Good evening, 919 Gang. It seems to me that every writer or
photog covered one story that sticks in their memory and is worth sharing. Please
tell us about it.
CHUCK BOYD writes:
My "Big Story"
was a long, long search for a little boy missing for five days in a
thickly-wooded mountainous area. He had wandered away from a church picnic.
Search and Rescue crews
combed the area and helicopters roared overhead. Day and night the search went
on.
I was at the police base
camp, along with reporters from both papers. My "hat" would be the
San Diego Union totally - until all its deadlines passed. Then I "switched
hats" and became the Evening Tribune on-scene photographer.
Stan Griffin was a bit
upset that I was there so long but he didn't want to miss the story while
switching photographers before the story played out.
The boy was found, tired
to exhaustion, dazed, hungry and covered with bug bites and bruises. When he
was on a stretcher, being carried to an ambulance, a silly newly-arrived TV
crew tried to jump in front of me and my camera, I did what had to be done
after five long days and nights.
The sturdy fiber case we
had slung over a shoulder held flashbulbs and spare 4x4 film packets. It was
heavy and when I swung it forward, it knocked the TV guys out of my way and I
captured the tired but happy face of the rescued child. It made the front page
of the Union.
My other Big Story was
when Jacques Cousteau's son was knocked unconscious while experimenting in the
San Diego harbor using a parachute to see if he could float over a pod of
whales for quiet aerial views, far from the towing boat. But, that is another
story.
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REBER: Last night we talked about Roger
Showley’s last day at the U-T.
MICHAEL GRANT writes:
Roger Showley, your daily colleaguery was one of the best
things about working at The Union.
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REBER Last night Linda Murphy praised
Jim Trotter for his days at the U-T.
JIM TROTTER writes:
Thank
you, Linda. Very kind of you.
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ALAN MILLER writes:
Jim
Trotter is a pro who was immune to Chargers' hype while covering that sorry
team.
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RICK SMITH writes:
I've
heard all the reasons about printing sites, deadlines, etc, but I'm compelled
to bitch again about the Union's second-class citizenship. There was a callout
today that said the Padres led, 5-3, in the eighth ining. The first seven
inches of Acee's story was more like an off-day feature. I opened my L.A. Times
and found a complete box score of the game, Brewers winning, 8-6. There were 11
complete box scores in the Times and five in the Union. Big picture of the
Angels' Mike Trout being congratulated after a home run. Additional reconnaissance
in the Times showed that the Angels won, 2-1, with Trout also scoring the winning
run. Unrelated, there was a photo in the U-T of Mark Rypien, one of my favorite
players when he was finishing up with the Rams. Rypien is identified in the
caption but the former Redskins player, next to Rypen, is ignored. You see this
lack of complete caption idents more and more often.
Which
humorously reminds of when I was with the Golden State Warriors in 1974. We're
playing the Bucks in a playoff at Oakland Coliseum Arena when a fight breaks
out. Milwaukee assistant coach Hubie Brown rushes the floor. Brown, who still
is active with NBA telecasts, was identified in the San Francisco Chronicle as "unidentified
fan."
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REBER: Suzanne Mack wrote last night
about police shootings.
JIM TROTTER
writes:
Suzanne
Mack, sadly you are a reminder of why things are unlikely to get better. I
could detail the ignorant and dangerous flaws
in your logic, but why waste the time? You’ve made your position clear. Thanks
for putting your white privilege on display for all to see.
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DAVID FARMER writes:
Some
perfectly good words with long and honorable histories have been almost ruined
by sloppy use in our times. For example, rhetoric. Most
people would probably define it as over-elaborate speech, especially on
political topics, and especially in a public address.
Then
an orator might throw in mild to total deception camouflaged by fancy words and
false emotions. When some modern speakers are challenged on the truthfulness of
their statements, their supporters may say, "Oh, that's just
rhetoric."
But
the word originally meant the study and practice of oratory, and may still do
so in college speech classes. In ancient Greece, there were acclaimed orators,
or rhetoricians, some of them comparable to rock stars today. People would
flock to their speeches. The content at times mattered less than how it was
expressed.
Some
rhetoricians were so accomplished that their names have survived the centuries:
Demosthenes of Greece, Cicero of Rome.
And
another Roman demonstrated both the eloquence of rhetoric and the deception
that can be hidden inside: Marc Anthony of Rome. Shakespeare had him praising
the newly murdered Caesar while simultaneously arousing the Roman crowd to
hatred of his killers. It was rhetoric at its best.
So
never give the honorable title "rhetoric" to the dishonest words of a
modern public speaker.
P.O. Box 2239
Ramona, CA 92065
U.S.A.
