Off the Media

2009-09-12T10:22:00.000-07:00

Can't believe that Joe Wilson's outburst the other night earned Rob Miller $300,000 in twelve hours. Pretty impressive, indeed.

Miller had this page up within a day.

Shows the power of the web in this age of new viral campaigning.

2008-03-17T14:47:00.000-07:00

Things have been quite busy the past several month. NOt only have I recently married my lovely wife, Lauren, but I've also started a new job with a social justice think tank in New York and washington.

On the blogosphere, I've moved over to another system and have routed my new URL there as well. To find out more about what I'm doing, and to learn more on isues dealing with domestic human rights, feel free to visit and sign up for my feed, or just bookmark the page.

www.stephensrecord.com

I'll continue to keep this blog up for archive purposes, until I can find a way to move everything to my new site.

thanks,

T

2008-01-03T18:09:00.000-08:00

Packing My Bages

I've made up my mind. I'm packing my bags and moving to Iowa. And it's not because I can get a two bedroom house for $575 in Iowa City, a quarter of the cost for a two bedroom in the remote reaches of New York City. Nor is it because of all the money I could make off campaigning candidates (if they only gave me the money directly, instead of spending it in the media for thirty minutes of my time every four years. No, it's because I think I finally figured out this whole caucus thing.

tonight is the Iowa Caucus, and all evening long I've been watching Network news anchors and analysts try to explain to the rest of the country how the whole process works, something we all seem to forget every four years, myself included. The anchors weren't doing too good of a job, I must confess, either. That is until a Iowa voter called in to his National Public Radio station and explained how he missed the caucus in order to see his son compete in his first swim meet. The radio host asked if he was upset that he didn't get to participate, and he said it didn't bother him. I was shocked, until he explained how he admired the grass roots approach Iowa had over other states, where even though he couldn't participate in a caucus, he had a chance to meet the candidates personally, take part in town hall hall meetings and debates, and have his own questions answered by the candidates in person.

The radio host still tried to play out the angle that the process was undemocratic, since people who couldn't drive or had other functions to attend to kept them out of the caucus. Myself, being someone who would be left out in the cold since I can't drive a car, I could empathize with this argument. But then I started thinking about all the elections I've voted in, and did I ever really feel like my voice was heard. I've helped out on political campaigns, but I've never shaked the hand of a presidential candidate. I've watched plenty of debates on television, but I've never debated a candidate in person.

I can see now the beauty that lies in the Iowa style of politics. It's not so much about the individual, but the voice that is elected. It's not so much about the individual, but the ideal. Great things come out of great ideas, and the lengthy discourse that we've all endured over the past couple of months in Iowa has forced me to ask some serious questions, myself, over what are the real issues that effect my life. What issues effect those around me and the country, or the whole world for that fact? And with the media splicing up so much of what candidates say, I think hearing it from them directly, as they look me in the eye, is a much more authentic piece of American democracy. I can see how grass root campaigns give way to much more fertile soil for genuine debate, a refreshing thought after the land slide of debates these past few months on network and cable television.

Now I just need to convince my wife and dog to leave the city..

2007-12-30T13:47:00.000-08:00

Nevermind the Elephant

News from Pakistan has been rather glum these past few days, since the murder of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, former head of the Pakistani People's Party (PPP). Benazir, who's father was also assassinated, died last week after a suicide bomber approached Bhutto's car and detonated explosives. News has been sketchy these past few days as military enforcement of rioting has greatly limited access in certain regions of Pakistan. This, coupled with Pakistan leader President Musharaf's press office releasing conflicting information, raises a major concern on whether or not the public is being led by a crafted piper or a true president (representative of the people who are--in theory--given the task to elect their leader this February.

The PPP has announced that Benazir Bhutto's son, Bilawai Bhutto, will take her place for the February election. Her son, who is a student at Oxford University in the UK, enters a hornet's nest of political confusion, one that puts him in the line of a difficult legacy, with both his mother and grandfather dying at the hands of dissidence. It can only be hoped that he can carry the same power to bring about peace and democracy as fellow Oxford student Mohatas Gandhi had in India sixty years ago, though hopefully without meeting the same end by an assassin's bullet.

What stands at risk is not simply an election for change, a desire for reform, a fight for justice on the part of Pakistan's people. One can not ignore, though I've heard very little in the news, about the need for a return to order in Pakistan. Not only for the sake of Southern Asia, but for the entire world. Remember that Pakistan borders the largest democracy in the world, India, and both countries have obtained nuclear weapons over the past decade. Unrest and chaos in Pakistan poses a serious threat not only on the war on Terror, which is what many western countries have focused on these past few days. But, also, Pakistan dances with a ghoast from the former Cold War that makes the whole situation volitile. It's not just a matter of harboring terrorist training groups. But serious destruction is at hand should Pakistan's military fall into the wrong hands. Already, under Musharaf, there seems to be little trust in the military, although I doubt Musharaf would ever try anything crazy, due to pressure from Washington.

Ok, I know this post may seem like I'm crying wolf into the night. But I draw an extreme conclusion to point out something that the media hasn't focused on too much, but is a major tool in monitoring Pakistan's return toward peace and move toward justice.

Reports came last month of Geo-TV, Pakistan's first private launched 24-hour news channel, needing to move out of its Dubai headquarters after the UAE shut down its satellite uplink to Pakistan for going against UAE's mission of neutrality. The censorhsip, carried out by the Dubai Media Center after receiving pressure from Musharaf, sends a frightening reminder of how easy it is to silence the voice of a people. GEO=TV was blacked out by Musharaf in Pakistan on November 3rd, and the UAE's move cut the signal for over a week to the rest of the world. It restored its uplink on November 29th, but has received criticism again after distributing footage of the chaos that broke out during the moments leading up and following Benazir Bhutto's death.

There are no pretty pictures in civil unrest. And Musharaf supporters arguement that the footage was just another act of sensationalism seem to turn their heads at the government controled vilence that people see on the streets when the "shoot to kill" order is given to soldiers for anyone participating in riots.

Pakistan, more than ever before, needs a voice that the world can hear, can see, can enter into the minds of a people who have been greatly fractured this past week. If ever there is a time for the modern day presses to roll (in this case, uplink), the time is now. The role GEO-TV plays is crucial these coming weeks if peace is to be restored. And my only hope is that Musharaf will learn to respect the media, rather than shut it down. Too much is at stake for a nation and the world to hear only the sound of a pipe being played.

2007-12-20T19:05:00.000-08:00

Faster than the speed of ice

The other day, I went for a walk along the Hudson with my wife. We've moved from Brooklyn, and now we reside in washington Heights, a neighborhood that sits up high along the northwestern edge of Manhattan. We've had snow and ice the last couple of weeks, and the path leading up to the cliffs was a hard climb, covered with a heavy coat of melted snow that had refrozen.

At one point where the path turned, a heavy grade of exposed bedrock lifted itself into the side of the bluff. Hanging from its stone face were hundreds of icicles. Taking one of the larger ones from the rock, I ran my hand along its cold and perfectly smooth surface. Then, after making my dog look as though it were one of the Unicorns that resided in the Cloysters on top of the hill, I launched the icicle into the naked wood that climbed up the embankment.

I haven't been able to lose that image of the icicle these past couple of days. Part of me feels full of guilt after taking something so beautiful from its natural place and simply discarding it into the icy snow. But then there is the part of me that knows it's life would be short lived anyways, as soon as the sun crested the hill and melted the ice. Nevertheless, there seemed a beauty that was lost. Not so much a beauty of looks, or one of reason, or one of idea. But rather, I've been fixed on the beauty of patience.

Have you ever seen an icicle form? I can say that I never have. Yet somehow they seem to give birth in a moment of time that happens in the blink of an eye. How long it must take to take a drop of water that hangs delicately to the surface, refuses to let go, and is then frozen in time--the result of its stubbornness And after that drop of water has frozen, another comes, and the cycle is repeated until a perfect cone defies the laws of reason.

The icicle has made me acutely aware of how difficult it must be for media practitioners to move at the speed by which information had traveled only a decade or two ago. I can remember when I first started writing for newspapers, sixteen years ago, and how we would receive our wire copy over a Telex machine. We could dial up to it at an amazing 300 baud, translating to 300 characters per second. That's the blink of an eye amidst a waterfall of information that flows freely in the air around us. We didn't have templates that we could plug in information at the click of a mouse. Instead, we relied on type-setters, heavy glass plates that burned in the image once the presses started to roll, or when we didn't have presses (like with our college weekly), we had to keep re-gluing our copy onto the broad sheets that would be sent to the presses.

Once I left newspapers and moved into broadcasting, everything had to be done on analog tape, audio being spliced and taped, film being developed and spliced up on old Moviolas, transfered to video, then punched in on heavy analog switchers that took up a whole console. Recording audio for post-production would take two people on the mixing board, trying to move the faders in time with the fast moving numbers that ascended in the bottom corner of the screen. And all this moved at the speed of what seemed like rockets launching into space.

Technology has changed so dramatically over the past fifteen years, that such technologies then seems to have moved at the speed of ice. What took ten crew members now takes a slick lap-top and one person. And even then, the job is done now a hundred times faster. It's the one person that is slowing down the transmission of information, no longer the technology. But in this age of hyper-communications, I can't help but wonder what has been lost. It's a question that anyone who still clings to her or his LP records can
understand. If McLuhan argued forty years ago that the medium has become the message, than how much depth can be in a message that moves at the speed of light? Maybe it was because we had time to think about content while waiting for the presses to warm up, listening to the message over and over again as we tried to perfectly line up the heads of the tape machine with the tape before making that final cut. Maybe taking time to make the message gave us time to truly listen to the message.

I can't say that the new media which surrounds us affords us such time for analysis. We live in an age where information is judged by who gets it out there first, rather than who is the first to be moved by that message. Take this blog, for instance, which usually has its share of typos. Yet, that's no longer the end of end alls as it was in the days when five editors would have reviewed the message before it was finally approved for publication. The mind-set is that it is ok to have structure that lacks, in place of a message that is fresher than the air it permeates. I think the You Tube debates this election season is a testament to my arguement.

What I would argue the media needs is not to slow down the medium, but to at least try to return to some sense of aesthetics. Art takes time, and creating words or images that tell a story is an art, regardless of how mcuh some might try to make it a science. The science can enhance the message, can change how the message could impact behavior or cognition. But, without the words, sounds and images, there is no message, no idea, no need to inform.

Take the art out of the message, and content greatly suffers. Who would go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art if it were full of only brushes and stretcher bars? Who would visit the Louvre if it were full of computer keyboards and fiber-optic cable? what would the world be like if we had only the wheel, and no place to go, no desire to travel?

2007-12-14T05:56:00.000-08:00

Checking Our Lists

Well, it's been a while since posting here. Lots has happened, foremost being that I successfully planned and executed a wedding, done mostly by my wonderful wife of five weeks. Lots has happened in the world, too. Foremost I would say has been the constant battery of debates on television, making me feel like I'm back in college on the forensics team traveling each weekend for tournaments. Nevertheless, the time has come to sit and wait, check our lists like Santa Claus, and wait to send a large number of eager adolescent politicians home with just a lump of coal.

I listened to the debate yesterday on WNYC, the last debate until the Iowa Caucus in less than a month. I feel like a child on Christmas Eve, not to find that my candidate one or lost, but to know that I've been freed the pain of the greatest pre-presidential campaign season in history. It's about time the ball finally rolls. Let's just hope the media is still interested enough to cover the actual election once it's here.

2007-10-21T17:55:00.000-07:00

The woes of Web 2.0

Sometimes the social media doesn't feel that social. Especially when you become anti-social. That's the way I've felt these past few month. At present, I've got three of the top five rated stresses going on: a wedding in three weeks, finding a new job, and just finishing a new move across town. Needless to say, I've been off the radar for awhile.

Being away from blogging has given me a glimps into one of the things that made me hesitant from blogging to begin with: being that when you're not getting paid for something, how much work can you really put into it? Fortunately, I'm not filling up search engines with blog posts that are two years outdated, and for the RSS feeds, I'm not filling up subscribers boxes with meaningless posts. Well, maybe some are meaningless.

anyways, enough for now. Just wanted to post something, seeking forgiveness for those visiting for the first time.

2007-08-28T20:12:00.000-07:00

Turning a blind eye

That saying, "When it rains, it pours," I think it's starting to come true these past few days. Not to shed any personal baggage from the past week, but it all ties into together with the idea for this post.

So, last week, after a wonderful wedding shower for LK and I, (only two months to the big date), my right eye, the blind eye, starting having sharp pains. Now, I don't mean sharp like needles or anything like that. I mean sharp, like not sleeping for three days, moaning and driving LK crazy, kind of pains. Fortunately, it was in a blind eye, though quite an annoying thing none the less. Once I finally got the eye under control (thanks in part to lots of under-the-counter goodies), I then lost my front tooth, the one that I knocked out five times when I was a kid. Yeah, I had bad eyes then, too. Anyways, all this is going on while I'm trying to take on a new project for a client. So, I'm managing yself well, tyring to play it cool and not look like the front row of a Lynard skynard concert (with one tooth and one eye taken out). And in all this time, all I can think of is my frustration at the Internet.

All I wanted to do was find a little research on the whole painful eye thing. Instead, I had page after page on political books and articles that kept saying, "...turned a blind eye to the bla, bla, bla of the world"

So, what is this all about? Why is it that whenever we want someone to play dumb, or stick their head in the gorund like an ignorant person, we say, "Turned a blind eye?" Maybe it's the pain kilers, but I find offense in this. Over 75% of the legally blind in this country don't work. It's not because they can't work, but I would argue it's because society thinks they can't work. And I can see why when we use expressions like "turned a blind eye" to paint a picture of someone who is not in the real world. Blind people are, almost always, overdone in movies. sure, there are plenty of memoirs (mine included) that tell the tale of how strong persons who are visually impaired have to be to actually make it in a sighted world. But, look in the Bible, and we're still on the side of the road asking for money.

Ok, enough ranting for now. What I hope, though, is that maybe we can start a campaign, as small as it might be, to start saying, "And he turned a sighted eye..."

2007-08-17T15:54:00.000-07:00

Can the beat go on?

When the late hours on-air would drive my mind into oblivion, and the scratch of the record would start to sound like the concrete running beneath a greyhound bus, I would shake my head, slam down a Cherry Coke, and step into the archives of WUOG where I kept a rare LP of Duke Ellington rolling under the swinging percussion of Max Roach. Roach passed away this week, and there's a part of me that wonders if the beat can still go on.

Roach, remembered aptly here in this CMJ article, was one of the great drummers of all time. He introduced fused rhythms and timings during an era that swung like a metronome, never losing the 2 and the 4 on the snare. But Roach took the trap set to places it had never been, and helped build the sound of Bee Bop into the 1950s.

What was equally as significant for Roach was his dedication to the Civil Rights movement. I tried to think of musicians (or, artists of any kind) who have crossed such a great divide and reached such a large audience in today's corporate entertainment industry. His beat was heard all around the world, from the white snow drifts of Norway, to the muddy banks of the Congo. and in that space, Roach used his music to help break the divide between varying shades of flesh. When you close your eyes, you don't see a person's race, you just feel the beat.

Brian Lehrer, on WNYC aired an old broadcast today taken from an interview with Hip Hop artist Russel Simmons. He was plugging a book he wrote on success. It was nice to hear someone in the music industry speaking out. But Simmon's rhetoric was a little preachy for me. He kept talking about financial success and fusing in spiritual lingo. Yeah, I know. I once was a preacher. But as for the racial divide in this country, God is doing a pretty good job of fighting for the equal rights of humankind (Sharpton, Jackson, et al.). I was wanting to hear the musician shout out to the poverty and segragation that still goes on in this country. I wanted to hear it slung to a beat, the way that Roach to grab your body and soul and throw you down on the dance floor. But I can't find that beat anymore. If anyone hears it, let me know. Because now that Roach is gone, I'm listening hard for it.

2007-08-14T19:35:00.000-07:00

I feel so dirty

Sometimes, you just know. You know something isn't right. You know it's too good to be true. You know that we got to get out of this place, if it's the last thing we ever do. Today was one of those knowing days.

So, I've been on the job hunt lately, figuring that if Lisa Dog get's up so early, I might as well find something to do with my mornings (never ask what a freelancer is wearing when he/she interviews you on the tele). I answered an ad in Craig's list for entry level account execs. It was for a company called Pereira Marketing. They're out of White Plains, NY. And, myself being the hopeless romantic who dreams of catching the train out of Grand central, I thought it would be worth checking out. As a PR guy, I always wondered what marketing folk did. It's like chocolate milk wondering what the cow did to kill time on a sunny day.

So, Lisa and I get to White Plains after a three hour adventure. I put on my best interview face, showing up just in time for my 2:00 pm appointment, and I felt like I had stepped onto the 7 1/2 floor of a corporate office building right on Main Street.

The interview only lasted about ten minutes, and it was very vague. I was told that they would make their calls later that day for the second interview, which would last a whole day. The whole thing sounded strange, and when I asked them for a good place to eat in the nieghborhood, and the guy just said, "Oh, anywhere," I knew I wasn't dealing with a ligit local business that markets itself as "White Plains leading marketing company."

Turns out that Pereira falls into the same pile of marketing companies around the country that sucker in job seekers with visions of grandeur. Can't figure out if they're owned by DSMAX, one of the leaders in this misleading marketing sceme. But, its scent was as strong as polcat shooting Jagemeister at a Pittsburgh pool hall.

went for an interview in White Plains, NY this afternoon, and the job was a set-up for a popular hiring scam. The below links offer more insight into the way the company draws in job seekers and uses them for free labor during what they call a "2nd interview." The first interview I had today was exactly the same as the below links outline. I did not get a call back for the 2nd yet; probably because I'm blind and wouldn't fit into their targeted job seeker profile. Thought you guys might like to know that they're out there. Thanks, if this comes to any sort of banning them from these misleading posts. I listed the post IDs below as well

Best Regards,

Tony

DATE/POST ID from NY Craig's List--
Aug. 12, 2007 -- POST ID: 395217320,
July 26, 2007 -- Post ID: 382335171
July 24, 2007 -- Post ID: 381237685
July 17, 2007 -- Post ID: 375731863

Below are some links that I found uncovering more on these scams:
Rip Off Report
Some guy named Eric gives more loew down

2007-08-13T20:07:00.001-07:00

Someone really does read those papers

New York magazine reportered that Eliott Kalan, a producer for the Daily Show, received the ax after preaching the demise of newspapers in his NY Metro column.

Kalan, who wrote that nobody reads the papers anymore, as atested by the way the Metro is shoved into your hands while descending into the subways, wasn't sure what happened when he received word that his humor column was dropped. It seems the CEO of the Metro's parent company, Chris Spalding, read the article and Kalan's humor was lost in translation.

Looks like somebody actually does read the paper. It's a shame that it happened to be the guy who can have you fired. So much for editorial freedom. We'll have to see how Murdock treats the Journal now.

2007-08-10T14:03:00.000-07:00

Never-ending wednesday

I've been out of town for the past week and finally got back to New York last night at 3am, after one of the longest trips I had taken in quite some time.

What made the trip so special is that I broke an old promise to never take the Greyhound bus again. That followed a crazy 20 day excursion, covering 10,000 miles in 2001, and a great number of trips between Atlanta & Detroit several years ago. Greyhound is notorious for having poor customer service. Consumer Affairs lists some of their horror stories here. Though I can say that I've seen much worse for the more than 19 years that I've travveled on Greyhound (I hate not being able to drive sometime).

Yet, for reasons that only codependent penguins can understand, I found myself excited that I could save over $200 by riding Greyhound at the last minute instead of flying from Atlanta to New York (Amtrak was, as always, sold-out). Unfortunately, as I arrived at the Raleigh bus station, having secured a ride with friends to Raleigh helping to take some of the bit out of my trip, I was soon thrown into the hell that Greyhound is so good at recreating.

LK (soon to be LS) hates hearing me say it, but they are the perfect paradigm of "There's just got to be a better way..." And as I sat beneath the blaring CNN news round-up, which I had heard several times over and over during my four hour wait for the bus that I thought I was late for, all I could think of is how tragic it is that america (land of opportunities & dreams) bills this mode of transit to International travelers as a way to see our country. Though, what do we see? Well, since nobody who works for Greyhound seems to care about it's consumers (who pay their saleries), you see the inside of bus stations that haven't changed in 30 years, because you never know when your bus will pull up. You can't leave, or less you lose your place in line. You also see the class divide in our country, of those people who don't have credit cards and can charge their travels. Instead, they're left to an agonizing mode of transit that constantly reminds them to "stay in their place" and "don't rock the boat (or bus)."

Laidlaw, who owns greyhound, is a company that has strived to make a profit. They have filed for bankrupcy in the past. Though I can't figure out where they lose all their money. Bus stations always seem full with long lines. Atlanta, one of their busiest stations, is in a temp. building for eleven years (so, they're not blowing their money in construction costs). I've found cheaper flights on Airtran than I've found for routes to the same town that take twenty-two hours. And I've ridden on plenty of coaches that have leaks in the ceiling, broken AC, busted bathrooms, and employees who lack in common curtious public relations skills (affirming a lack in staff training). So, where does all their money go?

Greyhound goes against the notion of a profit company in today's free marketplace. I'm surprised that other countries, where mass transit is funded by the government, there is such a high quality of travel when riding the bus.

If making the world green is the way to go, we should start funding a national bus system. It could be something like Amtrak--hopes that we might return to funding them as well. We've allowed Greyhound to corner the market on bus travel in this country. So maybe it's time to just take them over. They could use some of the same quality of service that we get at our national parks or at the post office. Sure, Amtrak has had its share of problems over the years (mostly after the congress cut funding in the 1990s). But the first thing I did when my bus hit Washington DC last night was run to Union Station, with minutes to spare before catching the last train out that night. Big seats, drinks from the club car, and a conductor with a friendly manner made a two hour nap a wonderful end to a two day sega. Almost as good as the two arms waiting for me at home.

2007-08-05T05:13:00.000-07:00

I broke the heat of New York by heading south to Atlanta for a couple of days, where the temp climbed a few more degrees, but my mother has air conditioning in her house (a treat for a New York apartment city dweller. I'm blown away down here by the fact that kids begin school this Monday in Georgia (NYC not starting for another month and a half). What blew me away more was the article run in this weekend's Wall Street Journal.,shaming my own childhood and memories of 1st days of school.

the article (wich forgive me as I heard it on Audible, so I don't have it linked here) was this year's review on the hottest lunch boxes to hit the shelves. Reviewed by 2 children, the boxes rose to the top depending on their versatility and use of space.

What ever happened to the shamless and over-marketed metal boxes with your favorite cartoons? They were all the exact same box, but with different painted images on the front that would peal off on a hot summer day when school busses would line up in the K-Mart parking lot as I left with my new shoes and Six Million Dollar Man lunch box. I didn't care if it had extra pockets for snachs, or if it could fit in my book bag (why would you want to hide such a wonderful display of Yoda or the Dukes of Hazard?). Lunch boxes where a symbol of artistic taste. Didn't matter if the Six Million Dollar Man came on after my bed time. He just looked cool picking up that giant rock that shielded my juice box and Jiffy & jam sandwich. He was strong, powerful, and worth a whole lot of money. I was short, with glasses the side of my head, and lanky. I didn't care about ergonomics in my lunch box. I just needed it as a weapon against would-be lunch thiefs on the playground. And that thing could leave a bruise.

Ah, the good 'ol days... And thus is born another meek, four-eyed kid who saw the pen as something mightier than the sword. And if you didn't have a pen, get a lunch box that could leave a bruise.

2007-08-01T13:16:00.000-07:00

It Never Ends

My love for public broadcasting came at an early age, when I was four-years-old, and I received a letter from the newly acquired WTBS-17. The letter read something like this (it's been lost for some time, but burned in my memory):

Dear Anthony,

We are sorry that the new WTBS-17 no longer broadcasts your favorite show, Flipper, during our afternoon Fun House. We would hope that you will be please, however, with our new line-up of fun and entertaining programs aired on our station. Our decision to remove Flipper was a difficult one. But we felt that the new line of programs were superior. And we are sure that in time they will become your new favorites. Thanks for your concern, and we hope you enjoy the new CH17, WTBS.

Sincerely,

Ted Turner

Of course, that's a rough adaptation of the actual letter received (I think the first letter I ever got, other than birthday cards).
Nevertheless, I loved Flipper, and was never the same after that, becoming bitter and jaded toward the corporate media from that point forward.

On this morning's Page Six of the Post, found here, it was reported that Pulitzer Prize author Robert Butler, a professor at Florida State, had his wife run-off with the multi-billionaire Ted Turner. Professor Butler, in an e-mail to his students and staff, explained the whole separation, siting his wife's abusive grandfather for the split-up. Quite a strech if you ask me. I would have just blaimed the dolphin.

2007-07-30T08:04:00.000-07:00

Pack your bags

Speaking of books with a purpose (see previous post), the Diana Rehm Show , produced by WAMU, had science writer Alan Weisman on, discussing his new book, The World Without Us. Seldom does background radio draw me from the task at hand, but Weisman's story was so compelling and facinating, that I'm keeping my bags packed just in case Lisa, Lu and I have to blow this planet.

The book asks the simple question: What would the world be like if we suddenly disappeared?

Weisman's description made Night of the Comet, (1984), seem a little less exciting. Though the chapter on how New York City would slowly dissolve had a voyeuristic quality, for the deer and mountain lions who would return to their path that now lies beneath broadway. Did you know that the Plaza Hotel was a lake? Lexington Ave. would become a river? Could you imagine a school of Sea Bass waiting on the #6 platform after visiting the flooded basement of the Met?

The book puts a whole new spin in the environmental news-cycle. All we need now is a major Hollywood picture to actually get news coverage on Weisman's vivid image of the world without us.

2007-07-30T07:26:00.000-07:00

One ofthese days

Yesterday, I attended a day long workshop on writing through Mediabistro.com at their SoHo office. The workshop was for writers trying to get their first book published, and it pulled my mind from, "One of these days..." to "It's one of THOSE days..."

I've been fine tuning a memoir that surrounds my efforts to gain my father's love in the years following my blindness, and leading up to his death in Mexico City. It takes on a larger scope of Latin American violence, the turned up racial ground in Atlanta following MLK's death, issues facing the disabled, and a bunch of other stuff that probably needs to get edited out or tuned up.

The workshop was helpful, though a little stressful. Lisa (my Seeing Eye Dog) and I got caught in a heavy downpour going into the City. Then, in the middle of the workshop, Lisa started making those low stomach noises, the kind that send fear into any dog owner. It followed with me scurring to find a blast shield, grabbing my black H&M bag and muzzling her with it as she began upchucking. Didn't help that my Mac Book & agent letter were in the bag. I got up to quietly excuse myself to clean things up, and then got locked out of the building when taking her for a walk.

Is this some kind of sign?

This post isn't so much what to do when your dog begins to puke as you prepare to meet face to face with a leading industry agent and editor. Rather, it's how writers can continue to inspire you even when the dog days of summer weigh heavy on your spirit, literally...

I was moved by the number of aspiring authors who had a message they wanted to tell, and it was a message that needed to be heard. The room was full of pitches as diverse as New York. Latino issues, eating disorders, learning disabled issues, race issues, addiction, and so on. They stories were fused in memoirs, fiction, essays, and other spirited texts. What will be nice is to keep my years open onver the next year or two, to hear if one of them actually makes it onto the shelf. If anything, there will be a minimum of twenty copies sold.

2007-07-27T07:02:00.001-07:00

Reductions Redux

The New York Times reported today that colonialist moves are taking place in South America. The article points the finger not at multi-national corporations or armed conquistadors. But, rather, one of the world’s leading environmental nonprofit organizations.

The World Wildlife Fund has, according to the times, been making an assertive effort to place control of rain forest lands into the arms of an international body. Much to the distaste of Brazil leaders and interested corporate industries, such control threatens the lucrative mining and construction industry. Though environmentalists argue that Brazille is 4th in global greenhouse gas emissions, and ¾ of that comes from deforestization.

The word “Cololialists” is a loaded word in Latin America. And I’m sure the heavy handed corporate PR offices will try to use it to their advantage. I’d rather like to think of the WWF’s move is more nostalgic for the Jesuit Reductions of the 17th century, than the hostile colonization by European kings. The reductions, which The Mission portrayed in 1986, were a collection of communal villages that strived for a eutopian existence amidst the hostile Spanish conquistadors The villages, which shared property in common and provided public schools and services, were under the control of the Jesuit Fathers, who held no Sovran claim over South America. Instead, their focus was on preserving the lives of the indigenous peoples and trying to create, as they saw it, a Christian paradise on earth.

Now, I’m not suggesting that the WWF is trying to evangelize South America. They’re not in the business of saving souls, but saving trees. However, their efforts raise a vital issue in the global campaign to save the planet. How far can a nonprofit go to save the earth? Do they have the power to go up against military forces and corporate machines? The Jesuits eventually fell to king’s rule in the mid 1700s and were excommunicated from the Catholic Church for over fifty years. Even recent efforts for the little fish to take on the shark have failed. My mouth is still bitter with Columbian coffee. However, few nonprofits have been able to show their strength like the WWF. So, I remain hopeful that Brazille’s rain forests can be saved by this recent power play. Look what they did to the WWE. If that doesn’t show muscle, than I don’t know what does.

2007-07-26T06:15:00.000-07:00

The quill & the nail

A long, long time ago, when big hair was replaced by flannel shirts and we celebrated our first victory in Iraq, I sat in the old oak desk in Evans Hall at Berry College and listened to my Journalism 101 professor tell us how the future of the newspaper industry rested on our sholders. Circulation for newspapers was on the decline, especially amongst younger readers, and it was up to us (the future journalists) to bring back the golden age of print. I was surprised, then, to read in today's Christian Science Monitor an opinion piece that cried wolf for the future of newspapers.

The article argues that over the past few years newspaper readership has been in decline, especially amongst teens and young adults. The article's author, Larry Atkins, a lawyer and adjunct instructor of journalism at Temple's Ambler campus, asserts that what newspapers need to do is start publishing more Op.Ed. pieces by young adults and teens. He targets high school and college newspapers as a source of Op.Ed. recruitment, siting that the 40-somthings holding down the editorial desks are out of touch. This, he argues, will bring young readers back and allow a future generation to be saved from the ravishes of an illiterate prolitariate.

With all due respect to Atkins, never having met the man, I believe his hypothesis on saving traditional print is off the mark (or, off the page). I'm not trying to write a treatise on how to save the NYT or WSJ. Looking at the ammount of unclaimed newspapers left in our CoOp lobby each weekend, I'd rather see newspapers completely reform themselves and save a few million trees in the process. What I would like to present is this.

Instead of us thinking that newspapers are the saviors of truth and democracy, the print media needs to realize that it is no longer a leading choice for mediated messages in our ever growing Global Village. The Newspaper Association of America should spend more time trying to develop a product and brand that speaks to young adults. And by this, I mean somthing different than a three color tabloid with news fonts and a catchy masthead slogan.

If newspapers were still in the business of empowering the masses through keeping thewell-informed, than I think they would have helped lead us into this new area of social media and citizen journalism. Instead, they continue to try to think of ways that they can get eyes back onto their print pages, where advertising dollars reallly count.

There is no doubt that young Americans get very little news in their daily diet (at least, news that feeds their political & social intellect). But to say that traditional newspapers are the future choice for our future generation of leaders?

Early American newspapers, like The Boston Gazette, shaped the American Revolution and were a major cause in drafting the First Amendment. But writers writers like Samual Adams and designers like Paul Revere were much more a mirrored image of today's bloggers. They didn't have degrees in journalism from Harvard College. Instead, they were just concered citizens looking for a way to journal their ideas for a mass audience. They were, if you will, the first citizen journalists. And their words changed the world.

I'm not against journalism schools and newspapers. I have two degrees from the Grady College of Journalism at The University of Georgia. I also loved working late nights for The Rome News-Tribune, when the presses would start to roll and shake the whole newsroom. My ability to write and decipher news and information is a great gift. But traditional media and schools of journalism can not be stuck in tradition. Technology, when it is unfettered, could care less about tradition. And having John Stewart start writing Op.Ed. pieces, or little Billy from Lake Forest, Illinois for that fact, is not going to sustain the print media in some 1945 bubble.

It's an exciting time to be engaged in something that is completely new. It is, after all, the "news" business. Right?

2007-06-18T10:04:00.000-07:00

IS STEWART STEWED?

Recent gossip has been filling the halls at 30 Rock today after NBC sources reported Comedy central's John Stewarthaving been courted by NBC directors. The rumors, which carry an erie reminder to when Letterman bidded for outgoing Jonny's Tonight Show seat, raises the question of whether or not O'Brian's alignment to fill Leno's seat in two years will be in danger of being passed by the leading voice of a generation of late night viewers.

Although Stewart and CC refused to comment, there, nevertheless, will be a political struggle for the coveted late night show that is the paradigm for post-prime-time programming.

Although filling Leno's slot would be a major career step for Stewart, reaching a much larger audience, I can't help but wonder what kind of programming changes network programmers would impose on Stewart. There's no better way to kill a good thing than to hand it over to a focus group. Too, Stewart would probably be pressured to shift his guest list from leading political figures, to the very people he ridicules when egos need to be broken. Can you imagine Stewart interviewing Paris Hilton or Kiefer Sutherland? what would the nonfiction publishing industry do if Stewart leavesCC.

I would love to see stewart for free each night, and know it would be a personal sign of achievement if he took either Leno or Letterman's spot. though I would only hope that the powers-that-be in network programming would have the sense to give stewart control over the course of his own future.

2007-06-12T10:05:00.000-07:00

Monday, on MS-NBC's Morning Joe, Dan Rather, in an ever on-going attempt to promote his HD-Net program made critical remarks of CBS Evening News anchor, Katie Kurick. Rather's Comments accused Couric of dumbing down the evening news and making it more like the Today Show<. Couric, who replaced Rather as head anchor and managing editor for the CBS Evening News, has been slipping in the rating in the already 3rd place slot when she started last year. Les Moon, CBS president, called Rather's comments sexist.

This post isn't about whether or not rather's coments were sexist toward Courick; though having heard them I think Rather was refering to her editorial choice of newscoverage, a coment that could have been made toward any anchor who has shifted from what Rather would like to see as hard-hitting news, instead of Paris Hilton marathons. (Writer's viewpoint: Moon, in this situation, is simply taking the heat of his company's chief investment and placing it back onto the sholders of a man who stood up on behalf of his producers and took responsability for their lack of fact checking during the 2004 presidential campaign, which became a sort of Shakespearean tragedy for broadcast journalism). What I would rather focus on, for a sort of daily media meditation, is the strange triangle that encompasses this whole story.

Last week, Today show's weather man, Al Roker, made a comment of his own that made the NY Post. Roker had to apologize for a statement poking fun at persons with epilepsy while setting up a not-so-funny joke on the new logo for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Roker finds himself backtracking after his remarks, which come only two months after Rocker pushed MS-NBC to remove Don Imus, after Imus ended his career not like Shakespeare, but more like a Smith's song. Imus' comments had Roker and others take the charge on not accepting forgiveness and reconciliation, but instead on reminding the world that radio has no clue how to deal with cricis, as they fired Imus during a pledge-drive for children with cancer.

So, rather is sexist for commenting on Courick, who use to work with Al. Courick is accused of bringing a style of journalism that dumbs down society, an environment where soft news writers and anchors through stuff out there that might not always be so refined, and sometimes might offend like in Roker's case. Roker is on the hot seat after many call him a hipocrit who should resign after the way he attacked don Imus. And Dan Rather is telling us of the downfall for hard news on the morning replacement for the now defunk Don Imus Show simulcasted on MS-NBC. Wow, my head is spinning...

This morning on NPR's Dianne Rehm Show, Rehm had a discussion with Washington attorny and author Scott Gant on the demise of journalism. Blogs, like the one that lead to Rather's demise, have been a hot spot for hardlined journalists and media scholars, who believe they're furthering the dumbing down of America with their misinformed and bias editorial reporting (This blogger would like to think that although bias on this site, I'm at least informed, with my MA in journalism and fifteen years in the biz). Gant, as do I, argued that Blog's have done some good in fulfilling the dream's of the American Founding Fathers, both of us agreeing that modern journalism has rising to a level of special privilege.

All of this leads to the continued poor pixillation of American mass media...Do we still go to what once were hard news outlets to get true and unbias hard news?

If the news industry wishes to survive, it needs to learn how to take the lead in forming emerging technologies and mediums, how to sparse them out as "commentary," hard news," entertainment," etc. If Katie Couric wants to make the Evening News more like the Today Show, that's fine. She's managing editor and has the power. Afterall, we already have two toher networks that pretty much run the same run-down of stories. Instead, netowrks still walk softly, focus grouping and trying not to stir up any waters of change; instead choosing to kill any innovation that comes along.

I pretty much know that if I want real news, I turn to either NPR, the BBC or the daily Show. If I want to be shocked, I turn on the morning shock jocks like (&A, or the former Imus. And if I want to be bored, I turn on the evening news...You choose the network.

2007-05-25T08:25:00.000-07:00

Well, there's been little going on here over the past several months. I had been posting on my web site, Off the CyberShelf. But, I'm currently redoing that site. So, I'm back to Blogger, for those who still have me on RSS. No, I hadn't vanished, just been spending time at my .Mac time share, if you will.

I wanted to just post up something that has been running through my mind for the radioheads out there--unfortunately, not the band. But I have the tendency, from time to time, to get caught up in terrestrial radio. And so it has been the past day.

Freedom has fallen amidst the halls of CBS radio these past few days as plans came to life to bring back the the once mighty KROCK, the flagship station that helped launch Howard Stern's media empire before he left last year for sattelit radio. The station, for reasons I can't imagine, went over to full-time talk except for weekends. It stumbled for awhile, trying to find a solid mix of voices. And finally, only a couple of weeks after their mid-day show was pulled after complaints, what was formally known as Free FM fell to the slavery of poor market ratings in America's largest radio market.
I'm not surprised by this move, though a little upset that virtually their entire on-air staff was fired just a couple of hours before listeners figured out that something was going on at the station, WFNY 92.3. Radio continually rises up as the worst possible example on how to fire employees. Despite this, it was pretty clear from the beginning that management was tepid, at best, in offering its complete support of its on-air talent--a good sign to not file away your air-tape and resume because you'll probably need it on a minute's notice.

Radio is strange, like that. Instead of thinking how it can actually market itself in a way that can establish a solid listening base, it doesn't completely commit to something new and cutting edge. Just take a listen to the music it kicked off with after returning to KROCK. It sounds like nothing has changed at the station since 1997. The problem is that Q104.3 (New York's Classic Rock) has slowly been creeping in more modern bands from the 1990s, and the new Jack 101.1 FM has cornered the market on filling the void that KROCK left, with the addition of everyone's secret music colection from middle school.

I can't imagine New York really needs another station that plays Van Halen. They had a chance to market on the appeal, or disappeal, that shock jocks have had since Imus got fired last month. "What will they do next to shock us all?" listeners might have thought tuning into find out if "Talk that Rocked" was going to shake the feathers of Al or other action groups.

There move was clearly a ratings decision, not one of fear out of what DJs might say on the air. There feet were cold from the launch in January, 2006.. And now, I'm sure, they will be even colder as they loose an audience that had been loyal for the past year, and try to find another one that has matured during their absence and moved over to the softer Jack FM, while moving into their new homes in Park Slope or JC.

2007-02-13T09:11:00.000-08:00

POLITICS OR PROGRESS

This past Sunday, students and professors gathered just beyond the stone covered archway at the Johnston Gate, along the icy covered path that fans itself out onto Harvard Yard. The modest crowd came together in support for the first woman president of Harvard University, Professor and Historian Drew Gilpin Faust.

Faust, 59, who becomes the twenty-eighth president of what the New York Time’s called on September 27, “The World’s most prestigious university,” faces the major task of not just reinventing the image of Harvard’s chief-executive-officer, but reinventing the overall university, after Harvard slipped into second place behind Princeton this past year in national college rankings.

“I’m not the woman president of Harvard,” Faust said in a press conference following the announcement by Harvard’s Board of Overseers. “I’m the president of Harvard.”

Faust, who will be raised to her new post on July 1, takes charge amidst the lingering public relations fiasco that Lawrence Summers, Faust’s predecessor, created after he made remarks that women lacked the biological faculties necessary to excel in mathematics and the sciences. Summer’s comments, which he made in January, 2005, stayed with him until his resignation this past summer. several key figures at Harvard site his remarks as the source of his demise.

Part of Summers’ cleanup campaign following his statement was the appointment of Faust, who has been Dean of the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard since 2001, to a special committee intended to increase intellectual pursuits by women at the 371-year-old university founded originally as a seminary for men.

Faust, who was the first dean of the Radcliffe Institute since Harvard observed the college in 1999, helped reform the institute from a college in disrepair to a leading center for scholarship and research, dedicated to its mission of addressing the serious gender issues in modern society. Radcliffe was originally founded as The Women’s College in the shadow of Harvard.

Drew, who recalled her mother telling her as a girl that she better get used to living in a man’s world, was humbled in knowing she was an inspiration for women everywhere, what some might call a living expression of Radcliffe’s mission. However, she continues to draw attention away from the gender issue, and on the pressing needs Harvard faces. She has already announced her commitment to the sciences, even before the announcement of her new post was made official.

It’s safe to say that the Harvard Corporation, which is the official board comprised of the board members who make their recommendation to the Harvard Board of Overseers, made of alumni, seeks to enhance its scientific contribution. Faust’s appointment comes two weeks after front runner Thomas Cech, President of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Nobel Laureate in chemistry, removed his name from the selection committee.

Faust has already announced her commitment to improving the scientific community at Harvard while dean of Radcliffe. Although Faust’s expertise lies as a historian on the Civil War and the American South. Far from the sciences, Faust’s own scholarship might help guide the un Faust, while at the University of Pennsylvania, where she taught for twenty-five years, published a study entitled Mothers of Invention, which looked at how white southern women after the Civil War had to reinvent themselves in a new economy, finding themselves learning the labors of domestic caregiving after their slave servants were liberated. The book received great acclaim by the National Historical Society.

Faust, like her subjects of study, finds herself in good company. Now that she becomes Harvard’s president, she is one of four women who hold such a distinguished position amongst the eight ivy league schools in America; the list including Brown, Princeton and Faust’s own almamater, Pennsylvania. Penn. President, Amy Gutman, was a front runner against Summers in 2001, against Summers who had high publicity after serving as the Secretary of the Treasury during Clinton’s last year and a half in office.

Gutman, who knew Faust from Penn., told the press that she never could have dreamed of their successes years ago.

What weighs on Faust’s success is not just her ability to disprove nay sayers that argue she was a political pawn in light of Summers comments on gender bias--Harvard’s student publication, The Crimson, was already critical on this rumor on the eve of Faust’s appointment.

What barrier Faust also faces--perhaps greater than the gender card--is making progress amongst the politics of America’s oldest corporation. On another point of interest, Faust is the first president of Harvard in 335 years who holds no degree from the institution. Harvard’s first school master, Nathaniel Eaton, and the first two presidents who followed, received their education in England, Harvard graduating a fraction of the number of students at Oxford or Cambridge between its first freshman class of 1636 and 1672, when Harvard’s first alum finally took charge of the school. The college was more concerned in those days puritan ministers rather than presidents of higher education, during a time when the Massachusetts Bay was comprised of English immigrants who could still feel the sway of the sea beneath their step. They were not just educating Harvard’s first class. They were educating the first generation of colonial Americans.
Having to invent America’s Academy of higher education, Harvard is known for conducting business in one way, the Harvard way. It is a way of proceeding that Faust has had to learn since taking the title of Radcliffe Dean six years ago. For some, the question will not be how long Faust can change the letterhead from Chairman of the Harvard Corporation to Chairwoman, but how soon she can learn all the names and faces of Harvard’s prestigious alumni base who help endow the funds necessary to sustain Harvard’s 3 billion dollar annual budget. However, Daniel Bok, Harvard’s twenty-fifth president and the serving interim president during the search process, told the press that Faust knows Harvard, and is confident of her success.
iversity as it tries to reclaim is status as America’s research university.

In 1640, following allegations of misconduct, Harvard’s first school master was forced to resign from his post. Tensions were also reported between Schoolmast Eaton and, then, Massachusetts Governor John Winthrop, over claims that Eaton supported the theological view known as antinominism. This belief ascribed that moral law was relative and changing, rather than a fixed unchanging biological law, which was a major belief of the Puritans. Eaton eventually had to flee Massachusetts and moved to Virginia. His view that moral laws are in flux, rather than biological or natural law, casts an interesting light amidst the comments made by former President Summers. And it raises the question whether or not whispers are carrying through the halls at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, that if Harvard could finally accept a woman president, is the rest of America ready to accept a woman president? For the academy-at-large, that collection of intellectual minds in American society, Faust offers great hope for the future.

RELATED LINKS:

"HARVARD SAID TO MAKE PICK..."--THE BOSTON GLOBE ON-LINE

THE CRIMSON's continued coverage, Harvard's daily newspaper

Harvard University

The radcliffe Institute

2007-02-04T19:04:00.000-08:00

I find it interesting that during the Super bowl the announcers put in a plug for watching the commercials on-line after the game at CBS Sportsline. Between that and one of the better half-time shows I've seen in many years, Prince prooving that he still is a master showman, I have come to wonder if anyone actually watches the Super Bowl for the football.

2007-01-30T10:43:00.000-08:00

Last evening on John Stewart's The Daily Show, Bill Gates introduced Windows new operating system, Vista. The program was an excellent opportunity for Gates to reach his target audience of young professionals, who mainly make up The Daily Show's audience base, and tote his new product. Myself a Mac user, I hadn't even heard of the product being released anytime soon, just hearing wispers about its beta from last year. Though it wasn't the new operating system which caught my attention during the interview. Instead, it was the discussion the two men had on the future of technology.

Gates is still adamant that their technology will completely revolutionize the way people communicate in the next five years. The model he presented continues to fuse the cyber world with current forms of media distribution, invisioning a You Tube that will become more of a "You Couch Potato.com."

I would argue that the biggest impact Gates invisions is the way in which we receive our media. I, like many (and I consider myself very tech savvy), will stil prefer to watch TV at the end of a hard day at work. And we'll still like watching a movie on the big screen instead of a brightly outlined white box on a computer screen. Gates argued that "choice" was one of the things that would change the most. But I am a believer that most Americans, and the world for that fact, don't realy care about how they get their entertainment news, so long as they know what happens to Hilton or swank. A study on Brazilian soap operas summed it up for me when I was in graduate school, where one scholar said that television in Brazil was more of an escape than a distribution of knowledge. When FM came out in the 1960s, after it had been in the research labs for twenty-five years, some thought it could be used to improve the culture of our society, giving them classical music in clear stereo sound. Still, Americans prefer Opie & Anthony over a Beathovan opus. They participate more on a passive level than an active one.

What has changed in the world, as I've stated earlier in this blog, is the rise of the independents, the little man or woman who can create a story in their room, and then they can distribute it all over the world. The "nitch" has thanks to give to the rise in computer technology. But when the world ends, I have a feeling that everyone will still be watching CNN, instead of watching dancing dogs on You Tube.

2007-01-18T19:40:00.000-08:00

"CLEARING THE CHANNELS"

It's made a lot of news these past few days, the events that ended with the death of an on-air contestant at Sacramento's 107.9, The End. The woman, who tried to win a new game system by drinking so much water that she died later of water intoxication, cleared the way for probably the end of the morning Rave crew's career in radio, and probably way for a hefty suit against the station. What interests me in this whole story is the larger picture for radio overall in America.

I won't go on my own rant about how the Rave is just another example of how radio continues to work against the public good. I'm not against shock jocks, per say. In fact, I learned of the story from O&A's morning show here in New York. What I am discouraged with is that markets are so homogenized and run by corporate offices in Dallas or Denver that the purpose of why stations are licenced public air waves seems to be lost. There's little attention given to what fragments of radio staffs still exist in this country, since the days of audimation. And I wonder if a locally managed station with more of a grass roots style of management, like the old days of FM, might have sat down and said, "You know what, maybe this isn't the best idea guys?" Or, maybe there wouldn't be that whole quiet "hush--hush, don't talk about it" vibe that goes on whenever station employees make big mistakes. And you can't make a bigger mistake than having one of your contestants go home and die due to your pourly planned attempt to get ratings.

Several years ago, when I was riding a Greyhound bus across the country archiving FM radio stations, 10,000 miles in twenty days, I remember passing through Sacramento and listening to the morning crew on one of their stations (not sure if it was the End or not, as radio was quite different then than it is just six years later). One of the stations had a contest where a person would win a limo ride to Nevada and lose his virginity. I remember thinking this is a bad idea, and wondering if I was the only one who thought this.

One of the problems with these "bad ideas" are that people who can actually say, "yeah, that's a really bad idea," live two thousand miles away in an office where all they're ever given are the Arbitron ratings, seldom raising an eye brow unless the share of their station actually falls. Well, I have a feeling they're falling now in sacramento.

2007-01-15T09:40:00.000-08:00

GROWING PAINS--

Recently, there’s been a lot of talk regarding gentrification in New York City, especially in Brooklyn. Douglas Rushkoff, a writer and media theorist living in Park Slope, received quite a bit of negative feedback the other week after criticizing the mal effects of gentrification into urban dwellings. Although Rushkoff feels as though he might have taken an unnecessary defensive after sharing parts of his personal life, as he notes on his blog, I am glad the writer brought up the issue, sharing on how he was mugged on Christmas morning in one of Brooklyn’s most expensive brownstone neighborhoods.

The struggles of Park Slope come as no surprise to me, myself having to move to Bay Ridge last month after being priced out of the slope. But I’m not at all surprised with the false shroud of reality that has surrounded my former neighborhood of stoop sales and mom & pop cafes.

Today is the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. It's not just his memorial day, but also his actual birthday. Born in South Atlanta, and growing up on the North side of that urban Mecca for southern industry and business, I knew well the teachings of Dr. King from my school years. His home on Auburn Avenue wasn’t too far a walk from Five Points on Peachtree Street, where my great grandfather from Britain had his shoe store. My childhood was one removed from the big city, watching Atlanta struggle with urban flight as I grew-up, watching my parents’ childhood homes fall into disrepair.

Last year, I had taken a group to visit the King Center on Auburn Ave., and I was quite impressed with the amount of gentrification the City had been undergoing. Many of my friends had moved into the City, opting for “Fix-Me-Ups” over suburban living. It has, in a lot of ways, become the cool way to live for America’s young hip professionals.

The situation in Park Slope is no surprise, when market values on real estate sore so high that they can hardly justify their worth against the back drop of tattered furniture left on the side walks by previous owners priced out of their homes. Recent city reports show that Brooklyn’s real estate increased 28% last year, one of the highest increases in the city. Nevertheless, new city dwellers need to remember that luxury can come at a higher cost in the city when the effects of such gentrification are ignored.

On this MLK Day, it’s important to not forget the equality that Dr. King envisioned in the world that he dreamed of forty years ago. New York, as well as Atlanta and other big cities, has changed much since then. But just because something changes doesn’t mean that what sat there before should be wiped clean. Gentrification’s greatest harm is the displacement it places on those who were priced out of the only place they could call home. And when someone is forced out of his or her home, you can imagine that they don’t have the best warm and fuzzy feelings for those who are pushing them out.

Gentrification without generosity leads to the bitter spats like those that have flamed up since Rushkoff’s comments on the subject. King reminds us the greatest leaders are servants. I imagine that those who can afford to live now in Park Slope must lead something, in order to afford such a high standard of living. So I encourage them, as well as all people who move into the city, to not just sit behind closed doors in fear, nor to go rushing to your city council to protest the acts of crime in your neighborhood. Instead, fight for affordable housing, volunteer at local churches and civic groups to help the displaced, spend one night a month at your local shelter or job placement center, helping out or teaching. Don’t rewrite the neighborhood you’re moving into, but become a part of it's living story that unfolds. I would love to hear a real estate company encourage this as they try to make a sell, rather than tell you how the kitchen just got new stainless steel appliances. It’s a global village folks, so you better learn how to live with one another, and be thankful you can choose where you want to live.

2007-01-02T13:11:00.001-08:00

Christmas always strikes me as such an interesting holiday. It is, without a doubt, one of my favorites, while at the same time it is one of the most difficult times of the year to endure. The season has become such a commercial venture that once the St. Valentine’s Day displays have been put away—which Target had up right after Christmas--I’m sure the Santa display will be dusted off for ten long months of the Christmas season.

It interests me that more people don’t catch onto the name of Christmas. It is, after all, rooted in the Christian calendar marking the mass that is to symbolize the birth of Christ in the Patriarch Churches (Catholic and other liturgical faiths that trace their roots to the ancient Christian Church). Even though towns like Pittsburgh call it the Festival of Lights, and Chicago has Mickey Mouse turning on their holiday lights along Michigan ave., there is no hiding from the fact that the season would hardly exist if not for the Christian faith. Hanuka is, after all, a minor feast in the Jewish year. Although many modern denominations no longer celebrate a Eucharistic mass, the day is still marked as the birth of Christ by a country that is predominately Christian. And it’s as much an Icon of American life as little white churches with tall steeples, and bright and colorful Easter dresses in the spring.

There are, in fact, twelve days of Christmas, much like the holiday song actually denotes, but few seldom remember. In most parts of the world, gifts are not exchanged until the last day, known as the Epiphany, when the wise men came to Bethlehem bearing gifts for the newborn son they had heard of in a dream, or vision, or whatever desert juice they were drinking.

There is so much energy put into the thirty-minute span when presents are to be opened, that Americans seem to blow out as soon as Christmas arrives. Some can’t even make it to Christmas Day, which in many denominations begins once the sun falls on Christmas Eve. The result is a hangover of commercialization that leaves us cloudy for the twelve days following December 25th, so much that it passes us by with little notice, except for the start of the New Year, which has nothing to do with Christmas.

Take for instance today, which is technically the 8th day after Christmas—eight maids a milking, or whatever it is that we’re suppose to get today. To get the true meaning of this day, Christians should ask their friends who celebrate Hanuka to better explain the 8th day after a new born boy’s birth.

The 8th day after a Jewish male is born is when the child is circumcised and given his proper name. The custom predates written history, and until the nineteenth century it was a custom reserved for mostly Jewish boys, orthodox Arabs and a few indigenous tribal ceremonies around the world. Although the practice has not been partaken by Christians, except in the U.S. and Philippines for medical purposes, it is in fact an important feast day within the eastern and Western Catholic Churches. Originally called the feast of the Circumcision, modest Irish bishops, who would rather not talk about such squeamish things (Face it bishops, Jesus was Jewish), simply now call this day as The Feast of the Holy Name, when Jesus received his name; I’m sure under the much protest of the eight day old infant. It was historically celebrated on January 1st (technically the 8th day of Christmas—I always have trouble counting), but it was moved to the 2nd day of January and renamed as the memorial feast of the Holy Name, a minor day in the catholic Church.

There is actually a church in the north of Italy, in the ancient mountain town of Calcata, named after the Sanctus Prebus of Christ (you do the Latin), The church had claimed to possess the venerable artifact before being stolen in 1983. Slate Magazine did an interesting story on the theft which many believe to be a conspiracy by Rome; one which the Catholic Church denys. Though I doubt it caught great demand along the illegal markets of Rome or Florence if taken by run-of-the-mill thievs.

The bris is an important event, worthy of celebration amongst my many Jewish friends. My Fiancé was invited to one just last week. Unfortunately, depending who you ask, she was unable to attend. In the Christian faith, this day is an important day, as it symbolizes when Jesus entered into the covenant that he was to change. It showed his obedience, not that he had much say in it. And it reminded his parents of his purpose as they gave him the name Jesus, which translates “He who saves.” It is, incidentally, the same as Joshua, the popular anglicized version of the original ie-su-a.

The tone of this post probably gives away the fact that I am a Catholic and was held up in seminary for far too long before making my exodus to Brooklyn. I find interesting the liturgical calander of my faith, it full of so many feast days that tell the stories of saints and legends. There’s little mystery in our world today. But somehow, Christmas revives that sense of mystery, a sense that was quite alive in my childhood, but forced into the dry winter earth once I grew older and fell victim to the commercialization of the season. Tradition is nice for breaking out of the mainstream. Some might say it’s ancient myth. But it’s in myth that real creativity is born. And when I dive into the history of my faith, I find my own creativity taking on a new depth.

So, if anyone asks you what you learned today, you can squirm a little in your chair as you explain. I doubt you’ll see television commercials marking the day. Television does wonders for making tradition sterile, much in the same way a surgen makes the cerimonial work of a moil less profound and much more painful to watch.

Merry 8th day of Christmas.

2007-01-01T16:34:00.000-08:00

The New Year came in with little bang,but great company as I gathered with close friends and my fiancé at a bar in SoHo last evening and into this morning. I’m sitting here now in my apartment enjoying cable, one of the gifts I gave myself for Christmas. It’s the first time in six years that I’ve had such a luxury—not including the cable that I had while living in the cloistered religious houses over the past several years. VH-1 is calling me back to the memories I tried to forget from the 1980s. Yet, somehow I’m mesmerized to see where the icons of my youth have ended up in this new age of nitch music.

My resolution this year is simple. My blogs, this one particularly, will begin to receive much more content and a fresh of well-needed fresh air this coming month. It’s the first day of January in New York, and it feels like the middle of April (59 degrees and rainy). So let’s hope this is a sign of my resolved spring-cleaning here on this blog, and not a sign of the end of the world.

2006-11-18T11:00:00.000-08:00

friedman Fades Away

Friday evening on NBC’s Nightly News, Brian Williams reported on the loss of the University of Michigan’s former football coach, Bo Schendechler. This story was on the eve of one of the great college football match-ups, Michigan vs. Ohio State, or as I like to think of it, a weasly looking dog against a prickly thing that falls out of trees.

Meanwhile, one of America’s greatest economists died this past Thursday with hardly a mention. Milton Friedman died this past Thursday with hardly a mention, if not for Public television. Frieman was part of the influencial Chicago School of Economics, and probably one of the greatest minds to stroll through Hyde Park on the Southside of Chicago, next to probably that of prominent American philosopher Allan Bloom who died in 1992.

Friedman was most known for his applied economic theories that helped fuel the free market explosion during the 1950s and 1960s. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1976, one of his great achieements that gained him respect throughout the globe. In many ways, he was one of the authors of the modern free market society that helped pave the way toward Globalization.

In addition to his influence on macro economics, Friedman was, along with former fed. Chairman Alan Greenspan, a follower of Ayn Rand, a popular fiction writer who developed a school of philosophical thought that pegged hard line capitalism with human liberty and freedom.

I would like to see a pole on Sunday of how many Americans knew who won today’s Michigan vs. Ohio State game and compare that with how many Americans actually knew who Milton friedman was.

2006-11-18T09:33:00.000-08:00

Georgia Gives Gilbert the Gag

Ok, in some ways that last post was a bit of a rant. I hadn't written anything on this blog for so long, I guess I was catching up. Though the issue of journalists becoming public intellectuals and commentators still makes me weary. I don't doubt that an intellectual can be born out of American schools of journalism. Though I am a bit put on guard when the reporter does more than reporting. Editorial Op. Eds. are one thing, as they clearly state their point by the mere title of the page--that they are not a report but an opinion.

The University of Georgia's independent student newspaper, The Red & Black, ran a story this past Thursday that made the daily news digest for MediaBistro, a leading resource organization for media artists. The article, found HERE uncovered a former Georgetown grad who was prancing around the lecture circuit touting that he was a foreign reporter for WCBS in New York. David Gilbert, who had actually only briefly been contracted to string for WCBS and was never on their payroll, had been traveling the university circuit presenting a propaganda message in favor of armed conflict, taking sides with a hard lined Israeli perspective. According to the Red & Black, journalism students questioned Gilbert's vitae, which was later discovered to be exaggerated.

I wonder if Gilbert had spent his Sunday mornings watching Bob Schafer on CBS and the weekly news round-up, wishing that he was one of leading reporters asked to give his or her views on the crisis in the Middle East. Incidentally, Gilbert’s minimum speaking fee was $1,000.

Good job for David Hazinski and the broadcast students at the Grady College of Journalism, for doing some serious investigative journalism and reporting. I can’t think of the last time I saw a student media group break into the daily news digest.

2006-11-16T09:43:00.000-08:00

It has been a week now since the results of the midterm election sent their final shock through the aged and weary Contract With America (TM). It's taken me a week, at least, to try to digest everything that happened on Election tuesday. In a lot of ways, elections are more like the old days, when results took as long as the horse ride to D.C. took from the Frontier. The more advanced the voting process becmes seems to have little inpact on the immediacy of finding out who actually wins.

Unfortunately, my vote was not heard this election. The New York Board of Elections managed to loose my registration not once, but twice. I had voted in the Primary election this past September, only to receive a scolding letter from the board that my ballet was thrown out since I was not registered to vote. I had registered along party line when I signed up for my ID, checking the box on the form along with the organ doner box. I received my organ info. But no voting info. So after the rejection letter, I registered again. But alas, still never heard anything, and thus my vote was not heard. Not that it really matters as my district is probably one of the most blue districts in the Empire State.

I move in two weeks to Bay Ridge, a much more red district. It makes me think how strange our country has become, that we divide it into color charts and maps. what do you do if you're color blind? Vote independent?

The media has played out this one quite well...Not the colors, but the color comentary during and after the election. sometimes I think it's like having me call out NASCAR racing, a blind subway dweller trying to explain who's on first or in first, and who's on the pole, which to me is something you hold onto when the train comes to a quick stop.

The comentary spells out clearly, in the eyes of reporters who didn't do a good job of calling the actual game, saying that the democrats would be lucky to pull off the fifteen seats and probably not get the senate. Shadowing their own imperfect predictions, kind of like weather forcastors, the mainstream media begin to use news that has little weight in the election once the election was over. Reporters, instead of reporting, comment on how America has changed, how certain votes or voting populations were ignored, how certain advertisements were the determining factor in certain races. They make predictions about who will do what, already focusing now on the presidental election of 2008. They predict about how we'll investigate Iraq and bush, and hmeland security.

What I would like to hear is less comentary by the journalists of newspapers and broadcast outlets, and more reporting. watching the nightly news last evening, there was one major international story with a domestic slant, Iraq, and then a fluff story on the auto industry meeting in Washington and a bunch of human interest and health stories. Where has all the news gone? Even if I had voted, I'd be hard pressed to actually learn about what my representative is doing for me and my district. I want political coverage, not speculation. I spent seven years in journalism school, undergrad and graduate combined. I learned how to report, how to gather facts, how to develop an exciting and informative story. commentary is for Plato, not Bernsteen.

2006-09-24T13:45:00.000-07:00

well, it's been a while since the last post. Sorry about that gang. I've been on the full-time job hunt, which is a full-time job, in its own rite.

Last evening I saw a documentary, however, that was worth writing about in this medium. the film, called Jesus Camp, just opened this weekend in New York, after running the film festival circuit since late last winter. The subject is on a camp for Evangelic Christian children in devil's Lake, North Dakota. Magnolia Pictures produced the film, which A&E Indi seems to have helped out with, I believe in the distribution. I haven't seen where else the movie is slated to be released--documentaries seldom ending up on too many big screens. But, the Angelic Film Center's screening was full by the time LK and I got into the theatre, with several minutes to spare. The reason why I am curious as to where it will be shown is because I've heard it's raised quite a contraversy already--something that a producer should find great peace with, knowing that there will be a lot of hype behind it.

The movie does a remarkible job of staying bias, not taking a hard lined slant either critical or passive on one of the largest growing religious groups in the world, running neck to neck with Islam. This fundamental Christian population, I believe, saw the opportunity that the documentary could have in witnessing to its beliefs and practices, which is the only way I can imagine the director being able to secure the rights to film the children in so many private settings. Faith and spirituality--which I have worked closely with for the past seven years--is a deeply personal subject for a lot of people. And the documentary shows children at the height of their faith experience, teers streaming down their cheeks, the look of fear and confusion in some of the children's eyes as they're exposed to the unfettered Spirit that rises in the midst of an Evangelic revival.

The looks in the children's eyes, as well as some of the wisdom they abide in their explination of their own faith, is probably one of the greatest hallmarks of the film. The movie isn't simply a testament to the right winged fundamental movement in our country. but it is a facinating portrait into the psychology of children.

Perhaps more worthy of this blog--beyond that of a film critique for a documentary on the future generation of this faith, were the trailers that the angelic showed before the film began. The first two trailers were interesting, in that they, along with this documentary, had strong statements toward what I will call the annointed authoritarian leadership in the western world.

The first documentary trailer focuses on the issue with the Catholic Church covering up incidences surrounding sexual abuse. By the looks of the trailer, it holds no grudge in hiding its point of view, going right for the jugular of the catholic Church. The two minute trailer seemed more like the last two minutes of an engaging 60 Minutes piece.

The second film preview that caught my eye was the more main stream marketed film, Queen, which is slated to come out later this fall. In this film, the Queen of England struggles with the changing of the times, a person who once ruled through divine intervention, now looking as if she rules by civil charity.

The culmination of these three films gives me a sense that modern culture is pushing more and more away from any notion of governance under someone who feels they were called to lead by God, or any god for that matter. It will be interesting to see how this social backlash forms in the coming 2006 election, as both political parties lean toward picking the groups who they can call their friends and enemies for the 2008 election. One thing is for sure. The democratic party could fare well in finding another Carter, someone who is a hard lined democrat who comes from the grass roots and red clay of America.

2006-08-30T08:11:00.000-07:00

Where are you Katie Couric?

On Tuesday, September 5, Katie Couric will be making her debut on the CBS Evening News. She replaces Bob scheiffer who took the post after the resignation of Dan Rather this past year.

With today marking the one year anniversary of the levies breaking after hurricane Katrina, evening news programs have fought for top ratings, spending the course of this year compiling the footage that is used for the retrospective coverage aired on all four major networks and the cable news channels. The coverage has been a nice distraction from the John Mark news of recent weeks. And it prepares viewers for the even more gripping coverage that will be shown when television surely marks the fifth year anniversary of September 11th.

It surprises me that CBS did not contract Couric to begin her anchoring earlier, to give the Katrina coverage that softer caring edge that she offered while on the today show and dateline. Though, I imagine that leaving it in the hands of Scheiffer is a nice way of saying goodbye to one of CBS's veteran correspondents and anchors. Though reports today are that Scheiffer will be sticking around with CBS for a few more years.

Born in Austin, TX, scheiffer began writing for the ft. Worth telegraph before taking the news desk at KBPA in Dallas. He took up ranks with CBS in 1969, and began anchoring the Sunday Evening News in 1973. The same year that Courik left her NBC post in Washington to take her seat at the today Show, Scheiffer took the Sunday morning seat at face the Nation, a seat which he continues to hang onto after handing the weekly evening news over to Couric.

Taking off his big Texan hat to welcome Couric, scheiffer stands as an icon along with his fellow Texan, Dan Rather, making way for the future of evening news. One of Couric's first guests will be President George Bush, the person ultimately responsible for the demise of Dan Rather, after rather aired a critical story on bush using an unclear source via the blogosphere. The bad source ultimately helped bring down Rather's legacy. And it will be interesting to see if Couric chooses to throw hardballs or Mr. Softies at the president.

With all three major news networks changing hands over the course of this past year, the look of the evening news is much younger than it was during the major news events of this new millennium. And now a female face will wish us well each evening at 6:59 pm. Though she is not the first female face to sit behind the 6:30 pm news slot, Elizabeth Vargas helping to take the seat shortly before Jennings died of cancer the previous year, Couric does fill the shoes of Managing Editor for the CBS Evening News, making her one of the leading gatekeepers of news in the United states, and probably the first evening news anchor with a host of fan sites that focus more on fassion than hard news. Perhaps the tables might someday turn, when another male from Texas will be interviewing the countries first woman president.

2006-08-20T13:11:00.000-07:00

Radio loves to carry around a blanket, a soft, warm, baby blue or pink cotton blanki that it can hold onto while it gazes into the dark unknown that is its future. The blanket is the most reliable and trusted security tool that it holds, and it's so loved that it takes on a life of its own, like Raggidy Ann or Frosty the Snow Man. Though radio likes to give its blanket more hip and modern names like Jack, Sam, Bob, doug or Dave.

On July 26, 2006, WILT 98.7 FM, Wilmington's former oldies station, launched its WILL FOMRAT, which is one of a great number of Variety Hits formats around the country. The format focuses on a mix of top hit singles from the 1970s, 80s, 90s and today. It's one of the largest growing formats in the country, and probably one of the most recognizable when you tune in the radio, listening to the sound of a prerecorded voice telling you that the rules of radio have been broken, and now you're hearing what "We want to hear." Though the format seems more like a last resort for radio, throwing everything it can throw at you in hopes that you'll stick around for the next song, never knowing exactly what it might turn out to be.

The idea of playing a variety of hits throughout a variety of genres is nothing new. In 1990, Orlando broke into a similar format on WBMO. For years now, Chicago has made a commercial success with WXRT, which plays a mix of rock and popular hits with the sounds of artists you normally wouldn't hear on traditional rock or pop stations. What both these stations have, which rises them above the bar over the new groiwng format, is the lack of a name and the feeling of sprobably the one thing that can keep radio alive. That is a feeling of being local, of not turning on Jack FM in New York city and hearing the same thing on Jack FM in Kodiak, Alaska, the formats of both stations being programmed in Dallas, Texas.

After the deregulation of radio in 1996, several groups went around the country buying up all the stations they could. It only took a matter of years before the mainstream was streamlined, replacing DJs with computers. Not long after that came the wave of the numbing sound of Variety Hits, not so much the singles being played, but the sound of the announcer trying to become your best friend, to sell you on the fact that they are, indeed, playing what "you want to hear," as if they've hijacked your IPOD and have held hostage all of your playlists.

The format does have some benefits, bringing a diverse sound to many parts of America that are not so Diverse. It might be piped in via satellite, like westwood One's SAM FM. But at least it's not the same five songs played in heavy rotation on other top 40 stations. Nevertheless, the format seems to think that New Yorkers walk the same line as people in Omaha or Ft. Worth.

In 2001, I spent twenty days traveling ten thousand miles on a Greyhound bus listening to America. My trip had me archiving radio from Portland, ME to Portland, OR. It was while I was on the trip that I began to hear just how diverse America was. Cultures changed as frequent as Interstate exits. Small towns might have awakened to the sounds of John Boy and Billy or Bob and Tom. But they all had their favorite weather man, DJ or evening news anchor on the local television news. Radio came into their homes, their cars, where ever they traveled or stayed. Anchors and DJs were the voice of familiarity they turned to when storms came, when terror struck, or when their home town team made it to the play-offs. But where is Jack, Bob, Doug or Sam in their lives? How is he more of a friend than the voice that tells you to be careful while stepping off of the moving sidewalks at the airport?

The chief problem with so many American stations clinging to the format of your best friend meets your IPOD is that it fuses a good idea of radio format with the bad idea of trying to take away the personal touch radio holds onto. The obscure singles it puts in rotation call back memories of childhood years, of little league games and summer vacations, of times when radio played a song during an important milestone in a person's life. But it then follows it up with a lifeless DJ, the same voice that follows you along the Interstate as you travel from town to town. Rest assured that these formats are equally tested and retested before focus groups. So when they tell you they're playing what "We want to hear," saying it like they're your friend from the old junior high years, ask yourself who exactly the "we" are. Radio hpes that by giving it a name you might have given your children in the mid 1990s, then you'll let it into your living room, have it stay for tea, and then maybe introduce it to your daughter. That's the security blanket radio wants, the idea that you'll fall for it like you fell for your sweetheart in the ninth grade. But remember, a station that will call itself "new" for over a year doesn't want to be your friend. It just wants you to listen to its commercials.

2006-08-02T13:52:00.000-07:00

If the sign of the times holds the future, the Mass Media continues to witness the growing convergence of technology and the realization of Marshall McLuhan's vision of the Global Village.

For ten years, since the deregulation brought on by Congress's Telecommunications act, the media has researched, redefined, and redeveloped itself more than any other industry. the computer industry might score higher in this regard. But it, historically, has pivoted on the henge of inovasion--meaning that its mission is to progress. Opposite this business paradigm, which indeed has driven the change of so many other business models, there is the mass media. The distance by which it has grown is measured not by kilos on the scale of progress. Instead, I would measure it by the action and reaction that has caused such a wild flux in the growth of this industry.

AOL's merger with CNN-Time Warner captures the essence of how great a struggle the media has had in deciding the future of its industry. Relished as a bad idea, on how to control and corner the market, the merger has been just one of many attempts by leading media conglomerates to become ruler of the world, while amidst the passion of vane glory, their empire goes up like Niero's Rome.

Graduate schools of Journalism, following the Telecommunications Act of 1996, struggled to invision how the media would look. Myself, going through graduate school then at Grady College, I remember well the debates and discussions on where the media was going. It intrigues me that most of what we predicted while sitting around in conference rooms was wrong. except, that is, for one principle idea: the future of this industry centered around media convergence.

The purpose of this blog is to focus on the progress the media sees as it continues to converge its mediums. From the golden age of radio, to the fusing of FM with XM; from the journalist, to the blogger, this blog offers news and views outside of the mainstream portals.. I wish, also, to focus on the independent media. As the The New Yorker reportered in its July 10-17, 2006 issue, the little movers of the entertainment industry are moving in on the corperate crafted beauties and beasts. The nich has widened the gap of players for content, which will also change the future landscape of the media.

Enjoy, and feel free to leave comments.

A.W. Stephens