Accept no substitutes

Month: December 2005 (Page 1 of 4)

Ain’t Gonna Bump No More No Big Fat Woman on air

Lorrinda’s note reminds me that WUNC’s State of Things aired Michael Parker reading “Hidden Meanings: Treatment of Time, Supreme Irony, and Life Experiences in the Song ‘Ain’t Gonna Bump No More No Big Fat Woman’” on Thursday. Here’s how it was listed:

Dec. 29, 2005
Term Paper: Greensboro writer Michael Parker reads “Hidden Meanings, Treatment of Time, Supreme Irony, and Life Experiences in the Song, ‘Ain’t Gonna Bump No More No Big Fat Woman,'” published in “New Stories from the South” (Algonquin/2005). The short story takes the form of an increasingly personal college term paper. (30:00)

I managed to miss the show, but it should be in the Archives and/or by podcast soon. The most recent show archived today is 12/22/2005.

E and P on Privacy of Blogs

The discussion of the privacy of blogs (remember my concern was with the blogs of kids and that concern supported by Fred’s study of college students) that came up in regards to the murder in Clayton and the coverage following by the News and Observer has gotten Editor and Publisher columnist Greg Mitchell’s attention in his Pressing Issues space.
In many ways, I should feel good that this discussion is ongoing, but the topic has lost the most important element to me — the ethics of dealing with kids blogging. This wasn’t lost on Ted Vaden nor on John Robinson, but I don’t see that most important issue actually discussed in Mitchell’s column. Sure he mentions that issue by quoting Vaden, but even Matt Dees, whose article on the subject of blog privacy got me started on all of this thinking, doesn’t deal much with the age and ethics issues.

New Year’s Eve Eve with Alan and Sylvia

Alan Garr and Sylvia Garrard write:

Alan Garr will be performing at Open Eye Cafe on Friday, December 30 at 8pm. Open Eye Cafe is located in the heart of Carrboro, NC at 101 South Greensboro Street just across from that smelly yellow eyesore, Wendy’s Restaurant; and I use the term restaurant loosely…Anyway, appearing with Alan will be Sylvia Garrard and Ryan Groulx, so come on out and celebrate New Year’s Eve EVE with us

Privacy of blogs and ethics of journalism

John Robinson of the News and Record and Ted Vaden of the News and Observer try navigating the questions I raised in my note to Matt Dees earlier this week, questions that were asked again by others in response to News and Observer Editor Melanie Sill’s blog entry on covering blogs as a part of a story. The question is of course which parts of which story? Or as JR restates the thread [taken from Ted Vaden’s NandO piece – pj]: “Can publication of online information be an invasion of privacy? What’s the age cutoff for publishing children’s blogs? How aware is the young person of the effect of publication?”
I’m beginning to see that Phil Meyer and I will disagree on much of this as my own thoughts are getting better formed. I continue to be informed by Fred Stutzman’s study of privacy expectations and of what is actually revealed on the web by students using Facebook as I think about the ethical questions surrounding journalistic uses of information found in personal blogs.

War on Christmas (Interplanetary edition)

Santa v. Martians
A major event in the war on Christmas was documented in one of my delightful gifts — Santa Claus Conquers the Martians novelization and DVD of the 1964 film which features not only Pia Zadora as a child actress but much of the same scramble footage as seen in Dr. Strangelove (which was released the same year).
Also in the movie, the original version of the traditional Christmas carol “Hooray for Santy Claus.”
Also available at archive.org.

Passing for BBQ, Passing for Beef

In this part of Deep East Texas, BBQ is used as a word for almost anything but pulled pork: chopped beef, sliced beef, beef brisket, turkey done the same ways and the mysterious Hot Links which are mild sausages. No amount of ketchup based brown sause will turn any of this into pulled pork. Not even the deceptively simple Eastern vinegar and pepper sauce could change it for the best. I can say I have had Hot Links and would just as soon have andouville
On our way down, we stopped at one of the Sonny’s chain (from Gainesville, FL) where the pork was sliced or pulled and you could have all you could eat (including beef and chicken) for under $7. There the disappointment was that only brown ketchup based sauce was on the table. As we left, I did see packets of South Carolina style mustard based sauce but that was too late.
In Mississippi, we stopped in a Chili’s where I had a buffalo burger which was passing for lean beef. The meat was good a flavorful, but the associated pepper flavored condoments were decidedly weak and mild (perhaps seasonal?).
There is no substitute for NC pulled pork be it Eastern or Lexington.

Christmas night sing along at WCOM 8:30 p.m.

Melva Flager Okum writes

I’m gathering at crowd at the WCOM (corner of Weaver St. and N Greensboro St.) studio on Christmas night at 8:30 p.m. (3:30 Hawaiian time) to sing the Hawaiian Christmas song, Melekaikimaka. The below URL will get you to the music and also below you can see the words. I encourage people to bring bells, flutes, guitars, yukuleles and whistles with them. Gina (recently returned from Hawaii) and Susan (also recently returned from Hawaii where she, Richard, and Gina walked or ran the Honolulu marathon) and I have been practicing singing the song on our morning walks – not that we are any good, but we have been practicing. And you can sing it or play it, too. We will be live on the air for the whole world to hear – for better or for worse. Feel free to tell others about it – whom you think might enjoy such a moment. Live – you’re on WCOM radio.

p.s. I’ve called my friend Angela Sy in Honolulu and she can join us by phone for the sing along. No matter what we’re on the air so don’t miss this fun moment. You can tell family and friends to listen along and sing along by going to our webstreaming option at www.communityradio.coop and in the upper right hand corner, click on the webstreaming button. She is working on gathering some friends to join her in Honolulu so this is a Carrboro to Honolulu sing along, made possible by WCOM radio.

Click on this link to get the words and hear the music!

Also, lyrics…

Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say on a bright Hawiian Christmas Day
That’s the island greeting that we send to you from the land where palm trees sway
Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright
The sun to shine by day and all the stars at night
Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii’s way to say Merry Christmas to you

A Hui Ho! (Till we meet again!)

Diebold leaves NC

Rather than comply with fair elections laws, quesionable voting machine maker Diebold chooses to leave North Carolina. Considering the mess the closed machines made in the last election, I’m not sorry to see them go. Accountable machines should be required and should not be negotiable. Don’t let the screen door hit you as you leave Diebold. Play fair or leave town was the message and we see the path you took.

Journalism ethics and blogs?

Took a call last night from a local reporter, Matt Dees, who part of the crew doing a series of stories on a sordid murder in Clayton. Three members of the family involved had/have blogs. Two of those members are kids in high school with Xanga and mySpace blogs. We chatted a bit about blogs in general. I wondered a little about reporting from the blog of a kid who is underage and acting out different identies on his/her blog. I pointed out that most kids even in college, see Fred’s facebook study on privacy, don’t think so much about just how much they reveal about themselves.
After we spoke, I went to the sites. Then I wrote Matt this note:

thinking since we spoke. how ethical is it for a professional journalist to quote from the blog of an underaged child (even a punk rocker)? if we agree that kids don’t actually understand that what they are writing in public, does that mean that their writings aren’t really fair game for news stories?

i don’t have the answers here i’m just wondering now that i’ve seen zzzzz’s site. obviously he’s trying on identities and he has friends who support him, but won’t he look weird to most folks reading the nando? does he deserve a kind of privacy that he didn’t seek for himself? should say kxxxxx’s or lxxxxx’s phone number be news or should it be protected? what is okay to use? remember we’re not talking about adults who should in theory be more aware. not even students at ncsu who put up pics of themselves with beer…

UPDATE: News and Observer editor Melanie Sill has a blog entry about this issue and about not playing the 911 tape. There are many reader comments too.

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