the night, go figure that.)

But the review is in, just waiting for the editor's workover and blessing before it goes up on The Sacramento Bee's website.

The review is a web-only piece, thus the early morning deadline. Have to catch people before they head out to Sunday breakfast.

Me? A nap is probably in order before launching the rest of the day.

Here is the link to The Bee review: Review of Taylor Swift's concert

And here is the cover from The Bee's home page Sunday:

And they are off! 100 student writers begin the semester at CSUS

2011-09-01T12:26:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - With more whimper than bang, this week 100 journalism students at CSU, Sacramento were launched in my four classes, a flood of stories and columns and story ideas about to engulf everyone and everything.

The first group reporting in, with missives about the first week of school, will be the 25 students in Column Writing, an upper-division elective class in the major. A few have a little writing experience. Some already have their own web pages. The majority are realizing that they have been thrown into the deep end of the pool with precious little instruction on how to swim.

I reminded them on the first day of school that they have all volunteered for the class. And in coming weeks, I will likely remind them again,

The weekly column deadlines are not horrific - provided the students do some prep work and push their way through early enough.

But if history is any indicator, the majority of the class will wait until Friday morning to start any part of the project, with a noon drop-dead deadline facing them.

Such deadlines are the exception around most of the academic classes at my university, but not in my classrooms.

As soon as the columns trickle in, I will post them on this page (to the right) as I have in past semesters.

And as it is the last semester I will be teaching - at least at California State University, Sacramento - it should be a real sleigh ride.

Here's a brief video about deadlines that pretty amusing:

First draft, second draft, third draft - and voila - we have a column

2011-08-03T07:32:00.000-07:00

WATKINS GLEN, New York, USA - My third column for the Finger Lakes Times is off to the editor (12 hours early, thank you very much) but not without some writing angst.

Normally a facil writer, this column was torture for me to put together, torture to rewrite and torture to research.

What?

The column starts with the backdrop of the U.S. economy (ah, examining that is torture enough...), but moves into a positive mode by suggesting that the Finger Lakes economy should lean heavily on promoting the wine industry (which includes agriculture, a big deal here). Then I get into politics - selling wine in grocery stores - verboten by state law right now.

The lessons from writing this column were many: research more (and earlier), let my column voice loose (been writing news all summer) and don't be afraid of draft, redraft and draft again.

It's a good lesson to take into the classroom this fall when I will be asking column writers to do exactly the same. Most college students want to write a quick first draft and turn it is as gold. It usually does not resemble any precious metal.

But moving into column four I have an idea to write about the activist culture here - or perhaps the relentless attacks on school teachers that I seem to read daily.

I am inspired by two videos I saw today of actor Matt Damon. He was raised by a schoolteacher, as was I, and his comments resonated with me.

The column ideas come so easily. But the writing? Jaysus.

Here's two Matt Damon videos, both provocative:

Column ideas buzzing like bees - but which one, which one?

2011-08-01T09:18:00.000-07:00

WATKINS GLEN, New York, USA - Two columns into the new gig with the daily Finger Lakes Times newspaper has prompted a half dozen interesting column ideas. Maybe more.

And as the Wednesday deadline starts to get closer (48 hours minus 11 minutes from this moment), the question bouncing loose is which topic to choose?

We have had carnage on local highways (we need lower speed limits, around the wineries and tourist attractions). There is an environmentally nightmarish project proposed for just up the road to store propane in salt caverns. The movement to sell wine in grocery stores is gaining momentum (and liquor store owner enemies). People are getting more and more politically active here, organizing, fundraising, connecting.

And then there is Adm. Fox's project to raise money for a spay and neuter clinic in Mexico, with local people traveling to Jalisco as part of the deal.

In the meantime, national and state politics are starting to impact things locally. A recently approved New York State cap on property taxes already has school districts and municipalities throwing fits. Can anyone say, California's Proposition 13?

So much to write about, sooooo hard to choose - the purpose of this blog actually. When teaching column writing, I advise students to use this device, or sometimes a letter or email to a friend, as a way to get the creative juices going.

Juices? That makes me think of wine. And the Finger Lakes Times just wrapped up a long series of articles about the wine industry in New York and how important it is.

Wine it is for this week.

Unless I change my mind in the next 15 minutes.

Back at writing newspaper columns - and teaching soon, too

2011-07-24T15:39:00.000-07:00

WATKINS GLEN, New York, USA - An hour ago I finished a first draft of my second column for the Finger Lakes Times, the daily newspaper in Geneva that asked me several weeks ago to pen a weekly column for their editorial page - on anything I wanted to write about.

Jaysus, a dream come true. I've said for years the only thing that could ever lure me back to work for a daily newspaper was getting to write a column.

Be careful what you wish for, right?

Oh, did I forget to mention that they are paying me for this? Not much (we are talking journalism and newspapers here) but enough to make it worthwhile to have trouble sleeping when a column idea starts crawling around in my head.

My first column, published last Friday, was an introduction of sorts, though I was able to get myself into the spotlight and add some words about why I think community journalism - what the Finger Lake Times practices - is soooooo important to democracy.

And this week's column is about some people involved in decision-making in a local government who are not all that keen on participatory democracy.

In fact, at their most recent meeting, they told the audience that one topic - a proposed major propane storage project and potential environmental nightmare - was not up for discussion, nor would questions be allowed. And that's even though the group might be voting on whether to approve it in the next few months

Huh?

Imagine the fun I am having with that in my column.

It will be interesting this fall teaching column writing again at CSU, Sacramento, where I will be able to offer real-time experience. Perhaps in my Monday class, I'll have the students look over my shoulder for a column or two.

It will be good for them to see their professor sweating on deadline, too.

The 'public hearing that wasn't' story has been posted

2011-06-18T05:45:00.000-07:00

READING CENTER, Town of Reading, New York, USA - The story I wrote about here Friday, kind of wild story to write (and chase) has already been posted by The Observer newspapers, a two-newspaper chain for which I write several stories per week.

Reading planning board member

I've been following a controversy over a proposal to store liquid propane gas in salt caverns. The company that wants to do it (Inergy of Kansas City, MO) says it is as safe as can be.

Opponents are terrified of potential accidents, plus, rumbling propane trucks aren't really complimentary to the tourist industry here at Seneca Lake.

Here is a link to the story, photo and video.
Public told: Go away

And the brief video can be seen below, too.

Covering local government - there's always a surprise lurking

2011-06-17T14:08:00.000-07:00

READING CENTER, Town of Reading, New York, USA - What was supposed to be a routine, go-to-meeting, take-notes-at-meeting, write-story-of-meeting evening turned into a major imbroglio that sent me to the law books, put me in contact with a lawyer specializing in open meetings and forced me to turn up the heat on some local politicians to get some answers.

And those politicians? They don't like heat very much.

Actually, not at all.


Chairman of the board

I can't report too much about it in this space right now. I filed a story, photo and video with a local newspaper (as their on-the-spot correspondent). But the story is basically that a long-planned presentation got canceled, precisely at the moment it was supposed to start.

Not very polite to the presenters, some of whom had driven some distances to attend and hear about the dangers of storing propane in salt caverns. Politics involved? Hoo-boy, yes.

When the presentation was canceled by the planning board, many of the attendees opted to head off to a Brewfest where money was being raised for their cause - keeping the propane storage project from being built.

The Brewfest was certainly better than going home and crying in a beer, for sure.

I retreated home to start the grinding process of contacting people for the story. But while I missed out on the Brewfest, I had Dr. Reisling to keep me company.

Tuesday, I will post the story, video and photos here, along with some commentary about how I put the package together.

The one-hour rule, pared down to fit a crazy summer schedule

2011-06-11T06:44:00.000-07:00

WATKINS GLEN, New York, USA - When things get too complicated (too many things to do, seemingly not enough time), I revert to what I call the one-hour rule.

For one hour, I focus entirely on whatever task/issue/job I choose. And during that time, no checking emails, (or Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin). No going outside to check on the status of the slowly growing tomato plants. No endless trips to the teapot for just a little more beverage.

It is amazing what can be accomplished in a focused hour.

But that rule does take, well, an hour to implement and so today, an experiment is underway: do the same thing, but in half-hour chunks.

That leaves me approximately 22 minutes to finish this blog. That's an endless vista, almost.

On the writing front, here in upstate New York, I have been successful in publishing a dozen pieces in two local newspapers, the Elmira Star Gazette and the Watkins Glen Review and Express. Neither would be confused with the New York Times, but then, the vast majority of people in this town do not read the NY Times.

But they do read these local papers. And they read them closely.

Other good writing news: a national magazine - Dog Fancy - has taken a piece from me about our Mexican foster dog Mia, currently living with our amiga Laura outside Guadalajara, Mexico.

Even my half-written novel (The Talking Mime) is on the to-do list, with an August finish date, a half-hour at a time.

And one new book (long in planning) has crept into a priority position: 18 Hours to Madrid.

But that's a topic for another column.

I only have 15 minutes left, and I need to throw a few graphics in this piece.

The half-hour rule, rules.

Climbing back in the saddle, the writing saddle that is

2011-05-03T09:19:00.000-07:00

WATKINS GLEN, New York, USA - Within two weeks of landing here in the reaches of upstate NY, it seemed like a good idea to find out if any local media would be interested in using me to write stories, take photos, or shoot video.

Seemed like a good idea.

After a few fits and starts, I have now completed four assignments for two different newspapers and with some local controversies flaring up (a major one surrounding natural gas, so pardon the flare pun), it's likely others may follow.

Here's two of the stories:
DEC says EIS is inadequate
Emergency plans? Not yet

The pay is extraordinary. As in extraordinarily low, compared to California rates. But as a way to get to know the communities here better, you can't have more entree than to show up with a reporter's notebook in hand and a camera.

Shockingly high water

And it's fun to go chasing around with the camera.

Today, as a major flood watch looms over the entire Central New York area, I went out and shot a few photos at a local marina, where Seneca Lake water levels are already reaching historic highs. For unexplained reasons, the people in charge of the lake level aren't letting much water out...

With 2 inches of rain predicted for this afternoon, comparison shots tomorrow morning of the ones taken today are in order.

In big waves, the gasoline pumps are swamped

Mark Singer talks about Donald Trump - fabulous...

2011-04-30T08:32:00.000-07:00

Column writers wrap it, offer what columns they should have done

2010-12-06T17:16:00.000-08:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The columnistas of the column-writing class at CSU, Sacramento turned in collections of their work Monday, which included a section on columns they wish they had written, but didn't.

Some of those column titles included:

Insight into the life of The Hornet
The Hornet needs more buzz
Car Flirting: Advice for the bored commuter
Remembering my grandmother's cooking
Lefties dominating a right-hand world
Ed has the munchies
How I got away with doing every column last minute
Miracles: Evidence of the supernatural
Watch out! Black man running

Over the course of the semester, each writer put together 14 columns of 650 words each, due Tuesday mornings by 8 a.m.

The class also had a string of guest speakers from off campus, including Marcos Breton, Jon Ortiz, Dan Weintraub, Claudia Buck, Bob Shallit and Rachel Leibrock.

Editor of Sacramento's Comstock's magazine to speak at CSUS

2010-11-24T10:45:00.000-08:00

Doug Curley

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Doug Curley, a CSUS alum - a 1979 graduate of the Journalism Department at the University - will be guest lecturing in Journalism 132 (Magazine Writing) Monday, Dec. 6 in Mendocino Hall.

Curley is currently the editor of Comstock's, a regional business magazine in Sacramento. He will be speaking about his career journey since graduation that led him to various writing and editing positions in California before he took over at the helm of the magazine.

His appearance December 6 coincides with the final meeting of the magazine writing class. Each student has written three stories for the class and are in process of attempting to get them published by print or online magazines.

Two students - Chloe Daley and Kim Reyes - have already been successful in selling stories.

Sacramento Bee's Bob Shallit to speak in column-writing class

2010-10-25T13:10:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Sacramento Bee columnist and business writer Bob Shallit will be speaking in the column-writing class at CSU, Sacramento Monday.

Shallit's appearance comes two weeks after Bee colleague Claudia Buck spoke to the class, detailing out her work as a personal finance columnist.

Shallit

Shallit's columns usually include several different business-related items, reminiscent of the three-dot journalism of the San Francisco Chronicle's late columnist, Herb Caen.

At times, Shallit also writes longer pieces on business and business trends.

Here is a link to his columns: Bob Shallit's columns in The Sacramento Bee

First columnist presentations set a high bar for balance of class

2010-10-20T17:12:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The first three presentations in the column-writing class at CSU, Sacramento today set a high standard for the balance of the students to reach.

Laural Kolar, Leia Osterman and Ronnie Nurss profiled Dave Barry, Heather Armstrong and Rolf Potts, respectively, all offering interesting insights into the writers and the way they go about their very different styles of using media. The students also fielded questions quite handily that came from classmates.

Dave Barry

In the presentation on Dave Barry, one video showed Barry's response to Marquette University censoring a quote of his that was hanging on the doorway of Marquette PhD student: "As Americans we must always remember that we all have a common enemy, an enemy that is dangerous, powerful, and relentless. I refer, of course, to the federal government."

That bit of humor, in 2006, sparked a firestorm of criticism against the university for its actions. Barry's responses in the video were as funny as his column.

In the presentation on columnist/blogger Heather Armstrong, the students learned that this stay-at-home mom, through her very successful blog, gets many thousands of hits per day and continually updates her work.

Heather B. Armstrong

She also has video featurettes and advertising which pay for most of her costs. Part of her particular schtick has to do with being really outrageous - something her readers have come to want from her work.

Rolf Potts, a world traveler, provided a third columnist model, not just for writing, but for a vagabond lifestyle that most people can only dream of. There were more than a few sighs in class as he described his life, one that has always been non-traditional.

Rolf Potts

Perhaps the most amusing part of that presentation was a video - and discussion of Potts' 'No Baggage Challenge' in which he travels internationally sans luggage.

His cargo pants were filled to overflowing though.

The class presentations continue on Monday with presentations on columnists Jayson Stark, Dan Walters, Laura Snyder and Seth Kugel.

Next Wednesday, Sacramento Bee columnist Bob Shallit will speak in class. This past Monday, former Bee writer Dan Weintraub spoke about his new venture, HealthyCal. Weintraub was preceded by Bee finance columnist Claudia Buck.

Here are links to the work of Barry, Armstrong and Potts.
Dave Barry
Heather B. Armstrong
Rolf Potts

Sacramento Bee columnist Jon Ortiz to speak at CSU, Sacramento

2010-10-04T13:19:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Sacramento Bee columnist Jon Ortiz is slated to speak to the CSU, Sacramento Column Writing class Wednesday at noon.

Ortiz

Ortiz will be focusing on two columns he wrote in the past six months, with the column-writing students expected to compare content and style - as well as analyze how successful the articles were at making their respective points.

Both columns are part of the popular State Worker series written by Ortiz.

His visit to class comes one week after the class talked with Marcos Breton, Metro columnist for The Bee.

Breton talked about politics, his years as a student journalist at San Jose State and how he landed his current position with The Bee.

News writing class puts together an advance for on-campus event

2010-09-29T16:08:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Journalism 30 students today wrote advance stories about an event on the CSU, Sacramento set to happen Thursday.

And in the process of writing the story, several students discovered that the information provided for their story was at odds with information published in the State Hornet newspaper.

The university-provided information says that British rower Roz Savage will speak at 6 p.m. in the University Union. The Hornet said she will start at 7 p.m.

Roz Savage

It provided an object lesson for the students for when sources disagree.

They decided to stick with the 6 p.m. time listed in the official University Calendar - and in two other 'official' university sources.

Of course, it's possible the State Hornet has some inside information and the start time has been changed. If so, the people who read the newspaper will get there right on time. On the other hand, if the 6 p.m. start time is right, well, the 7 p.m. crowd will be quite tardy.

Savage is the first woman to have rowed solo across the Pacific Ocean. In 2005, she rowed solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

She has also published a book, Rowing The Atlantic: Lessons Learned on the Open Ocean.

Magazine writers file How-To stories, Breton on tap for column class

2010-09-28T13:46:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The writers in the magazine writing class at CSU, Sacramento have posted the first drafts of their How-To stories in the last 24-hours. (The drafts are posted to the right of this blog, just below the columns of the column-writing class.)

The pieces vary from How To Lose Weight Without Really Trying (are you ready, Oprah?) to How To Create a Digital Scrapbook. The students will be getting their first drafts returned within a week, with about another week to do a rewrite. In the meantime, what they have written is available to peruse here.

Next up for the magazine writers is to select a person to profile, someone who might figure prominently in their major feature, due at the end of the semester.

And in column writing this week, Sacramento Bee Metro columnist Marcos Breton will be visiting class Wednesday.

Breton has visited the column-writing class for several semesters running, giving the class insight into what it is like being a newspaper columnist - and the challenges of print journalism with so much competing electronic media.

Breton is a dedicated Twitter person, too. He has 1,840 followers as of today.

Marcos Breton

Magazine writers drafting 'how-to' articles this week

2010-09-21T13:10:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The writers in the magazine writing class at CSU, Sacramento are busy drafting their first "how-to" articles, due Monday.

The articles range from "How to create soy-based candles," to "How to find a job on the other side of the U.S."

And there are 22 other how-to stories in the works, also.

The articles are meant to be short - 500-600 words - but still have to resonate with readers.

Prior to Monday, the writers will be posting their first drafts on their magazine writing blogs, which can viewed at the right, below the columns posted by the column-writing class.

The columnistas of that class are currently drafting columns based loosely on their experiences listening to a speech Monday by Carlos González Gutiérrez, the Consul General of Mexico in Sacramento. His speech was interesting - and pretty much what you would expect from diplomat. The columnists, however, have full rein to go after any Mexico-related topic, provided they have some tie-in to his talk.

The Mexico-related columns come two days after filing columns about last week's Phlagleblast in the University Union.

The columnists' reactions to that event were very mixed, and often quite humorous.

Columnist Christina Hayes found an interesting oversight made by the event's promoter that became the focus of her column, titled: The Phlaglebreast is best. It's funny - as is the video at the end.

Here's the link to the column: The Phlaglebreast is best

Column writers to hear Mexican Consul General on Monday

2010-09-16T09:48:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The columnists of Journalism 131 will be listening to a talk Monday given by Carlos González Gutiérrez, the Consul General of Mexico in Sacramento.

And their assignment?

To write a column based on issues relating to the U.S. and Mexico, using Sr. Gonzalez Gutierrez's talk as a prompt.

Carlos González Gutiérrez

Those issues could include immigration, Mexican-American relations, language, culture - almost anything.

But the column will have to have a tie-in to González Gutiérrez's speech, however tenuous the connection.

This next column comes as many of the columnists are still pounding out 600+ words about this week's University Union's Phlagleblast, which was a big success, according to organizers who are already looking at what they will be doing next fall.

A full biography of González Gutiérrez - who will be speaking Monday at noon in the University Ballroom - is available here:

Biography of Mexican Consul

Columnists and reporters all checked out the Phlagleblast at CSUS

2010-09-15T16:07:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Writers from three classes converged on the University Union Wednesday, taking notes, interviewing and generally acting like journalists.

There were even quite a few reporter's notebooks in evidence.

For next week, the column writers already have their marching orders: produce a 600-650 word column based on their experiences, or something at the event.

The Phlagleblast was a gold mine for column ideas with thousands of students wandering about, exhibits, games, and plenty of food.

For the news writers, the task was a little more daunting. Their assignment was to gather enough information for a news story, a story that the class will put together as a group Monday. The fun part will be to see what different details the reporters picked up in their conversations and interviews.

One person/exhibitor who got plenty of attention - from both the classes and other students attending - was the 'balloon guy' who made animals figures which adorned heads all over the union.

The balloon guy told me he made more than 200 of the figures. And I won't put his name here - let's see how many of the students got it.

Here's a short video of him at work:

Column writing & news writing students head to Phlagleblast

2010-09-15T11:12:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The students from column writing and news writing will loosen the classroom shackles today and head to the University Union to check out the annual Phlagleblast celebration.

For the columnists, its an opportunity to do an 'event' column.

For the news writers, it's an opportunity to search for news from the various activities.

Here's a link to the schedule:

http://www.calendar.csus.edu/MasterCalendar/EventDetails.aspx?data=hHr80o3M7J51+olKlGHJ7zHyVAzWJlR9mp9xEGzEHAES/hzklwS1ag==

Latest columns are up from column-writing class

2010-09-14T15:22:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The latest columns from the column-writing class at CSU, Sacramento are up, columns that take a look at an area in which the columnists want to specialize for the semester.

In some cases, it's a little hard to tell exactly what the area of specialty is, in others, quite plain.

And the columns range from serious to comic.

One of the best out of this group of columns was this one, 'The Sake of Slam Poetry.'

And it can be read with or without sake in hand, though the column does reference the Starry Plough Pub in South Berkeley, a well-known Irish bar.

http://palindromespoetics.blogspot.com/2010/09/sake-of-slam-poetry.html

Most of the columnists have also completed their columns with their thoughts about the 2nd Saturday shooting in downtown Sacramento this past weekend.

Links to all of their columns are on to the right.

Column writers to write about Second Saturday art-walk shooting

2010-09-13T11:21:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The students in the Column Writing class at CSU, Sacramento will get their first deadline-column assignment today, writing a piece about Saturday's fatal shooting at the downtown Sacramento art walk known as Second Saturday.

Sometime shortly after midnight, shots rang out near J and 19th Street, leaving three people injured and one dead.

Relatively detailed accounts what happened have been published in the Sacramento Bee, including today's story:

http://www.sacbee.com/2010/09/13/3024285/sacramento-mayor-johnson-vows.html

The plan for the class is to have the students discuss the issue, do a collective tornado outline of ideas and then pound out a column in the remaining class time.

It will be a challenge for the writers to get a column done on a short deadline. But I'm sure the muse will strike them.

News writing classes search for news on campus

2010-09-08T14:34:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Thanks in large part to the textbooks for the classes being two weeks late, two basic news writing classes at CSU, Sacramento took to the campus as part of a news-gathering exercise this afternoon.

The idea?

News does not happen in the classroom (or newsroom) but out in the world. And if you never leave your desk or computer, you will miss what's going on.

The exercise is generally called a "news walk" and the students are generally good at ferreting out what's going on.

What did they find? A lot.

And what will be interesting for the students will be to see what The State Hornet publishes - or doesn't publish this fall.

Here is a list of stories the students in the early news writing section think should be pursued:

• Recruitment for sororities and fraternities and clubs (and hazing)
• World-record dodgeball tournament at The Well (1,200 people participated)
• Why do parking construction this week? (Just as school starts...)
• Math and history department policy changes
• Four-year-plan to graduate? Adios!
• Unit cap was lifted too late for students to enroll in more units
• Sept. 20-24 is Constitution Week - events, guest speakers
• Bikes on campus - locked? Unlocked... What's the deal?
• Blood drive (Oct. 19-20)
• Anchor Blue on campus... (underground clothing sales???) Clyde T. Hinkenson spokesman
• Eco-Grounds Coffee place feature (recycled everything, except coffee, maybe)
• Panda Express vs. Burger King (long line at Panda, no people at Burger King)
• Atmosphere concert in University Ballroom Sept. 28
• Expanded library area with couches and computers
• PRSSA fundraiser Sac Skate Sept 17
• Sandwich guy on campus - why is he so quiet this semester?
• Different places to eat on campus
• Mellow-me-out massages (how many students use?)
• The Well - experiences... Fingerprints required to enter (24-hour Fitness, too?)

The second news writing class came up with these stories:

• Muslim Student Association - its take on Florida minister and Ground Zero mosque
• Hazing among sororities and fraternities, plus discrimination in selection process
• Sidewalk hazards on campus
• Jaywalking tickets issued - around the dorms especially
• Possible food poisoning reported at Panda Express (orange chicken, cashew chicken)
• Anchor Blue tour (clothing) Arty and Eric were there (B-list actors)
• Beginning of a Sac State mall?
• The Well, open and, well, students pay $118 per semester for access to rooms
• Student dropping other gym memberships?
• Club, sororities and fraternities - why join?
• Financial aid, problems with gaps in coverage at beginning of semester
• Transfer rate - impact of impaction
• Bookstore prices - out of line?
• Parking lot torn out before school starts
• No furloughs this semester for faculty
• Riverfront changes in food service
• Peak Adventures bike repair shop has bike-sized door (NOT)
• The Well usage and registration (5954 active) 800 - 1000 per day... register early
• 176 students employed at Well
• Adding classes a problem? Sociology said no mas. Geography classes are empty.
• Writing intensive classes are overflowing
• Well doesn't allow guests????
• Freshmen get the old dorms - not the new dorms
• Effects of weather on students
• Dodgeball world record broken
• Apple store at bookstore - big discounts for students, faculty

First columns are up from Column-Writing class

2010-09-07T08:47:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, California, USA - The first set of columns have been posted (the links are to the right) for the fall 2010 semester.

For the first semester in memory, the majority of the class posted their columns way ahead of time.

Ahead of time?

Yup.

And so today, my task is to continue reading through the columns, making notes for Wednesday's class at which I will be doing a critique of the work and talking about the next set of columns.

Also on tap, is a discussion of how to plan before writing, using a technique called a 'tornado outline,' favored by writers and detectives.

Detectives?

Yup again.

Elementary my dear Watson, elementary.

First column from Column-Writing class hits the in basket

2010-09-04T14:25:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The first column of the fall 2010 semester appeared in my email inbox Friday, a piece by Leia Ostermann about the first week of school.

By getting her column in when she did, she has broken all existing column-writing records for getting the first column of the semester turned in ahead of deadline.

The link to her column is at the right, called Cardboard File.

Hooray!

Leia Ostermann

At the same time, as column writers are ruminating on the first day of school, they are also sending along their ideas for areas about which they would like to write.

Half the class, it seems, wants to write about restaurants. (Perhaps they think restaurant reviewers eat for free. Sorry, they don't.)

But in addition, there have been a number of excellent ideas put forth that will make for interesting columns. One person has asked to write about alternative-to-automobile transportation. And he will.

Friday in Alameda, I saw this fellow pedaling by, obviously enjoying being out of his car. He had a pretty good view, too.

Big wheels keep on rollin'

First columns due Tuesday on the 'first week of school'

2010-09-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The columnistas of CSU, Sacramento's column writing class have their first writing assignment ahead: write a 500-650 word column on their experiences of the first week of school.

Only a few people groaned when that turned out to be their assignment. It could have been a lot worse. I was pondering having them write about the Tea Party, or Sarah Palin, or even the new Arizona immigration law that has so many knickers in a twist.

After turning in this column, the class will be churning out one or two columns per week, one assigned, the other on their specialty area.

The specialties students talked about Wednesday included close looks at college life, clothing fashions, restaurant and food reviews, and soccer. One columnist wants to write about art and design.

And the entire class swears they will make their deadlines.

Honest.

Four classes down, all writers at the ready for assignments

2010-08-31T08:20:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Two sections of basic news writing, one column-writing class and a magazine writing seminar all met on Monday - officially launching the semester for fall 2010.

The column-writing students are constructing their column/blogs (the links to which will appear on this page later this week); the magazine writers are coming up with ideas for their first articles: a how-to story. And, no, a how-to story on how-to-write-a-magazine story is not one of the possibilities.

All four classes had more students than the classrooms can accommodate, so in terms of classroom space, it will be another Sacramento State sardine semester.

Still, lots of bright lights among the students in the classes. In magazine writing, one student was familiar with the concept of hydro-fracking, a topic from some writing earlier this summer, linked here.

What the frack is going on?

In the meantime, by the noon deadline today, all but a relative handful of students in my four classes successfully completed their first assignment: getting me an email for class email lists.

Back in the classroom to teach about columns, magazine writing and news reporting

2010-08-30T11:47:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - In just a few minutes the fall 2010 semester is about to be launched, which for me means teaching column writing, magazine writing and two sections of basic news reporting.

And as in semesters past, some of the work of the students in those four classes will be published here (and elsewhere) as well as reports on guest speakers and outside-of-class activities.

Last semester, the column-writing class posted many great blogs.

A few of those students have kept up writing in the eight months since.

Sacramento Bee Editor Melanie Sill offers career advice

2009-12-03T10:51:00.000-08:00

SACRAMENTO, California, USA - The executive editor of The Sacramento Bee newspaper told the CSU, Sacramento column-writing class that there is more journalism going on in the world than ever, but finding ways to make it profitable - or even pay for itself - is the challenge.

Melanie Sill, who came to the newspaper in 2007, told the students that the newspaper industry is stable right now, after rounds of cost-cutting, but still trying to figure out how they fit into the new media landscape.

Sill took over as editor from Rick Rodriguez, who left abruptly in a disagreement with then-Bee publisher Janis Heafy over the direction of the newspaper.

Sill's background includes 25 years with the Raleigh, North Carolina News & Observer, where she was editor just prior to taking the position in Sacramento.

Column writers begin presentations on professional columnists

2009-11-02T21:15:00.000-08:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Four column-writing class volunteers stepped up Monday in the column writing class to do profile presentations on magazine and newspaper columnists.

Steve Lopez, George Skeleton, Maureen Dowd and Lisa Kogan were profiled, with more columnist profiles set for next Monday - and a several Mondays beyond that.

In addition to an oral presentation, each column-writing student also is writing a column about their choice, with the links posted on this page.

Column writers strike out to do restaurant and food reviews

2009-10-20T13:48:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The intrepid columnists of the column-writing class at CSU, Sacramento are heading out this week - and weekend - to review area restaurants and their fare, with a column due next Tuesday morning (by 8 a.m.) about their experiences.

The students are heading out in groups of three or more, and are in the process of picking restaurants - and times and dates - to do the research (eating!) for the reviews.

The assignment is similar to one given annually to the class, in which a group goes out to a restaurant, usually with each group member choosing something different off the menu.

Last year, I went with a group to Hoppy's Brewery where the beer was fabulous. The food? Well, the group wasn't all that hoppy (or happy) with it - or the bill.

Fine dining magazine

Budget dining

The choice of restaurants is completely up to the students, with transportation, budget and timing being major obstacles for many of the students, who juggle school, work, families and a modest amount of recreation.

In a few cases, some students are likely to pick on-campus eateries for reviews.

The Sac State campus does have a wide assortment of restaurants, including the University Center, a dining room in the University Union that serves lunches and is frequented by some faculty and many administrators, including campus president Alexander Gonzalez.

Alexander Gonzalez

Video on 'education and creativity' is, well, creative and educational

2009-10-19T17:01:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - On a rainy Monday, rather than have my students listen to me drone on in my prepared lecture (Drone on? Never!), I opted instead to show the video below from a TED conference: Technology, Entertainment and Design.

The speaker talks about education and creativity and sparked good discussions in several classes.

Educational and creative discussions, of course.

Here's the video.

Dan Weintraub leaves The Sacramento Bee - going 'independent'

2009-10-19T09:03:00.001-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Weintraub published his farewell column in Sunday's newspaper, ending a nine-year run as a writer and most recently as the interim editor of the editorial pages since the departure of editorial pages editor David Holwerk.

In his farewell remarks, he mentions columns upcoming with the New York Times and plans for a website where his work will be featured.

• LINK: Weintraub says adios to The Bee

Dan will be missed by many of his faithful readers. He was known for doing a tremendous amount of reporting before ever touching the keyboard to write his column. And most of his columns were well thought out and analytical. High-pitched emotions were not a part of his regular repertoire. If anything, his critics complained that they wanted him to inject more opinion and/or outrage into his writing.

Dan Weintraub

I met Dan Weintraub on the day he came to work for The Sacramento Bee. He took over the office of the late Bee writer John Jacobs, his job to write about politics and policy matters. At the time, I was working as fill-in editor for Bill Moore, then editor of the Bee's Forum section.

Over the years, when I was filling in at various times for Bill Moore or Jewel Reilly (editor of the op-ed pages), Dan and I talked a lot. On occasion, I edited Dan's column before it went to press.

We didn't always agree on political matters. And our discussions about the politics of universities and university education - and university professors - were a lot of fun. Probably more for me than Dan.

Dan's role at the newspaper changed in the last year or so, as the Bee management struggled with the financial free fall that has affected most media companies. His columns became rare as he took over other duties and the number of staff members in the editorial section of the newspaper kept shrinking.

And for a brief time, he found himself at the helm of the newspaper's editorial section, a duty he just relinquished in the last few weeks, when Stuart Leavenworth was promoted to the editor's position.

Dan Weintraub's departure adds his name to a long list of talented writers and editors who have left The Bee in the last few years, some voluntarily, some taking a buyout, some laid off (or pushed not-too-gently out the door): Bill Moore, John Hughes, Dorothy Korber, Mike Dunne, Lisa Heyamoto and Rachel Leibrock, to name just a few.

It will be interesting to see if The Bee opts to replace Dan, or absorb his position (and salary) into the bottom line of the corporation.

Either way, it will more interesting to follow the next adventures of Dan Weintraub as he becomes an 'independent journalist.'

Sacramento Bee columnist offers writing tip to CSUS students

2009-10-14T18:23:00.001-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Sacramento Bee columnist Marcos Breton told a class full of aspiring columnists Wednesday that they need to do plenty of reporting before they write their columns - and not just offer up opinions.

Breton, who writes about city issues and occasionally sports, told the students that he came to The Sacramento Bee 20 years ago, and was planning to stick around for just two. He wrote sports and a sports column before moving over full time to the news department of the paper.

He said the Sacramento market is somewhat unusual in that his news column gets better readership than sports columns, a situation that is reversed in most major media markets.

Marcos Breton

Breton said he believes that if he hasn't made readers think with his column - or cry or laugh or get mad - he hasn't done his job very well.

And he encouraged the students to write about the things that people are not talking about, but of which they are certainly aware.

CSUS Rally draws a small - but enthusiastic - crowd

2009-10-13T12:13:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - A crowd of approximately 150 students, faculty and staff came into the Library Quad Monday afternoon at CSU, Sacramento for a hastily called rally over budget cuts to the CSU and a bill that would tax oil companies - with the tax proceeds going to higher education.

The rally was sponsored by the California Faculty Association and Associated Students, Inc. to also talk about AB 656, a measure by state Assemblyman Alberto Torrico (D-Newark) that would tax oil companies on the oil that they extract out of the state's oilfields.

And the lion's share of that funding would go to the CSU.

Alberto Torrico (right) with ASI President Roberto Torres

A firebrand speech by ASI President Torres led off the event. Torres exhorted students to get involved and support the bill.

Later, Assemblyman Torrico told the rally that oil companies have been posting incredible profits year after year and that California is the only state in the union that doesn't have a tax on oil as it is pulled from the ground.

"The governor is going around the state selling off state property but giving away the oil," Torrico said. "Even Sarah Palin has a tax in Alaska."

CSU, Sacramento Professor Joseph Palermo

Also speaking was CSU, Sacramento Professor Joe Palermo who told the students that they are not being served well by the trustees of the CSU - or by the university system's chancellor, Charles Reed.

Reed and the trustees have said they are not supporting AB 656. But Palermo pointed out they haven't suggested how to solve the university's budget woes.

"AB 656 is the only game in town," he said. "What is Reed doing for his salary?"

San Francisco Chronicle story on AB 656

Audience at Monday's rally

CSUS officials confer with student handing out literature

Column writers to profile, um, column writers

2009-10-12T13:38:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The writers in the column writing class at CSU, Sacramento are choosing columnists about whom they will be writing profile columns in the coming weeks.

Each student will pick a columnist, write a column-profile about the writer and their work, and then make a 5-10 minute class presentation on the writer.

This year, the students will be also be seeing if the columnists will consider doing a telephone conference - or even a skype phone call - during the class period.

Some of columnists under consideration are Stephen King (yes that Stephen King, photo at the left) as well as some other usual suspects: Maureen Dowd (far left), Paul Krugman and Thom Friedman.

Newswriters, columnists to cover AB 656 rally Monday at CSUS

2009-10-07T10:02:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Newswriting students and columnists will be covering - and writing about - a rally on the CSU, Sacramento campus Monday, a rally that will feature Assemblyman Alberto Torrico (D-Newark) who will be speaking about AB 656, a measure to fund higher education.

Assemblyman Torrico (Photo by Sacramento Bee)

The 3 p.m. rally in the Sac State Library Quad is part of a week of activities sponsored by the California Faculty Association to draw attention to the ongoing plight of all 23 campuses in the CSU because of draconian state budget cuts.

AB 656 proposes to tax oil companies, based on oil they extract from the ground in the state (and off the coast).

California currently does not have a well-head tax as proposed.

Text of the amended bill:

AB656

Column writers to consider University of Phoenix takeover of CSU

2009-10-06T15:10:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Should the state of California sell off the CSU (and maybe the UC) to the University of Phoenix for a few billion dollars?

That question, along with a few hundred related ones about the idea, will be considered in the next set of columns written by the column-writing class at CSU, Sacramento as its assignment for next Tuesday.

The assignment springs from an op-ed article published in the Sunday Sacramento Bee newspaper by an education expert, Prof. William Tierney associated with the privately owned, University of Southern California.

STORY: Should CSU be sold off

Professor William Tierney

How absurd is the idea? Is the op-ed for real, or just satirical?

Well, with the finances of the state still in a downward spiral and funding for higher education dropping as fast as David Letterman's ratings, it would seem almost any wacky proposal is likely to see some sunshine. In this case, Tierney would seem to be a real-deal expert, though it's likely reporters are already combing through his life to check out any possible connections he has to the University of Phoenix.

Tierney's USC web page

If they discover that he's somehow connected to the University of Phoenix payroll, Tierney will likely become the headline of the week.

In the meantime, the columnistas of the class will be pondering - and then eventually publishing - their opinions about the suggested CSU takeover by the private, for-profit university.

Perhaps they will think it's a great idea.

Marcos Breton scheduled for column writing class in October

2009-10-05T11:04:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Sacramento Bee columnist Marcos Breton will bring in tales of his brand city-side writing, Wednesday, Oct. 14 when he meets with the column writing class at CSU, Sacramento.

A veteran reporter, sports writer and now columnist, Breton write about city politics and issues, occasionally touching on CSUS matters.

His most recent column looked at District Attorney Jan Scully's struggles.

Marcos's Breton's column

Marcos Breton

CSUS alumnus - and Associated Press writer - to speak at CSUS

2009-10-02T13:40:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Associated Press writer - and Sac State graduate - Chelsea Carter will be speaking on campus Tuesday, Nov. 10.

Carter is currently on assignment for the AP in Baghdad and is expected to talk about her wartime adventures as well as her other work as a writer for the news agency.

She graduated from CSUS in the mid-1990s and was a State Hornet staff member. After graduation, she went to work as a reporter for the Lodi News-Sentinel and eventually the AP, with postings in West Virgina, Georgia, New York, California and overseas.

Carter was one of the reporters on board the USS Abraham Lincoln in 2003 when former President George W. Bush announced Mission Accomplished in the Iraq War.

Former Pres. George W. Bush

Carter will speak from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the Hinde Auditorium of the CSUS student union. She is expected to make some opening remarks but will reserve much of her time for questions and answers.

Last fall, Carter visited the university, speaking to about 75 Journalism students.

CSUS Professor Sylvia Fox with Carter last fall

Column writers to take up social issues

2009-09-30T13:21:00.001-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The 26 columnists in the column-writing class at CSU, Sacramento have opted to write about a social issue - something that really lights their rocket - instead of their various specialities for their next columns.

The specialities include sports, music, computers, travel and, and, and...

The group could not decide on a single issue to write on - though health care, the war in Afghanistan, a movement to ban divorce, and the legalization of marijuana all came up for discussion.

Instead, each writer will latch onto their own issue and write their columns by Tuesday morning.

One briefly discussed was the impact of fringe groups on discussions in mainstream media, including the people who believe that President Obama is the anti-christ.

Here's a link to a short video from MSNBC on that topic...

Magazine writers launching those 'How-to' stories

2009-09-21T19:45:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The how-two stories being tackled by the writers in the Magazine Writing class at CSU, Sacramento are not pedestrian - though one does deal with shoes.

The shoe story is actually about ballet shoes - point shoes they are called - the shoes that make all that standing on tippy-toes possible for ballet dancers, it turns out. And when the shoes are purchased, they have to be broken in just so, or else they will be a super pain for the dancer.

Who woulda thunk it?

So is there a market for such a piece? Probably, the class agreed tonight. We'll see. But even if not, now we will know how to break in point shoes. You never know when such things come in handy.

Other stories in process include a piece on how to be prepared to take care of horses during a natural disaster (like a fire or flood). Another is on airline security and all the ways to avoid being the person everyone hates because you forgot your pocket knife, in, well, your pocket.

There were too many good stories to recount them all here.

But in addition to writing the stories (due Oct. 5 by class time via email and in hard copy), the writers will be writing query letters to magazines to try to sell their articles.

Buena suerte, amigos.

Column writers get to take a look at 'real life' issues

2009-09-17T13:52:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The columnists in my column-writing class have been assigned to write a slice-of-life column, something based on an experience they have had since school started, or possibly something that happened to someone close to them.

For me, (if I were to do this assignment myself) I could write about:
How I wriggled out of jury duty
The visit of my son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter from Mexico
Living in the bad air of Sacramento, again
Besting the DMV at its own game
or possibly the university furlough dilemma

Given the wide range of life experiences the class is likely to have had in the past few weeks, these columns should be a real hoot to read.

At least I hope so.

The column deadline is the same, Tuesday at 8 a.m. to post and send an email to the class, letting classmates know a new column is up and ready to be read (and critiqued).

Life is a learning experience T-shirt

Latest columns are up - some winners among the pack

2009-09-15T16:27:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - All of the columns that made deadline (and a few that seem to have trickled in a little late) have had a cursory review and will be the subject of the Column Writing class tomorrow at CSU, Sacramento.

It appears that the column writers are much happier writing about their pet topics than the rally that was assigned the week prior.

No surprise there.

Columns that I would recommend especially out of this batch include:

Another Point of View

The Glover Posting

The Facts of Life

But check them all out...

Very different topics and perspectives, but each good first shots at writing a specialized column.

Resting up for next Tuesday's deadline

Magazine writers start writing 'how-to' articles

2009-09-15T09:19:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The cadre of magazine writers in Journalism 132 have been launched to start writing their first drafts of their first stories - 600-word opuses on various topics of 'how-to' do things.

The topics range from building computers (explain that in 600 words!) to how to be a dynamic waitress to running a background criminal check - on yourself.

They should make for some very interesting reading.

As in the case of the columns written by the Column Writing class, the blogs created by J132 will be posted on this page. In the case of these magazine writers, the blogs might not be quite as polished as they are drafts and in fact, the writers would like outside comments.

In the meantime, I was excused from jury duty Monday after a long day at the courthouse. I'll detail out that adventure in a different blog, perhaps later today.

Right now I need to begin reading the latest specialty columns (with links to which are on the side of this page), turned in by the Column Writing class.

Snagged by jury duty, several classes are off the hook

2009-09-13T12:06:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The recorded message at the Sacramento County Courthouse was quite clear: If you are in juror group 210, report to the jury commissioner's office at 8 a.m. Monday Sept. 14. Do not pass Go, Do no collect $200.

Ok, I added the Do not pass Go part, but the rest is true.

So, three of my four Monday classes, Two sections of basic newswriting and my Column Writing class, are off the hook for class attendance.

The column writers, however, do have an assignment due Tuesday at 8 a.m. They are going to be posting a column about their particular areas of specialty.

Unless I am actually empaneled on a jury, I should be able to read them in the courthouse via my ITouch and make comments from there.

Justice will be served.

Pauly Shore in Jury Duty

Magazine writing class to ponder 'How-To' stories

2009-09-12T10:20:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The magazine writing class at CSU, Sacramento will be discussing its first writing assignment Monday night - writing a 'how-to' story.

How to stories can encompass anything: How to write a 'how-to' story, How to walk a dog, How to bake a cake, How to get an A in a writing class, How to lose 20 pounds in 20 minutes, How to find a 1964 GTO, and so on... The how-to ideas are only limited by the imaginations of the writers.

The markets for such stories are vast and one of several types of magazine stories in great demand.

My idea for a how-to story for myself is: How to teach a magazine writing class while being required to take 8 furlough days.

An alternative is: How to convince a judge you are unfit for jury duty.

I might have to report Monday morning at the Sacramento County Courthouse.

Arrrrrrgggghhhhh.

Jury box

First columns published by Column Writing Class

2009-09-08T14:38:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, California, USA - The first set of columns from the 2009 CSU, Sacramento column writing class have been published and as expected some are excellent, some need, well, a little work.

Slightly more than half the class made the first deadline, a combination of the deadline being on a holiday weekend, problems figuring out how to post to the web, and a probably a lot of writer's bloc. They will get over that quickly.

The columns are posted to the lower right hand side of this page and all are open for comments.

Good turnout for CSU, Sacramento rally - despite the heat

2009-09-02T17:38:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - A crowd of about 200 faculty, students at staff took part in a noontime rally at CSU, Sacramento today, the first of many such activities as the three groups get together to fight the fee increases visited on students and the furloughs (pay cuts) forced on employees.

Some of the student speakers were choked up as they tried to explain how much the fee increases (32 percent total for this year alone) were hurting their ability to even go to college. Several faculty gave fairly rousing speeches, despite a sound system that was below inadequate - a bullhorn with a microphone attached.

Student speaker at today's rally

The sound system - such as it was - was still considered illegal by campus police. The police had banned the use of any amplification and told the leaders of the CFA to simply raise their voices when they spoke. The bullhorns were used anyway, a protest themselves of the campus administration's attempt at keeping the rally from growing very large.

Had the flames been fanned sufficiently (and loud enough for people to hear), it's possible the group might have marched on the offices of CSU, Sacramento President Alexander Gonzalez.

That would have made for some good theatre, and perhaps grabbed more media attention.

Regardless, the 25 students enrolled in my Column Writing class attended and this week will be writing columns - their first attempts.

A 'loud' speaker

Sign in the crowd

Column writing students to cover noon rally at CSU

2009-09-02T08:19:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Students from the column writing class at CSU Sacramento are going to get to work with live ammunition right away.

Today, they will attend a rally on the CSU, Sacramento campus to protest the student fee hikes and the faculty furloughs (which are resulting in about a 10 percent pay cut for faculty).

They will also have a little extra to write about: The university, very quietly, is telling all faculty to fill up the rooms in which they teach, even if the classes have an agreed-upon limit. So students will be packed in tighter than sardines (and perhaps without chairs to sit upon) and their professors (getting paid less) will have more people to teach, papers to grade, and tests to review.

Oh boy!

Once the students write their columns, the columns will be linked to this page.

Sac Bee's Marcos Breton on tap for Column Writing class

2008-11-16T20:06:00.000-08:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - This week the column-writing class at CSU, Sacramento is hoping to hear from Sacramento Bee columnist Marcos Breton as a guest speaker in class. Breton, who in the past has written about and sports and other feature-type stories for the newspaper, now is a major city-side columnist.

In recent months, he has written a lot about the Kevin Johnson-Heather Fargo race for mayor of Sacramento.

And most recently (Sunday), he wrote about the controversial Proposition 8 which state voters just approved.

Tolerance or intolerance?

Marcos Breton

Breton was scheduled to speak in class a few weeks ago, but like so many other staff members at the Bee, has been busy doing his job - and a lot more - to help the newspaper with its struggles in the down economy and had to cancel.

AP's Chelsea Carter talks about heading to Baghdad

2008-11-11T08:15:00.000-08:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Sacramento State alum Chelsea Carter told an audience of about 50 students at CSU, Sacramento Monday that she would be required to wear body armor and a helmet - at least some of the time - when she is working for the Associated Press in Iraq, but that getting an overseas posting has been a dream of hers for years.

Carter, a former State Hornet newspaper reporter outlined her career that took her first to the Lodi News-Sentinel in Lodi, Calif. after graduation with a B.A. in Journalism in the mid 1990s. She then was hired by the Associated Press and worked in Charleston, W. Va. , New York and Southern California and has also worked as a national writer for the AP.

Later this week, she will be flying into Baghdad to be a foreign correspondent for AP.

Most recently she has been working as a military affairs reporter for the AP. She was on board the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in 2003 when President George W. Bush made his now-famous "Mission Accomplished" speech about the war in Iraq.

She also told the students about a very tense moment she had during a near-riot and fight in New York City while she was covering the Million Youth March. She watched the riot and fight take place and barely escaped.

She said that she learned that day she could put her fear of personal safety aside when pursuing a story.

"I can do anything for the job," she said.

Journalism Professor Sylvia Fox, left, and AP's Chelsea Carter

Chuck Yeager, 'The Right Stuff' on tap for Literary Journalists again

2008-11-09T16:37:00.000-08:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Tom Wolfe's classic book about the U.S. space program, The Right Stuff, will be up for discussion again Monday night in Literary Journalism class.

The book got generally good reviews in the first round of class chatter - I even got to tell my Chuck Yeager story.

Chuck Yeager about the time he broke the sound barrier

A much older Chuck Yeager

I had just taken over as editor of The Union newspaper in Grass Valley in 1980 - after a particularly bruising time in the newsroom with a rebellious staff. I came back from lunch to find a grinning Chuck Yeager, sitting in my editor's chair with his cowboy boots on the deck, heels digging into some papers I had left there.

I went straight for the desk and told Yeager to get his $^%&#&* boots off my desk, embarrassing the then-chair of the Nevada County Board of Supervisors, Eric Rood, who had brought Yeager in to show him off.

He and Yeager had served in the US Air Force together.

I had no idea who Yeager was, and in hindsight all these years later, I probably still would have told him to get his $^%&#&* boots off my desk had I known that the cocky guy sitting in my chair was the legendary Chuck Yeager.

Yeager and I met a few times after that at Nevada County social functions and laughed (sort of) at that incident.

An evening on the town at the Hoppy Brewery

2008-11-05T08:58:00.000-08:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The students in my column writing class fanned out across Sacramento in groups of four or five Tuesday to have dinner at various restaurants.

It wasn't just hunger that drove them - it was part of an assignment to write a restaurant review.

One group went to the Hoppy Brewing Company on Folsom Boulevard which was packed, partly because anyone who had voted in Tuesday's election was eligible for a free beer.

Judging from Hoppy's, the turnout was phenomenal.

Hoppy's in Sacramento

My original plan had been to drop in on the various groups at each restaurant, checking to see how it was going.

But the one free beer, coupled with what I think was a looooong wait for service, kept me rooted to the booth at Hoppy's.

But I still get to read all the reviews, due Friday.

Literary Journalism takes a look at 'The Right Stuff'

2008-11-03T08:08:00.000-08:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Literary Journalism will take a look at Tom Wolfe's book about the beginnings of the U.S. space program - The Right Stuff - for the next week or so.

Wolfe's style - a classic in the Literary Journalism genre - shines through in this book as he puts the reader right inside the capsules of the first U.S. astronauts.

Wolfe was around the astronauts a lot during those days, 'immersing' in the culture as Literary Journalists are wont to do.

Tom Wolfe

The highest praise for the book I have ever heard comes from Sanders Lamont, formerly an editor with the Modesto Bee and Sacramento Bee newspapers (and others) who was writing about the space program in those days and had met many of the astronauts and characters in the book.

"He got it right," Sanders has told me several times.

From a journalist who was there, on the ground writing objective news stories at the same time as Wolfe was putting the Literary Journalism interpretation on events, that is high praise indeed.

I once had an encounter with the famous Chuck Yeager. Yeager was never an astronaut per se, but a hot-shot test pilot who broke the sound barrier and who figures prominently in The Right Stuff. By the time I met him, I was an editor at The Union newspaper in Grass Valley and Yeager was retired, living on some property in nearby Penn Valley. He still had an attitude - and ego - as big as a house.

It didn't go well, but that's another story.

Lunch with former students brings back the memories

2008-11-01T10:26:00.000-07:00

SAN RAFAEL, Calif., USA - Catching up with former journalism students is always fun, more so when you can span two generations.

Friday, the Admiral and I dined with Natalye Childress Smith, Josh Stabb and Bill Meagher - all students who suffered through my lectures and bad jokes over the years. Natalye and Josh are relative newbies, having just graduated and who are now working as writers for Crittenden Research in Novato, Calif. Bill works there, too - but as an editor.

And while Josh and Natalye caught me at CSU, Sacramento in the last couple of years, Bill is a alum of Chico State where I taught back in the mid 1980s, before make the long academic trek down the valley to Sacramento where I have been since 1986.

A class reunion or a reunion of class?

Bill was a student columnist for the campus newspaper, The Orion, and had (and still has) great news instincts. His columns about then Chico State President Robin Wilson got Wilson so angry that Wilson would call me late at night (because I was the faculty adviser) and rail about Bill's work.

Wilson never said any of the columns contained information that was inaccurate, he was just totally pissed off that Bill had printed anything about him. And Bill broke many good (journalistically speaking) stories about Wilson, which kept my phone ringing.

Seeing students succeed - as all three of them have, they have jobs after all - is one of the rewards of teaching. I suspect teachers at all levels get the same kick out of seeing their former students out there, practicing what was once largely a classroom exercise.

The only sad part about such reunions is that they are usually way too short, as this one was.

But I know the solution to that problem.

Walking along the river - a story idea strikes

2008-10-30T15:14:00.001-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - A walk out the back door (ok, the only door) of my house into the neighborhood to take a stretch, reminded me that stories don't have to be dug up, sometimes they are right in front of your face.

I walked a half-mile to the Sacramento River, which looks ever-so placid these days (at least until the rain arrives this weekend), and while watching a ski boat glide across the water, spotted a river dweller, neatly hidden right at the water's edge.

A blue tarp to keep out the weather, a bicycle for transportation

Whoever is living underneath the tarp is also living below the radar of most of Sacramento. From time to time, the police raid along the river, chasing out people they call 'transients.' I say call transients, because there are some folks among these river dwellers who are there by choice, living as free as is possible in the USSA, way beyond credit checks, snooping landlords, police and the ever-present TSA.

This person - or persons - chose their spot well, as it's necessary to stand up on top of a concrete abutment to even see that there is a tarp and bicycle below.

My writer-hero, American author Jack London, rode the rails of freight trains once, doing a chronicle of the lives of the men - and a handful of women - who took to the road at the turn of the 20th century. They did so mostly because of tough economic times, but some just to escape from, well, whatever haunted them.

The River People.

Hmmm.... now there's an idea for a literary journalism piece.

Dan Weintraub engages column writing in a 'conversation'

2008-10-22T19:56:00.001-07:00

CSU, SACRAMENTO, Sacramento, Calif., USA - Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Weintraub said he is bullish on journalism, less bullish on newspapers themselves when he spoke to the column-writing class at CSU, Sacramento Tuesday night.

Weintraub, a veteran newsman who has spent the last eight years with The Sacramento Bee in a columnist's dream job, said that the evolving nature of the business is exciting as a participant, but that the impacts of the new information technologies on the newspaper industry have been devastating.

One of Weintraub's newest Sacramento Bee projects, in addition to his regular column writing, has been to edit a new Bee feature called "The Conversation," a segment that is published both in print and online on Sunday, but continues through the week online with readers making comments.

Software glitches have added to the adventure. But Weintraub says that "The Conversation" is still a work in progress.

The students offered a number of suggestions for making the feature more interactive, including making it easier for readers to access the latest postings to "The Conversation." In a recent software shift, that function was somehow dropped.

Here's a brief video of a portion of the presentation.

New reporters cover high finance at forum

2008-10-21T13:52:00.000-07:00

CSU, SACRAMENTO, Sacramento, Calif., USA - Reporters from my two sections of beginning news writing covered a forum on finances sponsored by the CSUS Economics Department Monday afternoon.

While a good deal of the economic jargon from the five expert professors went over the reporters' heads as they scribbled in their reporters' notebooks, most of the students came away with a greater understanding of what caused the most recent financial debacle and what the nation can expect in coming years.

They heard about asset-backed derivatives, credit swaps, unemployment rates and how the nation shouldn't worry about entering another Great Depression. Or about the growing unemployment rate.

Whenever someone says, "Don't Worry," I generally start to worry more - much more.

I asked a couple of questions, one about what the group thought about the sudden plummeting of oil prices and were they concerned about such wild swings in prices.

The expert panel said not to worry about that either.

Hmm....

The reporters will be taking their full notebooks to class Wednesday and attempting to write a 300-400 word story about the event.

Here's a brief video of some of the proceedings.

Dan Weintraub to visit column-writing class Oct. 21

2008-10-16T09:24:00.001-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Dan Weintraub, a columnist for The Sacramento Bee will be coming to the CSU, Sacramento column writing class next Tuesday to talk writing, politics and perhaps a little about the future of the newspaper industry.

He was scheduled earlier in the semester - the night of the second presidential debate - and had to cancel.

Like many Sacramento Bee staffers, Weintraub has been adjusting to the new fiscal realities of the publishing industry. Among other things, he has started a new feature in the newspaper called The Conversation which goes into depth on different issues.

The approach is interesting and Weintraub will likely talk about what it was like to launch The Conversation, as well as how it is going.

Weintraub is a veteran member of the Sacramento press corps and believes in doing a lot of reporting before he writes a word for his column.

Dan Weintraub

Marcos Breton on tap for column-writing class in October

2008-10-14T12:20:00.001-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Sacramento Bee columnist Marcos Breton has agreed to come in and speak with the column writing class at CSU, Sacramento Oct. 28.

Breton has been at The Bee for 18 years and is a survivor of the recent layoffs and purges that have marked The Bee for the past year.

His column draws comments - lots of comments - and in a departure from normal practice, The Bee's new editor, Melanie Sill, has at times had Breton responding to people online to the online comments they post.

Marcos Breton

He was the subject of a question-and-answer session in Sacramento Magazine in 2007.

Here is the link to that story:

Breton Q&A in Sacramento Magazine

Column writers tackle the Obama-McCain debate

2008-10-07T22:33:00.001-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The students in the Column Writing class at CSU, Sacramento gave out more than a few groans during the debate between presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain, but dutifully pounded out their 600-word columns with all writers making their deadline - about 50 minutes after moderator Tom Brokaw declared that the debate was over.

A few extra groans came out when technical problems nearly made several students miss their deadlines.

But they made it. And the results can be read by clicking on the links to the right of this column.

Obama and McCain

It was the first real on-deadline assignment for the group. Other columns have been done with days of lead time, though a quick look at tonight's columns convinces me that many of these students are as good - in some cases better - when pushed with a tight deadline.

The general consensus of the columns?

Well, of the columns I sampled (with the balance to be read Wednesday and Thursday), more than a few writers objected to the constant finger-pointing that did seem to mar the flow of the debate. Even when confronted with a yes-no question, both candidates filled the air with speeches.

Here's a short video of the class watching Round 2 of the presidential debates.

Column writing students to post analysis columns at end of tonight's debate

2008-10-07T14:06:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Tonight's column writing class at CSU, Sacramento will join the ranks of pundits across the world by watching the Obama-McCain debate live - and then posting their columns immediately after the debate is over.

Watch out Fox News, J-131 is moving on up.

The opportunity popped up when our guest speaker for the evening, Dan Weintraub of The Sacramento Bee, had to bow out at the last moment. He will be coming in a few weeks to talk about political reporting and how he survives in this brave new world of almost-instant analysis.

No doubt the students will have lots of questions about how he does what I am asking them to do tonight.

Dan Weintraub

Up until now, the students in the class have been able to write much more leisurely, with days of lead time.

Tonight, the deadline will be upon them with all columns to be filed no later than one hour after the debate is completed.

I supposed I could start the class off like the announcers at a racetrack:

Writers: Start your computers.

Tonight's debaters

The Sacramento Bee's Rick Kushman tells TV tales to column-writing class

2008-09-30T20:27:00.001-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The Sacramento Bee's television critic, Rick Kushman, kept the CSU, Sacramento column-writing class laughing for a good part of his hour-long presentation/conversation Tuesday night.

At one point, he boosted his credibility tremendously by pointing out that he once was on the receiving end of a kiss from Tina Fey.

Yes, that Tina Fey, the actress who does an impression of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin that is better than Sarah Palin can do of herself.

Rick has started a new column in The Bee - added to his other duties covering television. He detailed out some of the pitfalls of starting the column "The Good Life" from scratch - a column that "still evolving," he said.

Rick didn't encourage anyone to leap into the world of print media, but he was encouraging for anyone who wants to write and be published in whatever media environment develops.

"It's all about good-writing - all good writing."

The Hot Zone and Richard Preston in Literary Journalism

2008-09-28T21:44:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The Literary Journalism class at CSU, Sacramento will be discussing Richard Preston's book, The Hot Zone, again Monday night after going through parts of the tome last week.

The Hot Zone is about the Ebola virus, sort of. It's also about the potential of the disease, human reactions and how close the world might have come to disaster.

It also ponders the question: Will the world face Ebola again?

And when.

Preston, a writer for The New Yorker magazine has written three books about viruses: The Hot Zone, The Cobra Event, and The Demon in the Freezer. But branched out with a recent book, called The Wild Trees about giant redwoods and sequoias. Sorry about that 'branched-out' pun.

The Cobra Event was fictional, but was so well-researched - and written - that it prompted President Bill Clinton to spend many millions of dollars to get the nation ready for the bio-terror scenario that Preston suggests could happen.

Preston was interviewed last year by Jon Stewart for the Daily Show. And like all Jon Stewart interviews, well worth watching.

Column-writing assignment on the mysterious Natalie Dylan

2008-09-18T17:33:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The column writing class this week is writing about Natalie Dylan, a woman who supposedly graduated from CSU, Sacramento with a degree in Women's Studies.

Why is she worth writing about?

She is involved in an auction of her virginity - a very public auction that has involved Howard Stern and many major news organizations in the U.S. and abroad have picked up the story and featured it quite prominently.

Yes, it's true. I can't make this stuff up. Who would believe it?

"Natalie"

'Natalie' on the right, her sister is on the left

The column writers' directions are simple: attack this column topic from any angle they want: rage, support, bewilderment...

There are so many different angles that the writers are mostly likely to be bewildered by how to even start.

Were I to use Ms. Dylan (which is not her real name, by the way) as a topic for a column, I think I would take a look at what could be a fairly elaborate hoax.

Hoax?

Well, it seems that the woman, who says she is 22-years-old, claims that she is a fairly recent graduate of CSU, Sacramento and says she is supposed to begin her graduate studies in January - graduate studies in marriage and family counseling.

Confirming any of all this seems to be beyond the abilities of all local (and even national) media.

As I said, I can't make this stuff up.

Deadlines and deadlines: Why making them is important

2008-09-13T11:17:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The beginning of every semester brings a new crop of students, many of whom have never faced the absolute deadlines that exist in most journalistic writing.

Whether it is something as simple as sending me an email (so I can create an email list for the class) or turning in a column or other piece of writing, there are always a few students who don't make the deadline.

And then there is always the argument that the deadline is arbitrary and not grounded in any real need.

Sigh.

My first newspaper job was at the Napa Register, in the circulation department where I pulled stacks of paper off the press and got them ready for delivery to the paper carriers all over Napa and Solano County. The press was supposed to start at 1 p.m. Not 12:59 (though going early would have been ok), but 1 p.m.

If the press was more than a minute or two starting up, the phone in the press room would start ringing and within 10 minutes or so, all the department heads in the building involved in the production of the newspaper would be in the publisher's office, getting their asses chewed - quite thoroughly - by publisher J.V. Brenner as he would try to figure out where the fault was.

When I moved into the newsroom a year later, as a novice reporter, I found out that if I was five minutes late with a story, it would likely result in my editor being late in what he turned into the composing room which in turn meant composing would be late to the plate-making department (for the press) and so on.

A story that was five minutes late could cause a domino effect that could make the presses a half-hour late.

I never missed a deadline there.

At the Sacramento Bee, when I worked as fill-in editor for the Forum section, the pages were to be sent electronically to composing by 5 p.m. on Thursdays. And if they didn't show up in the queue by 5:01, the phone would start ringing in then-editor Bill Moore's office where I worked, the secretary would come bustling in with a message from downstairs and within a few minutes after than, the big boss, Howard Weaver, was likely to start asking me 'What-the-hell-is-goin'-on?'

There are reasons, of course, why sometimes things don't get written - and turned in - on time.

Sickness, computer malfunctions, balky sources and plain old writer's block can all push the writer past that magic time.

None of them (except perhaps sickness) ever gets the writer any slack from an editor. Deadlines are deadlines - including showing up on time.

At the Petaluma Argus-Courier, we had one writer who was 15 minutes late arriving at work every morning. You could, as the expression goes, set your watch by his arrival.

When I became his editor after about a year, I asked him why he was routinely late every morning. He said he just didn't know. He left in what he thought was plenty of time - even driving faster than the speed limit most of the way from San Rafael to Petaluma.

But he was always 15 minutes late.

I suggested another strategy that he had apparently never thought of: leave his house 15 minutes earlier every morning.

You can guess what happened when he did start leaving his house earlier.

When I have a piece of writing to do - any writing - I estimate how long it will take me to get it done, and then I double the estimate, starting waaaaay earlier than I think I need to.

That system works well enough that I haven't missed a deadline since, well, I can't remember ever missing a deadline for turning in a story to magazine, newspaper, or web-based publication.

That day might come, I suppose, but for now I have to close off this blog entry. I gave myself an 11:50 deadline to get this done.

And I don't want to be late.

Column writers tackle rules that make no sense

2008-09-11T07:35:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - My assignment to the column writers this week was to craft a column around the idea of rules - rules that seem nonsensical or weird or maybe even that do the opposite of what they were intended to do.

Of course, it is also possible to write about rules for which their reason for existing has evaporated into the mists of the past.

You don't have to think too hard to come up with those.

One strict rule I remember from growing up was that if I ate anything - a single potato chip - I was not allowed to go swimming for 45 minutes. Why? Well, because if I did, I would absolutely get a cramp and sink like a stone. At least that's what my mother and and grandmother and aunts and uncles said - and enforced on me and my cousins.

Since then, I found that the time varied greatly among people and their families. Some parents told their kids it was an hour, others a half-hour. When I became lifeguard in college, I discovered that the whole concept was mostly bull**it. You would have to eat a double-cheese burger and wash it down with a Big Gulp before there's a chance (a chance!) of any cramping.

More likely even in that case, you would only cut loose with a burp that could knock a sleeping lifeguard right off their chair.

That said, I did once have to swim out to rescue a soldier on leave who got a stomach cramp and did sink like a stone into 15 feet of water. But he hadn't had anything to eat or drink for several hours.

Rules, rules, rules. I should get to read some very interesting columns Friday morning.

Back to the twin pursuits of columns and literary journalism

2008-09-08T10:32:00.000-07:00

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, Sacramento, Sacramento, CA USA - With two heavy duty writing classes on my schedule this semester - Literary Journalism and Column Writing - it would seem that I should get inspired to get back to my own writing.

Perhaps.

Moving into a new house, after flying 2,500 miles to get here, took most of the writing starch out of me with this missive being the first writing since leaving Valois, New York more than a week ago.

Que lastima.

But these two classes (and two basic news writing courses) almost always provide a kind of weird kinetic vibration that gets me writing again after short respites.

In Literary Journalism, we will be reading the works of Sebastian Junger, Hunter S. Thompson, Jon Krakauer and a half dozen others. The students will also be producing a draft of a major piece of Literary Journalism, after a semester of research.

Hunter S. Thompson

In column writing, students will be producing two 650-word columns per week - an admittedly heavy load - except that the work is, well, the work of writing and by the end of the semester they should be, for the most part, facil writers who can bang out a column.

And me? I'll be reading a lot of student work, but also getting back to work on my fiction (Soundtrack, a novel that has been in progress for five years) and beginning a work of literary journalism about immigration. I say beginning because my best sources are in Mexico, a few houses from where I will be living this winter and spring.

And, time permitting, I'll be back using this column to talk about making money with writing.

Time permitting.

Closing out Column Writing class for the semester

2007-12-11T07:44:00.000-08:00

CSU, SACRAMENTO, Sacramento, Calif. USA - The same technology that makes it possible for anyone with computer access to be a publisher (you are looking at it...) helped this semester to make my column writing class arguably the most successful ever.

It was successful because the students were able to write a column or two per week and post them for the entire class (and the world, via the Internet) to see.

From my end of the telescope, it created a nightmare of reading. Most weeks they had to write two columns, one assigned, the other on an area of specialization. But for them the practice was invaluable and the growth as writers was dramatic in a very short time.

I also learned a lot during the semester as these student-columnists wrote about nutrition, politics, cars, life at the mall, television and a dozen other areas. One young lady from Ireland (if she is from Ireland should I say young lass?) wrote about religion and did a fine job explaining different faiths in a humorous way that frequently had me laughing aloud.

But one column she penned about YouTube had the following paragraph, which, like several pieces written by other students, made me laugh so hard I sprayed my computer screen with remants of the Earl Grey tea I was sipping while reading.

"To summarize, if we were to take YouTube as a source we find that French people are apparently perverted, food loving, hotties, the Dutch enjoy nothing better than grabbing their tulips, the Irish are alcoholics with horrendous taste in music, the British are prudes and the Japanese are gadget-loving oddballs and, of course,
every nation has an unhealthy obsession with sex. No surprises there then."

The class gathered one last time on campus Monday night. It wasn't the Algonquin Roundtable - not yet. But with these writers, it might be someday.

Lisa Heyamoto talks about column writing with J-class

2007-12-03T20:53:00.000-08:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The Sacramento Bee's newest three dot columnist came by my column writing class Monday night to share her insights into the column-writing bizz.

Bouncy and upbeat as always, Lisa Heyamoto managed to infect the room - even though most of the students are suffering from end-of-the-semester fatigue and near burn out.

She was as candid as candid can be in answering questions about where she gets her ideas, how she puts together her three-times-per-week column and how it is to work with various editors, either at The Bee or in Seattle where she worked before moving the California.

At 29, she is the youngest of all The Bee's columnists - by a factor of probably 25 years.

Lisa's column

She provided some serious inspiration for some of the students who have been reading all the doom and gloom about the newspaper and publishing industries. Work hard, she said, and take whatever job you need to get that foot in the door.

Very wise words.

Here's a brief clip of Lisa speaking to class.

Jeffrey Young visits with a magazine-writing class

2007-10-31T18:47:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif. USA, CSU Sacramento campus - Jeffrey Young, the editor of Prosper magazine in Sacramento dropped by this semester's magazine writing class Tuesday night to dispense some wisdom - and crack a lot of jokes - in a guest-speaking gig.

Since taking over the helm of Prosper last year, he has been carefully reshaping the product and also turning the website into something much more lively.

Both the print and online Prosper products are works in progress, he told the students, and probably always will be given the way the business of publishing is changing.

Jeffrey Young

A journalism pro, Young has written for Forbes and dozens of other magazines. He started his journalism career at the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner - almost on a whim - while working as a screenwriter in Hollywood.

Since then his resume went wild with clips from magazines and he wrote two books about Steve Jobs.

Book about Steve Jobs

He threw out dozens of nuggets for the students in his short visit but stressed repeatedly that any writer who submitted a query - or whose story was up for consideration for being included in his magazine - had better capture his interest completely within a couple of paragraphs, or their future with him couldn't even be called dim.

If I went back into the news bizz it would be to write a column

2007-10-16T11:38:00.000-07:00

NAKED COFFEESHOP, Sacramento, Calif. - If I had to go back to a real, fulltime writing job again, I would probaby try to land a column-writing gig.

Teaching column writing this fall - and doing some column-like writing myself in these postings and in other places - has shown me how much I still like to write commentary, mixed with news. Or is it news mixed with commentary?

Whatever...

Today I had tea with the Sacramento Bee newspaper's new three-dot columnist, a young reporter-turned columnist named Lisa Heyamoto who hails from Seattle, Spokane with a little of the state of Hawaii thrown in.

After two years of working as a reporter - doing bar reviews, among other things - she landed her current job, finding three or four odd tidbits about life in Sacramento for her three-times a week column. Three-times-a-week is keeping her moving pretty fast, but she is quickly making the transition from reporter to columnist.

Lisa Heyamoto

Lisa's column

And if her laughter is any indication, she is having a lot of fun.

As a relative newcomer to Sacramento, the three-dot items don't come as easy as they might for someone who has been here for 20 years. But then in her case, the fresh set of eyes is showing the city a new - and younger - light.

And she probably sees a lot of things other people miss, because her usual mode of transit around the downtown, mid-town areas of Sacramento is a sturdy-looking bicycle that brought her to the coffee shop this morning.

Unfortunately, as we finished up our respective cups of tea (Earl Grey for me, English Breakfast for Lisa), it started to rain, which meant a soggy ride for the six blocks Lisa had to go to get back to her mid-town digs.

"Don't worry about me," she said. "I used to live in Seattle."

Finding the time to write in a busy schedule

2007-09-25T15:20:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The semester has roared along like a freight train ready to fly off the tracks with what has seemed like no time to write any blog entries, either here for students or on my other active areas.

Captain's Blog

From Where I Sit

Considering that I was updating all three almost daily just a few months ago, I had to ponder what-the-hell happened.

Easy: students!

I have four writing classes this semester and in each of them students are starting to crank out stories and columns - not to mention an almost steady stream of emails with questions about how to write those stories and columns, each taking a few minutes to ponder and reply to.

The columns and stories are a joy, mostly, because I read about things the students are interested in and get their 20-30 year old perspectives. But every column I read, or story I critique, is time that I am not posting anything.

So it was so strange this afternoon to find that between now and 6 p.m. - my next class - I had virtually nothing critical (relating to classes) that I needed to accomplish.

Whew.

The class providing me with the most stimulation/work/anxiety is the one that focuses on column writing. I opted to go sans textbook, which saved the students probably $100 in book costs but which has meant some serious uncertainy on the part of at least a few of students, particularly those who don't read columns at all.

They're getting over that pretty fast.

The stimulation part for me is seeing all the columns that can be/need be written.

At our university in the last week, a semi-scandal arose in which the local newspaper published a story that the president of the university had written letters to help two local big game hunters go bag animals for a campus museum - a museum that will never be built. The real kicker is that these hunters were given credentials (based largely on the plea of the president) to hunt some animals that are now considered endangered species.

And the hunters did indeed go to Tanzania and do some serious shooting, prompting the latest outcry from the Humane Society of America, the spokesman for which says that going out and blasting animals - so they can be stuffed and put in museums - is an idea that is about 100 years out of date.

The campus pundits have been having a great time with jokes, from referring to the President as Ramar of University, to an clever twist on the university's unofficial motto (bestowed by the president): Leadership Begins Here.

Since the news about the hunting and the president's involvement, it's been suggested that the new unofficial motto should be Taxidermy Begins Here.

I think that last one is pretty funny, bwana.

My column writing fingers are so itchy right now, I better take some benadryl before I do something foolish.

Big Game Hunt Criticized

A new semester, a new class and new stories

2007-09-10T08:28:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif. USA - The next generation of CSUS magazine writers are hard at work on their first stories and today I just asked them to create a blog so that they can have an audience - and support group - for their work.

When the blogs are created, they will be linked to this page.

The class has some great story ideas, some quite sophisticated. Of course, a few people want to write about world hunger or global warming, topics that are probably beyond them for now.

I am starting to pursue several stories myself this fall - one on the poisoning of Lake Davis, three hours north of Sacramento. The Department of Fish and Game is poisoning the lake to kill the Northern Pike (a non-native fish) that have take up residence in the lake. Of course, this will also kill every other living thing in the lake, originally created as a reservoir for drinking water.

It would be tragic enough, but the DFG already tried this several years ago, failed, and had to pay nearly $10 million in damages to the people of the area for the gaffe that cost them tourist dollars and a lot of anguish.

The Sacramento Bee has taken up the cudgel against these fish (which are prized in other parts of the nation as one of the best game fish in freshwater lakes). The rhetoric has been growing exponentially, including an editorial a few weeks ago that linked the situation at Lake Davis to the fictional town of Amity on Long Island.

Yup, that was the city from the movie "Jaws."

Time to invoke the '1-hour rule' for getting it all done

2007-03-17T07:25:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - I think I devised this plan when I shifted from working as a newspaper editor to university professor, more than 20 years ago.

In the news business, using your time wisely was rarely an issue - your deadlines made it so that you had to write and research as fast as you could, no matter what. And external (news) events dictated your schedule.

Today, as a university professor with a multiplicity of responsibilities (chair of the university Faculty Senate, freelance writer, teacher, boat owner and, and, and...) I see that the nine things on my 'to do' list could easily send me into a day of furtive motion, which likely would result in nothing getting completed.

So today, I am invoking what I call the '1-hour rule' for the items on the list: each will get one hour of attention, though it's clear that I won't need a full hour for some. At least I hope not.

During the one-hour, I focus just on that one thing - in this case, updating this blog and sending out an email to my magazine writing class, directing them here. If I get done before 8:15 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time, great. If not, I'll move on to something else, but I will have put in a solid hour. But, like the news business, I have a deadline to get this done and I can see as I type a little too slow that I better get moving quicker if I want to be able to cross this off the list.

What's amazing is how much can be accomplished in an hour, if that hour is spent solely on one thing. It means no checking email, no peeking to see what today's high temperature is going to be in Tenacatita Bay, no calling anyone on the telephone to chat, no going out in the backyard to see if the fruit trees are still growing...

It does include getting another cup of tea, however, because the caffeine helps get things cranking.

The 1-hour rule works well for me and the people I've convinced to use it, say it helps them focus. One item on today's list is clean the patio. If I do give it a full hour, the place will shine.

But I can't start thinking about that yet, I have this to complete - which it now is, in just about in 22 minutes.

What's next on that list?

The 'R' word is almost as verboten as the 'I' word

2007-03-01T08:25:00.000-08:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - When professional writers get together and talk about research, they almost never utter the word, research.

That's because the word is so loaded with all kinds of other associations (people in lab coats squinting into microscopes, someone sitting in a huge pile of books and reports...) that it's inaccurate.

Certainly, there are times when journalists - and freelance writers - do research that requires stacks of books and reports, but most of what writers do is simply gather information in less formal ways. Writers spend much of time on the Internet, yakking on the telephone and, if possible, actually getting out and talking directly to people.

In my magazine writing class, I can see the eyes glazing over when I say "You need to do more research," so if catch the "R" word before it escapes, I revise it to say "You need to talk with more people and find some documents..."

If "research" is an inaccurate word for what writers do, so is the word "interview."

Interviews usually conjure up visions of boom microphones and the glare of stage lights - not what 99 percent of interviews really are: brief conversations.

When I call someone - or more frequently email - to ask a few questions, I say just that. "Can I ask you a few questions about...?" Or sometime I will say "Can we chat about...?"

It less threatening and very few people will say they don't have time to 'chat."

Consider the likely reactions to these inquiries:

Do you have time for me to interview you for the research I'm doing?

Do you have time to chat about a story I'm working on?

Using email for interviews is no longer verboten

2007-02-23T15:10:00.000-08:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - At a roundtable discussion of student and professional journalists today, there were mixed opinions about the use of email in practicing journalism. Several student newspapers and news organizations have absolute NO written in their policy manuals.

Most professionals seem to use email plenty. In some cases, it's the only way to get to people.

In a entry posted here a few days ago,

Writing For Money, Feb. 15

I wrote about how I used email to contact representatives of the Legislative Analyst's Office about a report I heard them reference on television - a cable broadcast of a legislative hearing.

If I had needed an answer or clarification of what I heard them say, I would have been quite comfortable using email.

I use email frequently to track people down and to start conversations. If I have a detailed, complicated question, I know my sources appreciate getting the questions succinctly (I hope) in writing before we talk on the phone.

And if we don't talk on the phone and they respond by email, they know that whatever material I use, they have a written record of.

My advice to writers is let common sense prevail. If you ask a question via email and the answer seem odd or untrue, verify it somewhere else. That's just good standard journalism practice no matter where you got information from.

But don't be shy about using your keyboard as a tool for gathering information. Editors 100 years ago told reporters not to trust a new technology that was becoming widely available then: the telephone.

Getting to know editors is the key to landing assignments

2007-02-22T10:14:00.000-08:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A major part of becoming a successful freelance writer - and making some money - is getting to know editors, which is turn means editors get to know you, which in turn means the editors know your work, which in turn...

I'm getting all turned around on this. Sorry.

Earlier this week I had coffee with the new editor of Prosper magazine, Jeffrey Young, who is one of those free-wheeling, free-thinking kind of editors who are simultaneously fun and a writer's nightmare. Fun because they challenge writers and love new ideas. A nightmare because they will not accept half-effort on writing or research. The unmotivated writer need not approach Jeffrey Young.

Jeffrey Young

I would wager, however, that once a writer gets to know Jeffrey - and they agree on stories and styles - that writing for Prosper could become a good, regular-writing gig.

The other side to knowing many editors is when stories pop up, you have many directions in which to sell.

As part of Legislative Analyst's look at the proposed governor's budget this week, I found a half-dozen story ideas which I could aim directly at magazines for which I've written. Queries have already gone out this morning for a story on making last-year's "yacht tax" a permanent tax (it was set to sunset), a second on a strong recommendation that state university student fees not be hiked 10 percent, but 2.4 percent, and a third on health-care issues.

All three are going to editors for whom I've written before and so the whole nervousness on the editor's part (Can this guy write these stories?) is missing. The story ideas will be judged solely on their merit - and space considerations - by the editors.

Oops. Just thought of a fourth query, based on that LAO report. Time to get writing another email.

Help for writers who suffer from 'I' disease

2007-02-17T11:46:00.000-08:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The first batch of stories from my magazine class this fall will invariably have a few people who write their articles in the first person.

What's wrong with that? Well, the biggest problem is that relatively few magazine pieces are written in first person, relatively few of the students writing these pieces have authorative voices to speak on the topics of which they write, and beyond that, well, it's just darned annoying to look across a 25-paragraph story and see "I" cropping all over the place.

The record in my teaching came several years ago when a writer used "I" 47 times in a 500-word story - and complained that the 500-word limit was too restricting. No disagreement here, so when his paper was returned to him, my note pointed out that he had 47 more words to work with right away. He wasn't amused.

In byline writing, the reason to avoid referring to yourself is that it's redundant. Your name is already attached to the article. So to say, "I saw the room was full of cats," is unnecessary. Instead, the writer should simply say, "The room was full of cats." (That would save two words.)

The cure for "I" disease is simple: don't use "I" unless there is absolutely no way around it.

But what about a first-person story? OK, a few first personal pronouns are ok, but very few.

At least that's what I say.

Mission Impossible time management works - sometimes

2007-02-15T17:59:00.000-08:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - There are days writing and there are days writing but today all the pieces fell into place so neatly it was as if the scriptwriters for Mission Impossible had plotted it out.

It started before dawn with an article due, which I hammered until I was about half done. I checked my email and discovered, gasp, that my Washington D.C. editors had a second major story they wanted done - ASAP. When they say that , they don't mean Anytime-Sure-Amigo-Please.

So I looked at the clock and started writing my first story even faster, sliding it in the email an hour ahead of when I thought I would, giving me time to get the second story done, too.

But it was the research for my third story that put things into the Mission Impossible category.

I was scheduled to attend a legislative hearing - starting at about 10:30 a.m. - for a story due Friday. But at 10:30 a.m. - thanks to the second urgent story - I was just barely heading out the door to get there and, for some reason, I thought about the Cal Channel, a cable channel that broadcasts many state legislative committee hearings.

Voila! One click and I was there, watching Kim Belshe of the state Department of Health explaining the governor's health plan.

Senate hearing on cable TV

And for the next couple of hours, I recorded the session on my digital recorder - just as if I was sitting in the stuffy room downtown. It went fine. Great in fact. A little lunch, more tea, sit back, take a few notes.

Then two talking heads from the Legislative Analyst's Office came on and started talking about a report they had prepared for the committee - a hardcopy, printed report that they circulated at that moment. And the report was dynamite - exactly what I needed to make my story newsworthy.

Merde! That's why actually going to such hearings is safer. Now I thought I was going to have to go downtown, park at the Capitol (equally difficult to the task of trying to park on my university campus), run into the hearing room and pray the two LAO guys had the report available for the press.

But given that it was the LAO office, I decided to see if the report was somewhere online.

I couldn't find it.

Merde deux.

But seeing the age of the two LAO analysts (mid 30s, maybe) I sent them both an email while they were still giving testimony, after snatching their email addresses from the LAO website, listed under staff contacts.

Email to LAO staff members

Sure enough, as soon as they left the front table where they were giving testimony, one of them emailed me (from a Blackberry, I think) pointing me to a link to the report - which was on the website it turned out. I doubt I would have ever found it without help.

Now, armed with a digital recording of the entire hearing, notes taking during the testimony, and a solid report from the Legislative Analyst's Office, I'm ready to start writing that story. Technology, a couple of good breaks, and the fact that I can type about 75 wpm all made it work.

But no more writing until tomorrow. I still have the theme song from Mission Impossible running through my brain.

Writing to find out what you need to know

2007-02-14T08:13:00.000-08:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - An old newspaper writer's trick is to start to write a story - leaving blanks where information is missing - and then going back to fill in what's needed.

In magazine writing, it's a little harder, because the writing (and stories) can be more complicated, but the theory is the same: If you start to write the story and hit a wall, at least you know where the walls are. They could be informational, quotes needed, or simple understanding on the part of the writer about what-in-the-hell they are trying to write.

Here's a quick example of something I will have to write Friday morning, that I could use as a prewriting:

-----------------------------------------------------------

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A roomful of critics of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's (R) health insurance plan slammed the details of his proposal at a four-hour state Senate Committee hearing Thursday, Feb. 15, the first public airing of the proposals outside of a press conference.

"QUOTE FROM CRITIC HERE...."

The proposal, first unveiled XXXXX by the governor says that all California residents should have health insurance and mandates them to get it.

"QUOTE FORM THE GOVERNOR'S EARLIER SPEECH"

The proposal includes requirements that XXXX.

FOLLOW WITH QUOTES FROM CALIF. NURSING ASSOCIATION AND DEMOCRATS.

-------------------------

This kind of prewriting provides at least a template for the story.

In a magazine piece, writing the first four or five paragraphs does the same thing, giving the article some focus. And perhaps more important, it forces the writer to really think about the story and how to make it interesting.

It's better than staring at a keyboard and monitor.

The importance of meeting deadlines

2007-02-12T17:25:00.000-08:00

Deadline
Originally uploaded by Brite light photos.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - When teaching magazine writing, one of the hardest concepts to get across is that of the need to make deadlines.

By deadlines, I mean that when something is due by a certain time, in a certain format, and with certain information, it's due at that time, in that format and with the needed (or agreed-upon) information.

Throughout most of college, students learn the very unreal lesson that it's ok to be late, ok to simply skip assignments, especially if they can plead being busy.

It gets reinforced by instructors who allow work to be turned in past a deadline, usually assessing some small penalty - perhaps lowering the grade on that particular piece of work by 10 percent.

In the publishing world, there is no 10 percent penalty - it's 100 percent. You make the deadline or else it doesn't get published. Period.

But the larger penalty is that if a writer flakes on an editor - and doesn't get the assignment in on time - that writer is finished working with that magazine. Equally bad is turning in a story that is poorly researched and/or not the story the editor asked for.

On the bright side, I have worked with many editors who are more than willing to help when problems pop up - a story turns out to be more complicated than initially envisioned, sources dry up, news events overtake the timeliness of the proposed story.

But only if they believe I have already moved heaven and earth several times before asking for assistance.

Writing every day, even a little, gets you there

2007-02-11T12:28:00.000-08:00

Calendar
Originally uploaded by Brite light photos.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - One of the hardest parts of the writing business can be maintaining forward momentum.

For me, that means researching a little and writing a little every day, inching towards completion, whatever the assignment.

For one of my contracts, I have to read the wires daily to pull possible stories and if I am smart about it, I start working on research right then, too.

OK, I'm not that smart most of the time.

But because it is incremental, I know that every day I need to do some, as I did as soon as I got the assignment from Reuters to cover Rudy Giuliani's speech. Rather than wait until the night before he spoke to read up (and cram my brain), I scanned the news sites for the three days beforehand.

It paid off in the speech, when I already had the background on Rudy firmly in the back of my mind when he spouted about 9-11 and events since. Also, the anecdotes he used were well rehearsed, based on my readings.

For my magazine writing students, I suspect it's hard to think of the stories they have just started researching as anything but just another assignment for another upper division class.

They'll learn quickly (I hope) that the real measure isn't me, it will be the editors that see their work and judge it.

If they work a little each day - even if it's only to do an hour of reading - the deadline (in barely 10 days) won't seem nearly so frightening.

Guiliani nearly declares at the GOP convention

2007-02-11T08:01:00.000-08:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - It was all-out GOP politics Saturday as the faithful got ready to listen to former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani speak at a luncheon, part of the state Republican Convention here this weekend.

Rudy speaks the the GOP luncheon

The luncheon hall was packed with conventioneers and press, among whom I sat as a reporter for Reuters, hoping that Rudy would declare his formal entry into the race for president in 2008.

He didn't - though he came very close - and every time he asked the crowd if they would vote for him, they cheered wildly, much louder than they cheered the night before when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke at a dinner gathering of about 700 in the same Hyatt Regency Hotel ballroom in downtown Sacramento.

According to the reporters I talked with at the press gathering, Arnold got a very tepid response from the GOP, many of whom consider him a traitor for agreeing to compromise with Democrats on many issues. That compromising is what got him re-elected in November.

Rudy's speech said nothing about compromise and in his speech, he invoked Sept. 11 directly six times, Ronald Reagan at least as many, and he said that he supports the war in Iraq - and George Bush - completely.

If he runs - or should I say continues to run - his campaign is likely going to be based on keeping the nation safe from terrorists, with precious little offered on what the nation needs domestically. "The war on terrorism is our greatest concern," he said.

The ever-skeptical press pushed him as hard as they could in a press conference, during which he said that he had really already almost declared his candidacy.

But a reporter from the New York Daily News told me that there is no way that Rudy would ever formally declare his run for the presidency in California. He has to do that in New York so that his likely Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, gets the full brunt of the announcement. New York has a lot of electoral votes, too.

The food that was served at this GOP luncheon was an almost unrecognizable melange of chicken and pasta. The lunch served in the press lounge was probably a lot tastier - and it was free, too.

And my story for Reuters? Well, because Rudy (called "America's Mayor" by Bill Simon in the introduction) didn't actually declare his candidacy for president of the U.S. - or say anything directly bad about any of his potential Democratic opponents - my Los Angeles Reuters' editor said I didn't need to file a regular story, just a long package of quotes and observations that may eventually show up in future Reuters' stories when America's Mayor does make things more formal.

Story or not, Reuters will still cut me check for a pretty interesting day.

Rudy with supporters at the GOP convention

Magazine writing class is takes up blogging, big time

2007-02-06T15:37:00.000-08:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - What should students in a magazine writing class do most: read, talk, listen to lectures or write?

It's no contest, really, not if you have ever taught a writing class.

Write, damn it.

So, as part of this semester's magazine writing class at California State University, Sacramento, I'm asking my 25 writing students to start - and maintain - a blog with entries about what they are studying, what they are writing and, I hope, their successes at selling articles to magazines.

The first 'blog' appeared just a few minutes ago and if the rest of class can match this, it's going to be a wild semester.

Here's the link:

Natalye Childress Smith