Good morning, class. Let me start the semester by assigning your term paper. Research, write, and Bring To Date the address delivered November 4, 1954 by Dr. Frank Conselman. PhD, World War II Colonel, consulting geologist. Conselman–a great wit, pilot, but mediocre sailboat racer. A friend I was fortunate to know during my years in Abilene. Dr. Conselman’s address, “Uranium—Oil’s Newest Competitor,” was delivered in Abilene, 1954. West Central Oil and Gas Association may have
Category: Teaching
Applying Intelligence
Applied intelligence—employing a computer program to write a student’s essay—now a concern voiced by teachers. When I began to teach university students—after I sold my interest in a West Texas television station—I taught a course in something I knew pretty well: Broadcast Management. Professor Wes Wallace, who had previously managed a community broadcast station—also Major Wallace who managed the U. S. radio station on Guam during World War II—- taught the course before I did.
‘A’ is for Agent
You bet, I read all of the story about the entrepreneurs who financed one of year’s best movie—“Maverick”, the Top Gun military flying sequel—and raised more money to make more movies. At my most recent birthday, I wore the printed sweatshirt a clever daughter gave me. Large words on shirt read Used to teach, but now I have no class. One semester I taught entrepreneurship to broadcast and film students. Money raising was part of
Journaling
“Writing and reflecting” was the title the newspaper put atop a printed letter that read “I’m on a mission to bring back journaling.” Author (10 books) David Thomas praised the teacher who made his son keep a ‘journal’ she read and critiqued. What you’re reading I would prefer to call a ‘journal.’ Not an essay, nor a blog. After 25 years as a paid journalist and a TV editorialist, four different universities assigned me to
Washers
Frisbees were flying all over the Chapel Hill campus. I remembered those days when I read the alumni association had invented a way for students to bring back an old recreation: Put a real plate on the floor and toss a paper plate…not your old frisbee…as close as you can. In those remembered frisbee days, students invented a golf game that called for you to land your frisbee on selected campus landmarks. Sometimes the pates
Afghanistan
Former journalism student, then weekly editor, then broker Tom Kracerik emailed from Houston and reminded his Ole Professor of ‘Afghanistanism.’ In 1967 editor Jenkins Lloyd Jones, Tulsa Tribune, coined the phrase in a speech to the American Association of Newspaper editors. Wikipedia says…. Afghanistanism is a term, first recorded in the United States, for the practice of concentrating on problems in distant parts of the world while ignoring controversial local issues. In 1968 my earlier time spent
The Press
After I spent 21 years of my life working at newspaper and television stations—not counting earlier editing of my junior high school, high school and college newspapers— my Alma Mater paid me less to teach journalism students. Truth is, would have paid the university because—as Rudyard Kipling’s poem says—I had “sold my heart” to the old dark art called the daily Press. Sorry to say, some graduated journalism students may have forgotten my teachings. Some I
Ghost Writer
At age 92, time to confess one of my sins.—anonymous writing of political speeches. Not only have I written speeches for candidates to deliver at a political rally, but I have coached university students how to write words for others to speak as their own. My first 1968 class filled quickly with political animals majoring in journalism, advertising, public relations, speech and ‘government.’ In Austin they admit it’s more about politics than science. Joe Ethos and Tom
Final Exam First
Editing for Newspapers and Magazines was a new journalism course to teach at Chapel Hill for this aging PhD candidate. But I started daily newspaper editing at age 17. Passed editing and edited the newspaper as a University of Texas student. My students soon learned what I had learned from some demanding editors. When you came to class, lectures were short. There was a textbook. But most of the time students edited copy, wrote headlines,
Overcoming
The graduates, their parents and even the faculty didn’t know his struggle to overcome his reading affliction. That day Richard stood six foot three. His muscular frame weighed near 300 pounds. In that football stadium he looked more like a NFL lineman than a Doctor of Philosophy graduate. Dr. Morgan was an African-American wearing a cap and gown. When he walked across the stage, he received a wow reaction from the University of Carolina graduates