Phoenix

So, it's been pretty busy here. I've been attending a bunch of seminars and classes, learning really great stuff. On Friday morning I was on a panel regarding the managing of two-year newspapers. It was pretty interesting. There weren't all that many people there, but more than I expected (like 10). It was fun, very laid back and conversational. I really enjoyed it.

And then just the normal convention stuff. Today I went to a two-hour class on using Excel to help you find and report on stories. The teacher was a woman named Holly A. Heyser, she is the adviser to the California State University in Sacramento. She was just awesome, really into her work. I learned so much.

One term that she used a lot, which I had never heard before, was Computer Assisted Reporting (CAR). I guess for the modern journalist everything is CAR, but in this context she was specifically referring to Excel and Access. Anyways, I learned so much. It was really good. I learned about the basics of Excel (which I desperately needed) as well as the endless ways you can use statistics to uncover and report on interesting and important stories.

Another perk to going to this class was that it was held in the Arizona State’s The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication…

Oh my god, it was awesome. It had 14 computer labs, dedicated to design, photography, videography and radio. They have their own T.V. station (a PBS affiliate) that reaches a million people.

It was incredible. It’s a fairly new facility and it’s beautiful, really beautiful. It made me want to go to ASU.

So, that is it. Today we are going to go for a hike or two and then we leave tomorrow morning. Because of scheduling conflicts we will miss the awards ceremony. If The Sentinel were to win anything they will mail it to us. We will see.


There it is... even the sign is nice...


... that is there T.V. production room... that is live video...


... I'm not sure why he was being interviewed, but he was. The interviewer is a senior at ASU...


... here are a bunch of people I met at a Subway, they were going to a Japanese festival.