THE GOOD
An excellent Nic Ford-designed cover spotlighting winter sports previews, and Jed later seals the deal with two outstanding advances of the men's and women's basketball teams. Question, though: Are there other varsity winter sports besides basketball at LCSC? If so, what would they be? Tiddylinks? Cribbage?
On the opinion page, Kasi recaps her prize-winning Halloween evening with some fun writing. The only thing that would have made that better would have been photographic evidence of Kasi and her beau in their Jackie and JFK get-ups.
A&E stalwarts Kaylee, Alex and Jeremiah once again provide readers with thoughtful reviews on recent films, fine dining and popular music. A round of applause for their semester-long efforts, please. I especially appreciated Jeremiah's insights into the evolving state of music distribution.
Alex delivered Part 2 in her interview with Interim President Tony Fernandez.
Again, I thought Jed did an outstanding job with the advance stories on the basketball teams. Those could have easily run in the Tribune, they were that polished. He also contributed an entertaining Sports Shorts. And yes, three and a half pages is a lot of sports coverage, but I do think there is an audience for it. At least until something better comes along, that is.
A money Word on the Street with six — count 'em six — of your fellow schoolmates sharing their wit, wisdom and ... other things.
THE NOT-SO-GOOD
I've made this suggestion at some point in the distant past, but I'll make it again: It's time to consider moving the crossword and sudoku puzzles to some later page in the paper (11 would be ideal, methinks). I realize they are popular features, but Page 3 is prime real estate in any newspaper, and it would better serve your readers to have the top news stories — such as the second half of Alex's interview with Tony Fernandez — taking up residence there. Think about it.
Not sure "notorious," with its highly negative connotations, was the word Alex was looking for in describing Sharp's Burger Ranch. Possibly "renowned," but not "notorious."
Noticed a lot more mistakes in this issue. Not sure why because the proofreading had been showing steady improvement. A reminder: Your credibility takes a hit when you let too many things slips through the cracks and you open yourself up to criticism from the nitpickers. Some friendly suggestions from your adviser: Writers, do not turn in raw copy. Proofread your own work carefully before you turn it in; make sure it's as clean as you can make it. Editors, tighten down those green goggles and keep your dictionary, AP Style Guide or other helpful texts handy to help you rectify errors. Train yourselves to catch mistakes. Focus and dedication are really the keys.
The headline over the Fernandez story alludes to comments he made about faculty pay lagging behind L-C's peer institutions. Yet the reader has to wade through seven paragraphs of unrelated information before coming upon the reference. That's an indication that either the lead has been buried (as in this particular case) or the headline needs to be rewritten. I also am left to wonder if Fernandez's comments are kosher — are L-C's faculty members really as underpaid as he claims? And what are the "peer instutitions" that he mentions? He cites data to back his comments, but then there are no further details of this in the story. That would seem to be critical to the reader's understanding of whether he has a case. Lesson learned: Don't be afraid to ask sources for statistical evidence and be willing to find some of your own.
Not sure I would refer to writers as "artists," as per the Page 8 news release on the latest issue of Talking River Review. I'm sure they see themselves as gifted and talented human beings who can paint beautiful pictures with their golden words, but they essentially create literature, not art.
THINGS TO WORK ON
| WRONG | RIGHT |
| Mad Men | "Mad Men" (composition title) |
| six-year-old | 6-year-old (ages are always numerals) |
| Youtube | YouTube |
| fifteen bucks | 15 bucks (or $15) |
| North Central Idaho | north central Idaho |
| at the Center | at the center |
| over 100,000 downloads | more than 100,000 downloads |
| October 12 | Oct. 12 |
| 1227 21st Street | 1227 21st St. |
| Sharps Burger Ranch | Sharp's Burger Ranch |
| a 5-8 minute wait | a five- to eight-minute wait |
| drive thru window | drive-through window |
| in the back court | in the backcourt |
| harder than its ever practiced | harder than it's ever practiced |
| game five | Game 5 |
| Anyways | Anyway |
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