At the old folks home where I live, the 80-something-old Grandma goes by the nickname of “Weese.” The cable TV network salesmen wouldn’t want their advertisers to hear what she yells at the programs they sponsor. Confession: I once managed a West Texas television station,and I paid close attention when our advertisers complained. Examples of what we hear from Weese: “Where did you ever get that idea?” That’s a rare, tame inquiry. “Just
Month: September 2018
Hurricane Florence
If you were watching this September Friday, TV reporters waded in waters churned by Hurricane Florence. In the 1980s we sailed some of those waters. Flo—as former student John Taylor’s email abbreviated—threatened him and his four cats with flooding from Cape Fear River. Nikki and Lockwod Phillips in Morehead City reported winds blew off a large tree limb that broke house windows and damaged their roof. Also former students, now publishers of two weekly newspapers,
Skipping the “Final”
If you belong to the old teacher’s society–I taught 30 years–you have heard some excessive excuses. Even more imaginative than “my dog ate the paper”. I was teaching journalism students how to edit when the unfortunate Kent State, Ohio, shooting happened. Although two states away, the administration at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, said that “highly disturbed” students could choose to take their grade before final examination, and be excused from the test. A parade of
Hunting and Pecking
You read this yarn because even at nearly 90 years, I can peck a computer keyboard with only two fingers. “Hunt and Peck” on a typewriter was good enough when at age 14, the Abilene Reporter-News hired me, part time, to proofread and write sports stories. I only knew how to type with two fingers. Didn’t bother to take high school typing lessons. But at age 18, the University of Texas required you pass a