Sailing into sale of goods keeps me rushing

It's Rush Week at the house.

I am rushing to discard things for the neighborhood garage sale. As I stumble through boxes - some unopened since 1994! - I am questioning why I ever thought I would need 15 (or more) wine glasses, two punch bowls and nearly every book and stuffed animal owned by my daughter. Or why I have, need or want a 2000 mold.

Meanwhile, my daughter discovered the magnets in the her newspaper purses were too strong for the material so she had to change the design. She's hoping to sell out of those and her other items at the garage sale. Surgery is one week away and who knows what will be possible after that.

It's a bit tense here, so she used a gift from one of my old bosses to go to the show with her boyfriend. (Six people at the movies! How can that number make showing the movie worthwhile.)

The Red Wings won so that made some folks here happy. I listened as I skated through another round of medical bills. Gee, now I show there's only a $6,000 difference between what I say we owe and and "they" say we owe on one bill. I understand why people give up and just work out agreements to pay. Almost every medical visit involved a bill from one source for people and another bill for equipment, space and drugs.

Each Explanation of Benefits makes me grateful we have health insurance. The costs for service for those with insurances is so much less.
And it is surprising how the cost varies according to the insurance you have. Makes me thankfulI don't work in the billing department.

Time to rush out ... I see AnnArbor.com hired a community director and its post about comments is getting some chatter outside its blog. More to come when I am not blogging by iPhone and able to do links easier.

Today's Flint Journal has its new entertainment section. The area's longtime Girl Scout camp is open four more days. Your Magazine published its last issue. Speaking of last, the writer behind the Gannett Blog says his sanity requires him to move on so that company tracker will soon fade away .

Sorry. Even the coolness of the iPhone won't improve watching

I suppose on a slow, sleepness night there's a reason for this video that shows how the June 1 cover of New Yorker was created.

But for most of the world watching how artist Jorge Colombo uses the iPhone application Brushes to do the cover won't cut it.

Even Colombo is quoted as saying a virtual finger painting is not such a big deal:

“Imagine twenty years ago, writing about these people who are sending these letters on their computer.”

The New Yorker says he found that "watching the video playback has made him aware that how he draws a picture can tell a story, and he’s hoping to build suspense as he builds up layers of color and shape."

Of course, the news of what the Conde Nast magazine was doing did draw me to the site and got me to look at the Table of Contents. So maybe the video did what it was supposed to do - notice how the Newhouse magazine gives some content away, holds some for subscribers only and uses the web to offer options not possible in print.

Charging more for less - it's the American way, right?

The hot news of propane tanks coming with less gas is the type of story that gets my husband, whom I love dearly, going.

It's just one more piece of evidence of how "they" try to fool "us" into believing we're still getting a deal, according to the guy who began his vacation being sick. (How sick? He went to a doctor Saturday morning. Plus, we had to uninvite relatives from coming to our house for a potluck cookout. Fortunately, another relative offered her place as the gathering spot so that worked for all but the nephew who was disappointed that his uncle's pool was not moved along with the picnic.)

OK, back to same-size boxes and bags that hold fewer items. It bugs my husband a lot so I know he'll enjoy this link over to The Daily Derelict, which shares how a local newspaper is turning away customers by charging them more for less.

I suspect we'll be reading more complaints as the week goes on and The Flint Journal, Bay City Times, and Saginaw News switch to the new sections -- they start Thursday -- and new publishing schedule on June 1. A two-page ad in Sunday's Journal explained where people will find items in the newspaper and how to access obituaries on non-print days.

Speaking of things ending, this is the last week for Jay Leno in the 11:30 p.m. time slot so he featured some of his favorite headlines Monday night. That reminded me of this from Overheard in the Newsroom:

"One of the single worst things you can say to a copy editor is, ‘We were on Leno on Monday night.’”

Speaking of talking to copy editors, there are two gatherings this week where that could happen as folks who once worked or still work or will work for the Flint-based newspapers will meet.

I hope to be there despite the generosity of my husband who hates to be sick alone.


Some possible related posts:
Leno turning patriotic with free show for unemployed
Jay Leno to the rescue
Twittering, Digg make it to late-night TV
New executive editor reflects on changes

or head over to Free From Editors for a number of posts on the changes in mid-Micihgan

or try Flint Foward for the official news.

Citizens won't let newspaper stop printing

The idea of losing their community newspaper was too much for some in one Michigan community so "the presses will roll on - for now."

"The Birmingham Eccentric was to have published its last edition next Sunday after 131 years of operation, But a grass-roots effort to save the paper has gained momentum in the past few weeks, leading Observer & Eccentric officials to continue publishing on Sundays — but with some key conditions.

• The paper must generate 3,000 new paid subscriptions by July 1 and a total of 5,000 subscriptions by Oct. 1.
  
• Ad revenue also must increase to put the paper on a profitable basis."

Possible? Maybe. The small group that has bought some time will seek suggestions and hopes to attract a large turnout to show support at a “Town Hall Meeting to Save the Eccentric” from 7-8:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 3, at The Community House. .

Original plans called for the Birmingham, West Bloomfield, Troy and Rochester editions of the Eccentric to close May 31. The Southfield edition and the Observer & Eccentric group’s Mirror newspaper are merging into a multi-community Sunday newspaper called the South Oakland Eccentric.

Thanks to a posting from Rick Haglund on Facebook for leading me to the news of the community effort to keep the newspaper open I couldn't find anything new about the rest of the newspapers.

By the way, Hamtramck has a newspaper again - the Hamtramck Review. (There's a PDF of a 10-page newspaper being published less then a month after the Hamtramck Citizen closed April 20.

Att the Rethink News symposium at Michigan State University, Clare Pfeiffer Ramsey, managing editor of Model D, talked about how some in Hamtramck were looking for ways to keep a newspaper going, including using high school students to report the news. Metro Times had a few more details on the effort to revive a newspaper in the Detroit suburb.

While you are on the Birmingham Eccentric site, you can check out a column from the editor, Greg Kowalski. He suggested that newspapers should learn from Hollywood, and its battle against TVs in his May 21 column.

"By the early 1950s, the film studios knew they needed something new to combat the popularity of TV. They proceeded on the concept that films had to give the viewers something they couldn't get at home. That led to the development of Cinemascope ... a bit of a gimmick ... But it was different. And it worked. It gave the studios a way to hold onto the audiences until better business practices could be adopted."

Kowalski also suggested that newspapers remember that Hollywood studios first blocked their content from TV and that newspapers need to use their "infrastructure and experience to deliver top quality reporting" to develop a business model to ensure a future.

Not all newspapers are failing in Michigan. Detroit's Crain Business looks at the state of weekly newspapers in Michigan, noting that C&G Newspapers is expanding its 19 free direct-mail weeklies.

No secrets: Sharing insights, sharing goals helps all

Since I haven't stumbled across the book on How to Use the Internet Effectively, Efficiently and Properly I'm grateful when folks share what they are doing online, how they are doing it and why.

I was reminded of this when Ryan Sholin recently wrote How I share: A tour of my personal linking behavior.. He talked about how he uses Twitter (and its short life for links) , Friendfeed (where he comments on his Google Reader shared items and picks up several streams of contributions - Netflix, Disqus), Delicious, and, of course, Publish2 (the source of his paycheck now). But the bonus for me is the post led me to try TwitterFon for my iPhone.

Do you know where you go?

Then Tech blogger Louis Gray posted Know and Master Your Social Media Data Flow, who described what he sent where and included a map to illustrate his flow of information. Though I'm primarily a word geek, I often think in pictures as it helps me see the process. (Later, he updated with this presentation.)

How To Optimize Your Social Media Data Flow for All Networks

A comment on Gray's post led me to mrontemp's How I Publish. who explained back in 2008 not all of his shared items make it to his public flow of information:

"...one of my feeds consists of updates from my LinkedIn network. For a variety of reasons, I choose not to share that with the public. Similarly, I read a number of items that are specific to my vertical market. Again, for a variety of reasons, you can't see my interest in these items unless you're behind my corporate firewall."

That, of course, reminds me of some of the better advice I received from Ed Vielmetti and and others who save me from permanent damage. That advice has included:

• there's a checkbox on delicious.com that says Do Not Share. Not all computer pages should be shared.
  
• Or why you need to see what goes where - I stopped sharing via Plaxo when business contacts saw what I wanted friends to see. Really, even though I know everything I publish is available to all, I'd ike to make it a little harder for some to find.
  
• Paper journals are still OK as not all things you think need to be availalbe online. Still some suggest anonymous blogs are good spots to rant.
  

At the end of mrontemp's post is a link to Why I Publish, Last night was the first time I ran across mrontemp (I think) but I still found the discussion on the value of autopublishing vs writing something original intriguing.

Does anyone hear that tree fall? Me talk?

He quotes Alexander van Elsas, who dislikes Friendfeed for its lack of intention:

If I see something that I know my friend really likes and then share it intentionally with him, it provides us both with value. But if I spill my guts to the world without thinking about what I’m sharing it makes most of the things I share pretty worthless.

Has Alexander just figured out why so many are perplexed when first confronted by that Facebook status box or the Twitter request for what are you doing?

Lucky you. I waited long enough before getting all of my thoughts together I can share two more finds. The first is thanks to Susan Beebee, who earlier in the week wrote a post on the Top 200 Social Media Blogs, and then tweeted about Matthew Webster Ray's post on Your Social Networks Have Different Audiences. Says Ray:

"You have different audiences on your social networks - and your normal friends are not on the 15 different social networks that you are on! Play it safe and only post things on the social networking platform that fits that audience."

Time to get rid of clutter

So I know what's I've been doing during the down time in my daughter's cancer battle (chemo is done; surgery two weeks off) to trim services and figure out how to participate more fully in the ones that I choose to continue with.

The thinking about how I participate is just one of the reasons why I like Jay Rosen's post on mindcasting on Twitter. He explains why he started using Twitter, how he uses it, the difference between mindcasting and lifecasting and more. He offers a good set of links to help showcase how he got from there to here.

Just as he jumped into Twitter to better understand it, I've been jumping into new sites and services for a long time. I'm surrounded by online clutter and it is starting to bother me the way a messy desk once did. Time for a purge.

Lack of humans provides today's smiles

Twice in one day, I've run across examples where an editor would have helped just a bit.

For instance, I've been collecting articles about journalists who have moved onto new careers or new jobs outside of newspapers. The Daily Record published "Former newspaper reporter takes buyout, starts new career at home."

The news organization also tries to help readers find more stories you might be interested in. Unfortunately, the former Newhouse employee said this:

"I wanted to be a reporter since I was 12, and I loved every minute of it," she said. "Newspapers will go the way of the dinosaur because of declining advertising and the Internet."

And that's why Topix decided I might want to read news about dinosaur and paleontology instead of other ex-journalists who created businesses that use their writing and editing skills.

Not quite as funny was the report out about 11 a.m. Thursday that "Detroit papers say more readers kept than expected." I saw it on Editor & Publisher; Crain's Detroit and mlive.com and the part that intrigued me was the last of four paragraphs:

"Free Press Editor and Publisher Paul Anger said at Thursday's panel discussion that the economy continues to hurt revenue, but he did not discuss potential cuts or layoffs."

I wanted to know what panel discussion and where because the four paragraphs wasn't enough for me.

Besides, if this really did happen Thursday it was said just hours before a staff memo announced June 22 as a deadline for cutting 150 jobs at the Detroit News and Free Press. (Among those who may be cut is a reporter who just won a Pulitzer.) Crain's published some details about the Free Press newsroom cuts.

At 4 p.m., a Google search found 118 articles across the Internet - all the same, all credited to Associated Press.

I was eager for details, but really was only offered a paragraph similar to this:

"Officials with The Detroit News, Detroit Free Press and the partnership that handles their business operations say they have seen increased Web traffic and single-copy sales since March 30. That was the day the papers limited home delivery to Thursday, Friday and Sunday as a to deal with declining circulation and changing readership tastes."

So I guess I'm left to wonder why the editor/publisher spoke to what panel today about the success of the drop home delivery plan that still requires staff layoffs.


OK, before I head for the showers, have you seen Jilted Journalists? The opening page starts:

So welcome print, online, broadcast reporters, editors, photographers, bloggers, designers, ad salespeople, circulation folks, press operators, TV camera people, continuity directors, techs, producers, business office staff and all the others who once were fooled into thinking they not only had good careers and job security but decent 401(k) and pension plans that would last into their retirement years.

The site is created by:

"Jim and Sue Gold and a group of recently laid off journalists, their spouses, friends and frenemies.

Contact in chief: Jim Gold, a past senior editor (not an age designation when he got the title) at The Arizona Republic, a past editor in chief at The Record of Stockton, Calif., a past assistant managing editor at the Reno Gazette-Journal, and a past variety of writing, reporting, photography, production, circulation and ad sales titles at a variety of papers in California and Massachusetts. But he's not a pastor. "

Alabama newspaper makes it local, local, local

Last year this time, The Huntsville Times announced it was bringing in a new editor.

This year's offering at the Advance Publication in Alabama is a redesign of its newspaper, details shared in in an article and video (see below) on al.com Blogger Charles Apple, of course, was right on top of the redesign so visit his post for before and after pages.

Like other Newhouse publications, local news is moving out of its own section and onto the front page and into the front section. Obituaries also are going in the front section. Staying, but reduced to one page Monday-Saturday and two pages on Sunday is Opinion.

What readers won't see in print is as much national and international news because as editor Kevin Wendt says in reply to a comment:

"Using less wire copy is a product of two issues. First, wire copy is generally something people can see all day long on Web sites or hear on TV. So it's not as unique as, say, our local news report. To cancel a wire service means we lose a lot more: If we canceled the Associated Press, we'd also lose stock listings, sports agate, etc. But we will use less space for national and international, which saves a little bit of paper."

Like other Newshouse publications, feature sections are changing and merging. Among them in Alabama is the merger of three sections, Enjoy!, Travel and Sunday Life into enjoy!Sunday. This is another place the newspaper plans to drop many of the wire features now filling the inside of the three sections.

Unlike other newspapers, business will be its own section. Talking Biz Blog talked with Wendt about the changes, including a section on government and green living.

Another article focuses on the redesigned Opinion page today as one editor steps away after nearly 25 years heading the pages. (More then 60 employees took a buyout offered in February, according to a March 24 article on mandatory 10-day furloughs).

And like other parts of the newspaper, readers are told to expect more local, less national/world opinions.

The question driving the Opinion page redesign was "to define a mission for The Times' editorial pages in the Internet age. How can we be most relevant to you?"

The question of being relevant is one that Wendt has sounded frequently during his first year at the newspaper, including a column where he asked readers what should be in the newspaper.

Not a surprise from Wendt, who left the San Jose Mercury News about a year ago to become editor at age 30 and knew that figuring out what local newspapers could do best:

We will figure this out. Journalism and newspapers are too important, and there are too many talented people still affiliated with both, for us not to create a sustainable business model that supports what we do.

As Wendt said then:

"At our core, a great story, told well and presented wonderfully, will have an audience. I have to believe that if I’m going to make it the next 35 years to retirement!"

As shared in an earlier post, something is working in Alabama - it as one of one of 10 newspapers in the US that reported a circulation increase in September's Audit Bureau of Circulations report.

Huntsville Times editor Kevin Wendt talks about the paper's new design

By the way, The Syracuse Post-Standard in New York, another Advance Publication, redesigned its newspaper in April. I shared some changes in the Change part of a post and Apple shared a more detailed look once the design was released.

Three Michigan newspapers - Bay City Times, Flint Journal and Saginaw Nws - are inching to their new design as they drop to a publication schedule of three days a week. The Flint Journal food editor said in his column this week to expect sneak previews of the sections May 28.

Another editor leaving Michigan newspaper

Mike Lloyd, editor of the Grand Rapids Press, will join the Booth Newspaper editors rush out of the newspaper by retiring July 1.

The 63-year-old Lloyd joins Ann Arbor News Ed Petykiewicz, 57, who announced his retirement in late March, just before we learned the Ann Arbor News would close, publishing its last edition on July 23. Also leaving are John Foren, 47, who became Flint Journal editor on Jan. 13, 2009, and Paul Chaffee, 61, publisher/editor of The Saginaw News. Foren is leaving June 1; Chaffee is staying on as a consultant for a few more months.

The Bay City Times editor, John Hiner, 48, steps into an executive editor role, overseeing the Bay City, Saginaw and Flint newspapers that will begin printing morning newspapers three days a week starting in June. (A community editor was named at each newspaper.)

Lloyd hired everyone

But back to Lloyd, who has spent 31 years at the Booth Newspaper, hiring everyone who has a byline according to an article posted on mlive.com. That includes hiring Bob Becker, the sports editor who recently retired and whose mug was shown today by a Grand Rapids TV station announcing Lloyd's retirement.

The article says Lloyd's personal journalistic high are:

• His series of interviews with the late President Gerald R. Ford,
• A book he collaborated on for the 1984 Detroit Tigers World Series Championship and
• The Press' 100th anniversary edition in 1992, with sections covering the news of each decade in the community.

Became editor at 33

The University of Missouri journalism grad, now 63, became editor at 33. That made him among the youngest to be editor of a newspaper with a circulation over 100,000, according to the article on mlive.

The article says that Lloyd said his decision to retire was influenced by the changing business and his desire to respond to other interesting opportunities.

The rest of Booth

I probably should mention that Foren replaced Tony Dearing, who in December was named special projects content coordinator for Advance Internet and now is heading up the content side of AnnArbor.com

No word on Rebecca Pierce, editor of the Kalamazo Gazette, or Eileen Lehnert, editor of the Jackson Citizen Patriot, or Paul Keep, who is publisher and editor of the Muskegon Chronicle. (In fact, Keep posted a column this week about the "rumors of our demise."

Journalist who blogs says time ripe for new trade organization

Enough is enough, says Danny Sullivan, best known for Search Engine Land but writing on his personal blog, Daggle.

It's time for a new organization to balance the very privileged newspaper industry and ensure that journalists outside the print industry start getting a fair shake, Sullivan says in a post titled "Dammit, I’m A Journalist, Not A Blogger: Time For Online Journalists To Unite?"

It is the idea that newspapers deserve special laws or special protection and Google's help that makes him rant:

"Bloggers got bumpkiss. We have no lobbying group. We have no organization designed to help members learn the intricacies of uncovering government documents. We can’t get government agencies to call us back at all, at times (I know, been there and done that). And we’ve got a newspaper industry increasingly portraying us as part of an evil axis that’s killing them. Blogs steal their attention, and Google steals their visitors."

Let's bond together, bloggers

So Sullivan, who has worked as graphics reporter and editorial researcher at newspapers before building a career in searching the Internet, says its time that journaists who blog need an “Online Journalists Association, or a United Bloggers” or whatever catchy name you come up with."

Some of his ideas for the new group's mission:

• Ensure the news blogs get an equal seat at any table where news and journalism is being discussed
• Help promote deeper reporting and recognition of work that already happens
• Perhaps share correspondents and photos

Newspaper journalists losing fellowship game

Ironically, I read his May 16th post on the same day that I read "Newspapers No Longer Dominate Journalism Fellowship."

"Four of the best known programs - Harvard, M.I.T., Stanford and the University of Michigan — chose 29 employees of American newspapers for fellowships in the year that is now winding down, and just 11 for next year. There have also been declines in the number of people from magazines and wire services, but not as pronounced."

The New York Times quoted James R. Bettinger, director of the John S. Knight Fellowships at Stanford, as saying:

“The proportion of applicants from daily newspapers this year was the lowest it’s ever been. At the same time, 61 of 166 applicants had the word ‘freelance’ somewhere in their job description.”

Is now really the time?

And I know Sullivan is a smart guy so he knows that getting people to join organizations is not the easiest thing in the world.

• A Poynter column shared that membership has dropped by as much as 20 percent, according to an informal survey of 12 of the 40 or 50 journalism associations in the U.S.
• The American Society of Newspaper Editors canceled its annual convention.
• The Newspaper Association of America cut 50 percent of its staff
• Heck, even Poynter and API are teaming up to offer programs to journalists.

Look, I'm a joiner - Society of Professional Journalists, Online News Association, Investigative Reporters and Editors, etc., etc., etc. But I don't think we need another group.

I do like the idea of more respect, though, for journalists who happen to publish via blogging software instead of newsprint. I agree with Sullivan:

"Many bloggers are journalists, part of the news ecosystem, colleagues that are entitled to respect."

Using social media tool to get back at those dreadful calls

The Wall Street Journal has a story that anyone who wonders why using sites like Twitter, Delicious or, in this case, Reddit is worth the bother should read.

First, how many of those "Your auto warranty has expired" calls have you gotten?

Do you know what swarming means?

Catch up with the way people can organize with the Wall Street Journal article and know that not all agree with how people tracked down and then shared the phone number and other details about the firm where some of the calls started.

"They played judge, jury and executioner on a company that they haven't even proven has done anything wrong."

That's a quote in The Journal from David Tabb, the 42-year-old president of Auto One, an Irvine, Calif., warranty company with 60 employees.

He says Reddit users overloaded his phone lines with computerized calls, changed voice-mail greetings on his company's system, and even threatened arson.

This may not mean the end of calls. Auto One is one of many firms making these calls - not even
one of the three that a federal court in Chicago issued an immediate restraining order on Friday afternoon. The three companies are accused of aggressively making robocalls selling car warranties across the country, the Federal Trade Commission announced.

Yes, I'm getting the calls so that's why I sent a link out on the court order Friday over Twitter.

Journalism hurting? Editors say staff cuts hurting quality

The good news is that surveyed editors say they are staying in the news business because they believe in the mission of journalism.

The bad news is nearly a third of the editors participating in an Associated Press Managing Editors survey say staff reductions are affecting the quality of journalism offered.

"We rarely work on packages or series of depth anymore," one editor said. "We can't afford to give a reporter the time to work it. They are too busy doing all the meat-and-potatoes stuff."

And though 60 percent of the editors believe newspapers will become profitable again, most say a lack of staff and money prevent innovation and change.

At least one newspaper editor found a bright side in the layoffs and buyouts elsewhere:

"With the economy in the tank, I find I can hire higher-quality people than usual, so that helps make up for the cuts. However, I've ridden through other recessions so I know that when/if things loosen up, we may be back to entry-level hiring."

The APME survey, sent to 1,700 editors and answered by 351, also found:

• 71% citing the mission of journalism as the main reason why they stay in the business. That includes the APME President: I believe in the mission
• 40% plan to emphasize hyperlocal news more and national/world news less;
• 60% think newspapers will find a way to become profitable;

Other questions hint that the profitability may come by charging more for print (28%), charging for online content (28%) and print-only features (20%).

I think one of the sadder pieces is that so many see a need for change and yet face overwhelming barriers to implementing change.

Yes, less staff and lack of money is a barrier. But I also think attitude is a barrier when I read a comment like this:

"Everyone's looking for a way to "save" newspapers, but the truth is we have to be so completely different than what we've been, it's too hard for the old guard to get their heads or hearts around."

Or is it a lack of believing, of people too comfortable:

"I'm going to hunker down until the economy improves."

and

"It's not that the pay is "too good to walk away" as much as it is "this paycheck is better than none."

I think some know they need to move on, but don't:

"By the time we're through this transition, I may be ready to step aside – if I'm not pushed aside first.

The unwillingness to change is also what bothered Newspaper Tiger Sharon Hill in a post on the Community Newspapers - Hear them Roar blog.

Oh, and 19 percent expect to layoff more people and 5% expect to drop some print editions.

More results and comments are available on APME's site.

• Survey details
• Ideas to motivate staff

Daughter graduates to next phase of cancer battle

Like many proud parents, I bawled like a baby as my daughter crossed into a new phase of her life on graduation day.

Actually, I spilled the tears in the cancer center's family nutrition room while thanking a hospital volunteer. OK, I cried when she hugged me but that's another post.

Yes, my daughter has finished her 16th chemo treatment and we move on. The latest scans show the largest tumors have shrunk. In fact, Friday we spent about 90 minutes with a physician's assistant and nurse prepping for and learning about surgery, now scheduled for June 4.

Certificate marks end

On that last chemo day, she received a certificate signed by many of the folks who have helped pour the chemicals into her body since December.

There also was a nicely wrapped basket of her favorite granola bars - the kind she says still taste like granola bars - from the volunteer who brings a cart filled with granola bars, candy kisses, magazines, homemade hats to those getting chemo and those waiting with them.

Will it surprise anyone that my daughter now knows the volunteer was drawn to the center by a friend who has cancer and plans to volunteer more now that her paid job is history? She pulled that out when the volunteer found her getting the last treatment in a private room with a bed and not in the long hall of chemo chairs that made people watching easier.

Gifts mark start, end of chemo
It's nice that gifts marked the start and finish of her chemo treatments. At her first session, she sat next to a "veteran" whose brother Mark Slaven was visiting. The glass artist had brought along some pendants of dichroic glass that hospital employees were buying. He offered one to my daughter.

We were not sure if the last treatment would happen as planned. But a rushed visit to the family doctor the afternoon before for an infected toe started an infusion of drugs that got the infection and fever under enough control to allow the scheduled chemo. That's good because my daughter was hyper about finishing this phase.

I borrowed an idea spotted at a meeting of the Young Survival Coalition and made my daughter a bracelet marking this important day and journey. I wanted her to have something pretty to remember the positives.

Visualizing chemo at work

My daughter visualized the ICP Hatchet Man chasing the cancer cells out of her body with his hatchet so I found that charm.

I pictured straight lines of liquids rushing through her body, slowly converting the bad into something beautiful. That led to an image of a butterfly emerging from a cocoon so 16 crystal butterflies end slivers of silver on the bracelet. Four of them are bright pink as the drugs for the first four sessions were bright pink. The rest are a pale pink.


Ironically, we shared the butterfly image as I learned a week earlier she was on the Internet looking for butterfly pins to give out on her last day. (She settled for pink ribbon pins.)

A cheerleader charm and heart-shaped bead represent the support that came her way. Praying hands hang there as a reminder of all the powerful prayers and spiritual resources sent our way. (Please, keep them coming)

Txt me please

A cellphone suggests the text messages that linked my daughter with me, my friends and me, my daughter and friends. The messages received as I drove from the Girl Scout conference in Indianapolis to my daughter's home in Tennessee ensured I regularly took road breaks. During the first days, the messages were the relief from the intense decisions as I learned to live in a town where I knew two people.

I believe we exchanged at least 100 messages - hey, I had questions and mom suggestions - the time I was too sick to go with her to the hospital for an infected eye. We could have done more over that 22-hour visit but her phone died. She left her charger at home because Ms. Optimist thought it would be a short visit.

Crafting toward cure

She has given my sewing machines quite the workout, embroidering towels and creating purses from newspaper and material. I hope the sewing machine charm also reminds her of the blankets, hats, blankets and bags she has crocheted. Oh, and the craft projects, which I will see whenever I see my dining table.

The symbol of breast cancer, a pink ribbon, encircles another silver heart that completes the silver bracelet.

Silver goes with the pink, yellow and purple rubber bracelets that alert all to her causes or condition.

The pink one is from her boyfriend, who walked in an American Cancer Society fund-raiser the month my daughter discovered a lump in her breast.

The yellow one is from the Lance Armstrong Live Strong effort, a gift from the people I was with in Indy when the diagnosis was made by a shocked doctor.

The purple one is from the maker of her port, implanted to make soften the impact of the 16 chemo treatments and a year of Herceptin.

Next up: Surgery

I'm glad that the first phase is over. Her hair and eyebrows are growing back in. She's lifting weights and doing yoga though she learned Friday that a lot of yoga poses will be banned for her soon.

She has decided to just take out the lumps and lymph nodes instead of getting rid of the whole breast. It means six weeks of daily radiation and we're told that recurrence rate is about the same. The surgeon can see the advantages of doing the first.

But I hear the surgeon also say that the option allows hanging onto the breast for awhile, through the all important 30s, perhaps the 40s. That is good news, you know, that we are talking of 30s and 40s. But I also hear the probability of another operation.

Plus, I hear the surgeon say her breast size would allow three attempts of ensuring the lab finds no cancer cells in the tissue removed.

I think I have poured all of my positive energy into my daughter and am left with the negative vibes that say just get it over with and take the whole breast now. But that's not my decision to make.

Changing priorities

Our optimism has given way to a more practical approach - I'm not going to squeeze in the freelance job that would have taken nearly every daytime hour during the the "free weeks" between chemo and surgery and we are not going to travel the nine hours to her home to check on the job and catchup with friends in Tennessee.

Instead, we'll stay home. Katie hopes to stitch up some more purses, dishcloths, embroidered towels and other items to sell at our neighborhood garage sale and craft shows. We're also hoping to go through items and see what else might garner some cash during the event we've always been too busy to participate in before.

I'm thinking a little rest would be good too.

Why write well

“Writing well means never having to say, ‘I guess you had to be there.’”
—Jef Mallett

I found this quote looking for a good web site about Jef Mallett, who I wrote about in a post on commenting. It's over on Meranda Writes, a blog by a reporter who loves newspapers and works for an "information center." Actually, her blog will show that what she really loves is journalism and understands why newspapers report their woes. What would you expect from someone who tags her blog with "curious by nature, journalist by trade?"

Surprises unnecessary in "comment here"

Comments online intrigue me and a Frazz comic inspires me to speak up today.

I'm a gray person who often wears rose-colored glasses so it is as hard for me to completely dismiss all comments as useless as it is to see news organizations abandon acquired skills of managing and monitoring community conversations just because the mode of delivery changed.

Let's start with the what and move onto where.

Life is a series of patterns and the Internet is no different. Stay online long enough and you know that some people will always say the same thing, that some themes will prompt certain responses and that the time of year can influence what's being said.

That's also what I learned by reading printed letters to the editor. And, oh my, those ideas were hammered home the three times my work obligations included sorting and picking what to print.


I get to decide

So over the years, I've learned that people will say and believe just about anything. That helps me decide where I want to read comments and when I want to jump into the fray.

I also have learned that only some sites or some parts of sites are more likely to offer "some kind of Socratic discourse" so if that's what I want now that's where I go. Unfortunately, I rarely find that I'm going to places hosted by news sites even when I want discussion about the news.

Wasted talent

Many news sites started by print organizations do not use their years of experience handling discussion on opinion pages effectively online. Perhaps it is a matter of letting the medium frighten them into not using their developed skills, time and talent.

I'm not alone in my amazement as a recent Online-News discussion revealed so I can only hope that those who can make changes read "why comments suck" and "if you're not doing comments right, you shouldn't do them at all."

Howard Owens has suggested comments might be like the mother-in-law who won't shut up at Thanksgiving dinner.

"She seems necessary, after all she brought the pie, but she really isn't very entertaining and sometimes offensive. And she's probably the main reason your sister and her family decided to stay with her husband's parents."

Improve comments, not mother-in-law

Owens wisely sticks with the possible by sharing ideas on how to improve comments:

• Make one person responsible for watching over the community conversation,
  
• Require all writers to read and respond,
• Get rid of libelous statements quickly,
• Make sure community knows you take conversation seriously and
• Require real names.

Dan Conover also suggested that something as simple as allowing pictures or avatars can help improve the quality of comments by cementing identities. Sometimes, knowing that public comments are associated with your online personality and reputation is enough to stop what some of us consider ridiculous comments.

Actions guide outcomes

Conover says comments suck because news sites:

• Don't value them,
• Don't touch them,
• Don't have time,
• Are afraid and
  
• Are not a community

But Conover offers hope by suggesting news sites improve their comments. For those with good tools, improvements might start simply by wiping out the old comments ("rebooting the system") and investing staff time. Think of reallocating some of the letters editor time online. He also suggests:

• get better tools and learn to use them,
• stop making excuses and
• learn to talk to people.

Transforming comments into gold

Talking (and listening) to people is what got The Plain Dealer's Robert Schoenberger on the Beatbloggers Leaderboard without a blog. Patrick Thornton explained:

"Schoenberger wrote a story about UAW rallies in downtown Cleveland, where workers called on Washington to protect GM and Chrysler plants in the area. The story drew heated comments on both sides, because of the contentious nature of this issue. Many commenters don’t believe the auto industry should be singled out for a bailout, while other industries sink."

Thornton said The Plain Dealer recently called on reporters to interact more, and this story shows why interaction can help make a better product.

"Schoenberger enters the comments and provides additional facts and figures. His presence helped make the comments less volatile, despite this being a topic with passionate people on both sides. Most of all, however, he helped make better journalism by directly responding to claims made by commenters."

Go away, please

Read the Leaderboard for more insights into what the reporter is doing with comments as an illustration of why news sites investing time on comments is worth the time, talent and money.

I encourage you to read Xark's Why comment suck and "If you're not doing comments right, you shouldn't do them at all."

Still have time? Head over to Nancy Nall's post on The Whatever BBQ but finish up with the comments on Snow Flu Day to see how community conversations can become as interesting as the original post.

Consider also spending some time on the Save the Media post reacting to the Wall Street Journal rules for social media.

What's in your reader?

Meanwhile, I'll ponder why so few folks who stumble through here ever comment in public and wonder what Jef Mallet, who creates Frazz, and the Stephan Pastis, who creates Pearls Before Swine, are reading online.

Skill with language sets tone for Grimm speech

Laughter is not a bad thing and when putting together the post on the need for department stores, newspapers and journalists, I realized that I hadn't shared a speech that Joe Grimm gave to the American Copy Editors. The multi-talented guy exhibits his skill with spoonerisms, certainly appreciated by language lovers at the conference. "Bet gizzy!"

Department stores, newspapers and journalists no longer necessary?

Last week, the Buzz Bin posted old news: Newspapers are like Department Stores. It's just one more of many opinion pieces explaining why the printed product is failing. Still head over to the Buzz Bin post to learn why the mall is like the internet and why two mass market products, newspapers and department stores are failing rapidly. It's a post documented with links.

The comparison between newspapers and department stores isn't new to those who read That's the Press, Baby, a blog that carries the tagline "The future of newspapers, copy editing, and how it all relates, like everything else, to department stores."

David Sullivan, a full-time journalist since 1975 and recently home from the American Society of Copy Editors conference, has long been interested in department stores as well as journalism.

In his latest post, he recalls a time at The Flint Journal when local news copy editors were deemed unnecessary. That memory is just part of a post that looks at the dustup over the Tribune Co.'s layoff of design and copy editors and moves on to look at the jobs required in news organizations. Those future jobs will require some sort of copy editor because it's wrong to believe:

"that reporting staffs of the future are going to be composed of flawless wordsmiths whose writing will tumble into pre-formatted spaces in print or online, with little benefit of human intervention."

Sullivan explains that the Gods of Newspapers "made copy editors to make copy better, approachable, intelligible, and well presented. They are journalists, not mechanics."

He encourages copy editors to break out of past patterns and make sure the editors above them realize that copy editing is an editing job, one that will help information produced by trained and talented journalists stand out in the flow of information delivered online and off.

Sullivan's post starts off with another line of thought that I think a growing number of people in and outside of the industry are spending more time on: Are journalists really that special?

Sullivan says "Readers could give a flying fig" about who Steve Yelvington, Charles Apple or TTPB are and their dispute about the need for copy or design editors.

The idea of journalists having a better opinion of themselves than their audiences came up in discussions following Michigan State University's ReThink the News symposium. Three groups spent time dreaming what the news product needs to be and how to get there. A common theme in the reporting out of those ideas was the need to do a better job of promoting the value that journalists bring to the table.

There also was an overwhelming thread that the businesses now producing news are the ones best qualified to keep providing the community good of news coverage if funding can be found.

But maybe funding isn't the real issue.

Dave Winer is not the first to suggest "journalists are already an anachronism." Over on his Scripting News, he suggests that journalists need to believe their value was permanent, much like homeowners need to believe that the value of their houses is what they paid for them.

"I own a home myself, it's worth a lot less than I paid for it. I'm not happy about that, but as an adult I accept it. The same kind of acceptance is required of everyone who earns a living in journalism. And the higher up the ladder you climbed in your career, the harder that must be to accept."

Winer is exploring the idea of cleansing journalism in Rebooting the News #9, and why mainstream media is lashing out at him for arguing for change:

"If they did the job they say they do, following the truth where ever it leads, we would have avoided a lot of problems. But they don't do that. They avoid risks, like most people. They aren't the swashbuckling and courageous investigators portrayed in the movies. They're gray, average people who feel superior to the rest of us. And that veneer is disappearing now. "

At the Rethinking the News sessions, there was some talk about what will happen if newspapers go dark because ideas like a property tax or Chamber of Commerce dues to fund news in a community fail.

Clare Pfeiffer Ramsey, who is managing editor for Model D, was able to point to Hamtramck 's reaction to the closing of its community newspaper as one example. Those interested in seeing coverage continue are meeting, brainstorming ideas and figuring out different ways to ensure information is shared in timely ways. (One way the self-forming groups are exploring is using students to collect and share news.)

So maybe we will all end up shopping at Wal-Mart, reading one national newspaper and getting the rest of our information at the community coffee shop, or mixed in with the papers our kids bring home from school or in our RSS feeds.

Maybe not.

Words work wonders in relieving my stress

I stumbled across comforting words in a blog post on on a night I was irritated by what seemed to be a useless, unorganized meeting that followed another chorus of "why did you buy that?"

“Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundred of ways to kneel and kiss the ground”

-Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi

Years ago, I would remember the words to remind myself how important it is to "love what we do, do what we love" as I contemplated leaving journalism.

The quote, with a focus on love what we do, came back when I accepted a buyout that would allow me time to determine where my next paychecks should originate.

But when I read the words in Doug Berch's "Embracing the Creative Life" post, it was the part about hundreds of ways to kneel that spoke directly to me.

Doug, who makes beautiful dulcimers and music, reflected how an older friend had advised him as a teenager that creative people don't always fit into the mainstream and happiness is not the same for all.

The Michigan man's blending of words helped me see that different approaches can all be right. He was speaking of passionate people in pursuit of creativity. I heard that all meetings don't have to follow the published agendas, all resources don't have to treat comments the same way and that it is OK that I prefer big, get-it-all-now shopping trips while others want buy-only-when-it's-on the list excursions.

Or as George and Ira Gershwin said in 1937 and the feuding Holly Harper and Sarah Whedon sang in the May 3 "Brothers and Sisters" TV show

"You like potato and I like potahto,
You like tomato and I like tomahto;
Potato, potahto, tomato, tomahto!
...We better call the calling off off."

Newhouses praised for Star-Ledger cuts

The Star-Ledger in New Jersey ispraised for how upcoming pay cuts were determined. David Cay Johnson, in a post on Poynter, liked that the % cut varied by amount earned. That doesn't please a reporter who suggested the loyal, longtime staff suffer more under the plan.

Johnson, who added up the newly required copays for health coverage, suggested the news staff might start paying closer attention to paying for health care on the news pages as staff members start shelling out more for their own care.

Spring ritual: Visit MSU for burst of journalism inspiration

Update: Some folks will twitter about the event using #rethinknews hash tag. New web site: msujrn.org

Michigan State University is one of the major places I learned about journalism, earning a bachelor's degree years ago from the College of Communication Arts, exploring my first business and management courses and learning by doing at the award-winning student newspaper that came out five days a week.

Today, I return to the campus for my annual burst of journalism inspiration.

Three years ago, it was to learn more about the American Press Institute's Newspaper Next. Last year, I started my buyout-funded sabbatical with a frustrating day at API's progress report on the program designed to get newspaper's innovating their way to success. (By the way, API says Newspaper Next is Alive with things like the CEO Summits and other resources.)

Today, the journalism school has organized a forum on In Search of a New Journalism. The press release says "a dynamic mix of journalists, news consumers, students, entrepreneurs, academics and innovators from outside journalism" are coming for a daylong summit so that the 100-year-old j-school can take a "leadership role in redefining journalism and seeking fresh ideas and perspectives on creating viable business models."

As Jane Briggs-Bunting, director of the School of Journalism, notes in the official press release Michigan is becoming a hotbed of innovation as the Ann Arbor Press morphs into Ann Arbor.com, three mid-Michigan newspapers move forward by dropping four days of print editions and the Detroit News and Free Press offers e-editions, newsstand-only editions and limits home delivery editions.

John Bebow suggested some of the folks invited in a post on the Center for Michigan:

• Amber Arellano: Detroit News, writes a weekly Monday online column
• John Bebow: Executive Director, The Center for Michigan
• Bill Emkow: Editor-in-Chief of MLive.com
• Jonathan Morgan (MODERATOR): Multiplatform Editor at the Detroit News
• Aaron Olson: MSU journalism student
• Clare Ramsey: Managing editor of ModelD, a website that creates "a new narrative of Detroit."
• Professor Joe Walther from MSU's Department of Communication.
  

I'm heading to East Lansing to be a part of the audience for the afternoon session, which will be broadcast on SpartanTV from 1:30-4 p.m.

I'll let you know what's up.

Sharing the blues, sharing the doubts

Our household finally managed to nab a copy of the movie Doubt when I'm having lots of doubts.

I want to grab the opening lines as they echo what is behind the silence in this blog when there is so much happening with Advance Publications - more cuts at the Post-Standard in Syracuse and at the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the magazine Portfolio closing, and Tina Brown speaking out the "Quake at Conde Nast." (And between the time I wrote this and actually publish, more cuts at the Star-Ledger in New Jersey.)

The Bacon Blog post The Ann Arbor News : Homicide or Suicide gets plenty of chatter. Then, Annarbor.com posts job descriptions and talks about advertising models and a group of guys so interested in sports go on the radio to give their strong ideas of how Annarbor.com must work to survive and the future of journalism in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

So much to talk about, yet I'm reluctant to post for fear strong feelings will cloud my judgment, let me forget fairness, toss out the belief that good will prevail. Published words are so hard to pull back even when we believe what we write to be true at the time.

It was a year ago that I said goodbye to a Flint Journal paycheck. It was six months ago that I learned my 25-year-old had breast cancer. This is the week that tests will reveal if the chemo treatments worked enough to let her avoid a mastectomy.

The end of the month brings its own pressures for freelancers. And, as I have posted before, there are the challenges of medical billings, misplaced prescriptions and required paperwork to keep folks at a nursing home and Social Security happy.

There's enough on my plate that I probably should have closed myself off from the Internet, my hometown newspaper and other bluesmakers.

The Flint Journal's Andrew Heller, columnist and blogger, shares his decision to leave the safeness of a newspaper paycheck, drop his radio show and see what's there in a world you negotiate alone. He leaves with a promise of a print home for his column and online site for his blog. I pray that his promise is not broken like others have been, knowing it doesn't matter as his abilities assure he will survive, find a way to still support the family he brags about so loudly.

A sports reporter signs his exit papers and we trade hopeful blurbs via Facebook. I'm sorry, but I worry about what's next for him and the others who had survived earlier buyouts and layoffs but now face the unemployment line. I know they liked me best when I brought donuts or pizza, not when I begged for online updates - first please. And now I read what they share and worry as people once did about me.

An editor who once worked for me as a reporter, who never forgot a birthday or missed a chance to cheer, who deserved so much more respect and love then she got, slipped out quietly, ending years of service without the fanfare she engineered for so many before her. Her choice, I'm sure.

I watch people building new lives. The classroom is popular. One journalist interviews for a teaching spot many states away, which explains why the move back home with the 'rents months ago. Others also are back in school, aiming for a teaching certificate or jobs in the medical field.

Another writer spends her first time as a substitute teacher in the same week some cheered her in a building that housed shows, exhibits and more that she once wrote about. It seems like it was a hard first time, but her stories will carry on, carry her through.

It is not just the newsroom that is emptying., so there are more changes I feel as those in accounting, circulation or the warehouse or wherever are leaving the company they planned to work for until retirement.

And why do I understand that the men in the glass offices have hearts, have feelings, and yes, have families who love them. There is no pleasure in doing the difficult task of trying to make the Titanic avoid an iceberg. The optimist in me believes they struggle, fear the unknown and wish for a way to continue on without disrupting lives.

And even as I recognize the humaness of those who orchestrated the changes - fewer people, fewer benefits, less salary, fewer newspapers - I wonder if the fact that the changes are announced ignited unnecessary angst. Would those in the trenches devise different solutions?

The salaries once paid were set and gradually increased when the newspaper's circulation was higher, when the majority of employees' neighbors worked on the line and not behind counters or driveup windows, when a business was more likely to be family owned and unique.

I understand that. I see the conflicts. But then I stumble across a help-wanted ad in my newspaper. Wham.

Why is Valley Publishing seeking reporters and other help?

The ad, with its awkward phrasing and horrible online translation, illustrates what is scary about the attempt to forge a future from a business still weighted by a past. If the positions were for a start-up company, people would be excited about opportunities. But this collection of words advertises for people to fill posts once held by people now looking for new jobs.

A public silence masks fierce discussions lobbied through emails, heated calls, snarky tweets and anonymous comments. Scrambling to find answers becomes an exercise in frustration. New jobs or old? Voluntary layoffs? Who to believe when each believes they tell only the truth?

And really, what right do I have to raise any of these questions?

I am clearing out my feeds, able again to read about the layoffs, the dreams of others, and I stumble across the Ink-Drained Kvetch' post on the fighting through the blues.

Oh my. Is this funk a universal one birthed by curmudgeons, layoffs and buyouts? Can I stop fearing I am like May Boatwright of The Secret Life of Bees, in need of my own wailing wall to throw off the pain I collect from others.

The Ink-Drained kvetch reminds me how well Molly Ivins summed up what I feel:

“I don’t so much mind that newspapers are dying — it’s watching them commit suicide that pisses me off."

That quote also reminds me why I can raise the questions in hope of answers. I care about journalism, the future of news. Sometimes asking questions is all that I can do - right after I count to 10 (or higher) to ensure I'm cool enough to think things through.


Possible related posts
Do layoffs make journalists blue or is everything just ducky after leaving newspapers?