Pathfinder Critique: Best Issue of the Semester Edition

Issue 19, Feb. 3:

You folks called it at last week's meeting: The was the best issue of the semester, quite possibly of the whole year, frankly. It was chock full of interesting stories. Way to go, Pathfinders. Now keep your swerve on.

THE GOOD:

- An engaging and through look at the SafeAssign program by Amy on 1A. Great reporting, excellent writing. A winner.



- Good front-page play of the Warrior women's big win over Westminster. The only way it would have been better was if it had been a staff-generated story with quotes from the coach and players. Something to shoot for in the future. I have faith any of you can cover a game and make it informative and interesting.

- Sanity appeared to be the theme of the Page 2 opinion pieces, and Amy and Kasi regaled us with their various takes on this subject. Outstanding writing. And Jed put his spin on how cynical we've become as a nation.

- Haven't mentioned it before, but the "Doodling in Class" cartoons by Sam Maynes are always top-shelf. Loved the Chewbacca-as-KISS-member doodle.

- Ernesto turns in an entertaining account of his recent run-in with campus law enforcement. Better watch out: He'll be a marked man from here on in. Nice headline on that story, BTW.

- Katy takes a break from considering celluloid to give us the lowdown on "Dexter," a TV series I also find quite fascinating. Gruesome and unsettling, but fascinating.

- Alex visits Macullen's, arguably the valley's toniest eating establishment, and delivers a glowing review of the place. I'm still kind of curious what the Greek chicken dish ended up costing, though. Hope it all came in under a sawbuck.

- I got a pretty good sense of L-C prof Kevin Goodan's presentation from Kasi's story. On the same page, the review by Matthew Hattrup (his first?) of Baroness's "Blue Record" read well and piqued my interest.

- Another outstanding and elucidating Student Health offering by Lindsey. Intuitive to the subject matter and written in a fluid voice, this is a great feature. I'm sure readers are eager to read more.

- A carbo-loaded sports section with two spicy meatballs: Jed's Sports Shorts column and the By the Numbers breakout. That's some good stuff. I especially liked Jed's attempt at politically correct vernacular. He ought to try writing an entire column in that style; that could be hilarious. Story suggestion: Esparanza would seem like a prime candidate for a personality profile.

- The ever-popular Word on the Street asks a timely, pertinent and revealing question about the U.S. response in Haiti. I find it ironic as hell that, three blocks to the south of campus, the kids at Webster Elementary are collecting their spare change to help earthquake victims while some L-C students polled don't think it's anything they need to give a fig about. Like I said, revealing.

THE NOT-SO-GOOD:

- The subhead on the L-C women's basketball story should have run at the top of the first column rather than below the photo and thus compete with the photo caption (or cutline, as we like to call it in print journalism).

- Still floating that ad up into editorial territory on Page 6. Tie some concrete sneakers on that baby and let's sink it to the bottom of the page.

- It would have been better to give the actual address of Macullen's rather than to say it's located at the "tail end of Main Street." Which end is the tail end? Main Street also stretches quite a ways past Macullen's to the east as well as the west.

- I too think a lot of erstwhile Pathfinder Editor Loren, but I'm not sure I would have listed him as one of Goodan's "peers." Not until he's had a couple of books published, anyway. Not sure what Goodan thought of that comparison.

- The headline over the album review needed a verb. Badly. Also, some references to song titles and their lyrics would have been instructive and given us a better idea what the album is really about. The sound is heavy metal, sure, but what deep subject matter is the singer really barking about?

- I think Ernesto meant "advocate" instead of "abdicate." Unless he's giving up some kind of throne, that doesn't work. Editors, start your dictionaries!

- Let's extend our jump tags all the way across at least one column of type, shall we. Don't truncate them two-thirds the way across a column and then start or end the story next to them. That looks pretty sloppy.

- Photo of Derek Gianukakis on Page 10 needs to fit better in the frame.


THINGS TO WORK ON:

- The Internet, as per AP style, is always capitalized. So is Web.

- Judgment has never had, nor ever will have an "e". Commit that to memory.

- Composition titles — movies, books, albums, etc. — are set off  by quote marks, not italicized or underlined, a la your English essay rules. In other words, "Manifest Destiny," "Winter Tenor," "In the Ghost House Acquainted," "Blue Record," "Dexter" and "Henry V"all should have quotes around them. No italics; no underlines.

- It's $20, not twenty dollars.

- If it's a complete sentence following a colon, it's capitalized. If it lacks any kind of verb to make it a complete sentence, the first word is lower-cased (unless of course it's a proper noun).