It's 70 degrees in Washington DC and 51 here in Southern California with a blizzard warning for our local mountain. Here in the Valley it is supposed to rain for two days with a day off and then more rain. The cold is supposed to continue into next week.
Meanwhile the blossoms are opening on the tiny peach tree in the yard. Soon the orange blossoms will make their appearance with their heavenly fragrance. And the year swirls on. Almost the end of the second month.
I am trying to waste less time fiddling with my phone and use those moments for something more productive. I don't know about anybody else, but I spend most of my time deleting junk emails and that's not even the spam folder. I remember when it was so exciting to get and send email and now most of it is trying to sell something or a scam.
Also trying to skip over the endless news stories that don't really live up to the promise of the headline. I worked on my college newspaper, writing a column, working on layout and past up and writing headlines. The point then was to get your attention and encapsulate the story. Now, it's just about getting you to click on a story with no regard to how much the headline says what the story is about. The other trick is to only show part of the headline, trying to stoke your curiosity to see the rest of it.
Is that responsible journalism? Is any of it responsible journalism? Most of the stories are opinion pieces and even the news stories are filled with emotion charged descriptions. All the news about the weather is marked by how many millions of people will be impacted by storms. The detail is on the light side and basically pretty vague about what is going to happen where.
Even the news about our upcoming storms is confusing. It's hard to tell exactly how much rain is expected to fall in my backyard.
So, rather than dwell on it, I'd rather get lost in writing about Molly for the next book. Or work on the purple teddy bear that I'm crocheting. It is a different experience that making a scarf. Even with a pattern it's more like an artistic creation with adjustments to make the parts fit and finding the right expression. It's all about the touches, like clothes or a hat for the bear. It takes concentration and a willingness to deal with a certain amount of frustration when it doesn't go right and rip out time and a do over. No surprise there is some resistance to even starting.
6 comments:
Definitely different weather these days in LA. We need the rain, but missed taking the dogs for a walk this morning.
And journalism is certainly different these days from what I learned when I got my undergraduate degree years ago in journalism from Penn State.
Linda, I didn't know you had a degree in journalism. You would certainly notice the difference. It's definitely not dog walking weather. I'm going to bundle up just to take out the trash.
I also get very disgusted with the "headlines" on unrelated stories. They show a picture or comment about someone famous you might like to know more about, but then you have to wade through 27 articles about other people, and never do get to the one you wanted. Sloppy journalism, terrible spelling and grammar. I think many of those reporters get paid by the number of people who read their article, so they will put a title on to make it appealing.
Linda Osborn, it seems it's all about getting you to click on an article. I am always amazed at the typos in news stories. It makes you wonder if they're careless with the facts as well. I hope you didn't have problems with the storms.
Hi Betty -- My internet has been down for two days -- just came back about 20 minutes ago. Don't know what the problem was but it must have been a doozie -- took a long time to fix it.
I agree with you about journalism. I was at the Sacramento Bee for 13 years -- assistant tv editor. So much has changed over the years. I remember the day Squeaky Fromme tried to assassinate President Ford -- the writers and editors changed the whole front page of the paper in a very short time -- amazing to see. My desk was between the teletype room and the city desk -- the guy who run the teletype told me about breaking news on his way to the city desk -- I was one of the first to hear about the deaths of Princess Grace and Elvis Presley!!
My daughter lives near Antioch -- she can see Mount Diablo and the Altamont from her homes -- says there is snow on both. Very cold and rainy also. The weather is indeed strange -- Phoenix has been rather typical so far -- nothing out of the ordinary. Today was beautiful -- bright blue skies and puffy white clouds.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend --
Patty, how interesting that you worked on a newspaper. Things are so different now. It has been a crazy month of weather here. I know we needed the rain, but I hope this three days of off and on rain we're supposed to get is it.
The weekend is over. I hope yours was good.
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