Monday, March 23, 2009

Spring Break: Beats working


When I was a college student, I never went to Cancun or South Padre Island or Fort Lauderdale or any place fun for spring break. When spring break finally rolled around, I went home to work at a ski area or in my dad's liquor store to make enough money to get me through the rest of the semester.


Only since I started working at the University of Wyoming have I been able to enjoy spring breaks the way they were meant to be enjoyed - to the max.


This year, my son and I headed for Bozeman, Mont., for some fun. We skied Bridger Bowl, Big Sky and Moonlight Basin. My son broke his snowboard binding so I loaned him mine, which meant I didn't snowboard at all. But I telemark skied for the first time this year, and also enjoyed riding my alpine boards on some extreme terrain.


We hit a lot of new runs. Bridger Bowl this winter opened Schlasman's Lift, which accesses 1,700 vertical feet of steep bumps. At Big Sky, we rode the tram to the top of Lone Mountain and descended the Liberty Bowl in clouds and blowing snow. Poor visibility made the run treacherous and challenging. The next day under blue skies, we rode the Headwall Lift at Moonlight Basin and skied their expert terrain.


After a winter at our local Snowy Range Ski Area, the opportunity to shred some big mountains (and 10 inches of powder at Big Sky) was a wonderful change.


Needless to say, it was tough coming back to work today.


Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Tim Masters Case: A question of questions

Whenever I hear students complain about college, I will say they haven't suffered anywhere near the injustice that Tim Masters has in his life. Masters spent 10 years in a Colorado prison before being freed last year when new evidence surfaced in the 1987 murder case of Peggy Hettrick in Fort Collins.

My investigative reporting class last week attended a public forum with Masters and his defense attorneys at the University of Wyoming. We had just covered a chapter in our textbook about investigating police and court misconduct, and the Masters case was a textbook example.

According to his attorney, Masters was convicted mainly by a psychological profile based on violent drawings made when he was 15 years old. The drawings mostly were of Friday the 13th type slashers and monsters. Now, Masters has filed a lawsuit against Fort Collins.

For stories about Masters and how the legal system was twisted and perverted to unjustly imprison him, see a series from the Rocky Mountain News.

I was interested to hear Masters talk about his experiences and his thoughts about how to reform the legal system. Unfortunately, most of the program was dominated by his main defense attorney. However, Masters did answer a few questions that were supposedly submitted by UW law students.

The questions included: What was your worst experience in prison? His answer: Everything. Another question: What was your best experience in prison? Answer: Nothing.

These were some of the lamest questions I've ever heard. If that's the best UW law students can come up with, I wouldn't hire any of them if they ever pass the bar.

The next investigative reporting class, I asked students to think of two good questions that an investigative reporter might ask Masters in an interview. Here are a few of them:
  • Describe the interrogations. What kind of questions were you asked? How were those questions directed at you? Were any of the circumstances particularly memorable (emotionally draining)?
  • I would ask if he and his lawyers are planning to add the police into their civil lawsuit. It sounds like they crossed the line.
  • I would ask Tim and his lawyers how big of a role the media played during those years shortly after the crime happened and then when he went to trial. How did the media make him look?
  • Who do you hold most responsible for your convictions, the prosecutors or the police? Why?

If I could have asked questions, I would like to know if he wants his civil lawsuit to go to trial so he can have his day in court, or if he is willing to settle?

I'd also like to know if he still draws.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Meetings: Vampires of a university's lifeblood


If you work at a university in any capacity - custodian or president - you will attend meetings. Some people like meetings because they get paid for sitting around and talking or listening. Other people don't like them because they're a waste of time that could be spent on other efforts, such as teaching.

We had a department meeting at 8 a.m. today. It was fun chatting with my colleagues and laughing at the occasional wisecrack. But, frankly, most of the business could have been handled through e-mail. We didn't vote on anything and didn't make any decisions. But we did take an hour and 15 minutes to do essentially nothing.

Universities are fueled by meetings, many held by various committees. Everybody is expected to serve on a committee. I'm on two department committees now and in the past have served on committees at the college and university levels.

Committees are supposed to study issues and then make recommendations. Sometimes the powers that be go along with those recommendations. Other times, they reject them. Ultimately, all of the big decisions are made by a handful of powerful people - the president, provost or Board of Trustees.

The University of Wyoming is so obsessed with committees that there's even a Committee on Committees (I am not making this up). Imagine attending one of those meetings. Pass the caffeine pills, please. I mean the whole bottle.
There's got to be a more efficient way to run things. With current technology, we should be able to have virtual committees where we can take care of business with blackberries, ipods, cells, PDAs or other mobile devices. We could meet in our homes, cars or while waiting for the university's buses.
Let's hold a meeting on that.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Sorority House Party: Not the movie

Like most Americans, I've often wondered what life inside a sorority house is like. Last night, I found out.

I was invited to Kappa Kappa Gamma's spring scholarship banquet by Rachel, who became my favorite student this year when I found out cheesecake would be served for dessert.

My experience with Greek organizations has been limited, despite spending 25 years of my life in the academic world as a student and faculty member. I first set foot in a fraternity house when I was a poor grad student in Missoula, Mont. A couple friends and I decided that it would be prudent to crash some rush parties so we could drink free booze. Even though we drank a lot of their free booze, we were not invited to join.

My next trip to a frat house was in Laramie when a student invited me to the old Farmhouse Fraternity for a few beers. This dump was right out of Animal House, interior design by Bluto Blutarsky. Populated by cowboys, hicks, farmers and assorted deviants, the Farmhouse was right up my alley, if I had been 20 years younger.

But to date, my only knowledge of sorority houses came from movies. There is the scene in Animal House when the peeping Bluto watches scantily clad coeds engaged in pillow fighting. Sorority girls also seem to be favorite targets in slasher flicks.

Sorry Bluto, but the scene at Kappa Kappa Gamma was very civilized. On Sorority Row, I walked into a beautiful, old, brick home populated by well-dressed young women. I was reminded of my grandparents' old house with its large rooms, high ceilings and tasteful furniture and decor. I drank punch and chatted in the game room with Rachel and Shannon, another student in my classes. Meanwhile, a sorority sister played piano in the background.

Dinner was in a formal dining room with waiters serving the food. I managed not to spill spaghetti sauce on my shirt and, as far as I know, committed no social or etiquette faux pas during the meal. Did I mention there was cheesecake?

After the main course, the sorority honored members for their academic achievements, including making the president's and dean's lists, and maintaining 4.0 GPAs. Rachel and Shannon were deservedly noted for their impressive work. As I mentioned early in the party, KKG must be "the smart girls' sorority."

So I had the wrong impression of sororities, due to media portrayals. Maybe I have the wrong idea about fraternities, too. I offer the challenge to any fraternity members who want to try to change my mind about them.

Just don't forget the cheesecake.

Monday, March 2, 2009

All That Jazz: What bloggers can learn from musicians, poets


"If a tree falls in the woods and nobody blogs about it, does it matter?"

Thursday, I had the privilege of being on a panel at the Teaching Creativity conference held on the University of Wyoming campus. The panel topic was Virtual Creativity, and I talked about my experiences with blogging in the classroom.

The day before, I attended a panel with two jazz musicians, Shabda Noor and Eddie Henderson, and poet Evie Shockley. A couple things during their talk stuck in my mind. One was Evie and Eddie discussing the differences between white and black audiences. Black audiences tend to be spontaneously responsive to artistic performances, they agreed, which harkens back to the old call-and response type of communication between black field workers. The jazz musician calls with his instrument and the audience responds with applause and shouts.

Blogging also offers a unique relationship between writer and audience similar to the call-and-response communication between artist and fan, preacher and congregation, etc. The response function of blogs allows readers to post their reaction to the blog, offering praise, criticism, corrections, clarifications, expansion. The blog writer can them respond to those comments, creating a give-and-take relationship with his readers.

Shab talked about how jazz artists will transcribe the solos of other musicians and learn to play them note for note. But, for example, playing an Eddie Henderson trumpet solo doesn't make you Eddie Henderson, he said. You can use that solo as a starting point, but you need to find your own voice, your own sound, to truly be a musician.

It's the same with blogging or any other form of writing, I think. If a student finds a writer she enjoys, there's nothing wrong with emulating that writing style or form of writing. But once a student masters that form, she needs to move beyond that and find her own style, her own way of expression in order to develop as a writer.
For instance, the writer who got me interested in journalism was Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. As an undergraduate, I probably made some feeble attempts to imitate him. But eventually I moved on and tried to find my own path.

As I noted in my presentation at the conference, jazz musicians and poets are about as cool as you can get. But blogging is cool, too, as the 100 million blogs out there can attest. The blogosphere, I added, has become the clogosphere.

But what can make your blog stand out is finding that unique voice that shows your personality and character, as well as making your postings provocative enough that the audience cares to respond.

"Q: How many bloggers does it take to change a lightbulb?"
"A: None. Bloggers don't change lightbulbs. They're too busy changing the world."