Cardinal

I've been a passionate Stanford Cardinal fan since I was a young'n. My family and I have had a season tickets to Stanford football games for as long as I can remember. And, for me, college football and tailgating is synonymous with BBQing and throwing the football around at The Farm.

The Cardinal and I have struggled through some difficult years (I'm looking at you Buddy Teevens and Walt Harris) but the Jim Harbough era has been a different story, especially this year.

I've been watching as much of the Cardinal's games as possible and think this new team is something special. And a lot of people are taking notice. On Saturday, Stanford will play Oregon in Eugene. College Gameday will be there, the game will be the primetime game on ABC, and many articles have been written about the new-look Cardinal and Harbough's effect on the team.

Two have stood out to me.

The first as about Stanford's leader, Owen Marecic. He plays fullback. And inside linebacker. Starting in both positions. He is a true athlete. This article about Marecic was in Sports Illustrated last week and praised his effort and skill. I'm glad that I get SI in the mail now. In the past, I would read the magazine after my Grandpa, Ben Camera, had finished reading them. It was a nice tradition to get a stack of SI magazines. However, he is a Cal fan and I'm not 100% sure that when I got that issue, the Marecic article would have still been in the mag. Just kidding, he knows a good football team and good player when he sees one.




Stanford Football: Character, Cruelty
I'm not sure how I feel about the new Cardinal. They're merciless. They go for the kill. They wear black. They're almost a villain team.



This isn't the Stanford I'm used to, but it's a Stanford I'll continue to root for.

Weekly Rewind (9/20-9/24)

It was a good week at work. Got to have a pretty wide variety of stories and even got a live shot in the 6:30. Good stuff.

MONDAY
Localized a story about the FDA considering approving the sale of genetically engineered salmon. It would be the first genetically modified meat or fish available for consumption.
What might be most disturbing about the whole deal is that experts don't expect the FDA to require special labelling to distinguish the modified fish from natural fish.
Here's a blog entry I wrote about the whole FrankenFish experience.

TUESDAY
Covered the dedication of North Medford High School. Was hoping to have a live shot at the top of the 6:30 just as the festivities were getting going, but technical obstacles didn't let that happen. Either way, it was a fun story to cover. In the past two weeks I've covered two stories at SOU, one at N. Medford High, and I'm expecting to cover one at S. Medford High next week. Maybe I'll soon have the Education beat?

WEDNESDAY
Ashland is a bit like Diet Berkeley, it's fairly radical a bit artsy, but it's not nearly as hippie as Berk. On Wednesday, Ashland held Car Free Day. Officials from the city and from the local bus transit system closed down one block in downtown Ashland and hled a bike caravan down a main street. It was all in an effort to raise awareness about Shared Roads, roads that mandate bikes and cars share a lane of traffic. The story didn't get posted to the web, but it was pretty fun to cover and I shot a pretty cool standup*.

THURSDAY
On Thursday, MADGE (Medford Area Drug and Gang Enforcement) released a statement that they had conducted a three-month long undercover drug sting operation and they had issued arrest warrants for at least 23 people. Of those 23, 12 were women. Medford Police say that number is much higher than what they had been used to. I interviewed a counselor from OnTrack, a drug addiction recovery center. She said that that percentage of women did not surprise her. She said drug addiction is a disease that affects women as often as men and that its s social stigma that tells us to expect drug users to be men. It was good to talk with her about these kind of issues. It reminded me of topics and stories we covered in Sociology classes that challenged our stereotypes and expectations. It seems as though the classes I took in college and the events that I took part in, encouraged me to think differently about things that I hadn't thought differently about before: gender roles, stereotypes, expectations. It was refreshing to talk to someone who was so upfront about these topics.
In the evening, I went to SOU for a story about their new class of freshman and how their student body may be it's biggest ever. Here's a blog entry about that story and thinking back to SMC times.

FRIDAY
Fridays are excellent. Mostly because I cover one story in the afternoon and then get to shoot football in the evening. In the afternoon I previewed a fair-style event called the HarvestFest. I got there at the right time and saw organizers performing a test run of the Pumpkin Launcher. It was pretty spectacular. My producer wanted me to do something different, a look-live vosot. Now that might sound like a foreign language, and in a way, it is. Well, let's break it down:
Look-Live is a standup that goes at the front and back of a package or story. It's used when a reporter won't be able to front (introduce) their story in the show. The point is to have shot that looks as though you're doing a live remote shot, but wouldn't be able to because of timing or technology issues.
Vosot is just the form of the story. Usually look-lives are used in packages, but because this story isn't deep enough to package it was simply a vosot.
Anywho, I shot the look-live vosot at the HarvestFest grounds then headed out to football.
I love shooting football. It's exciting and relaxing at the same time. At SMC I shot a lot of basketball games and it was almost always more exciting to shoot the game rather than just be in attendance. The same is certainly true at the football games I've covered in the Rogue Valley



*A standup comes in the middle of a package where the reporter shows up on screen to explain part of the story. I'll probably write more on standups soon.

26

Getting a "real job," and especially, an on-camera job, means that I have to start looking professional. Some of you may have seen me pre-"real job" with extra hair on my head and face.



Nowadays I have to keep the hair trimmed and shave my face everyday. Sure it looks nice, but I hate it.


Also, I'm used to dressing in TShirts, shorts, sandals, and glasses. On camera and in the newsroom, it's dress shirts and ties, and tidy hair.

I've been told by several people that dressing this way makes me look older. Last week I was at a live remote shot running through my lines when I woman came up behind me and asked: "Excuse me, my friend and I were wondering (motions behind her to her friend) how many years you have been out of college." I smiled and asked her what their two guesses were. She said she thought one year and her friend thought five years. I told them I had graduated only a handful of months ago in May. She said she guessed one year because I was reading my lines and practicing furiously.

On Thursday I stopped to get coffee as a jot of energy before editing my story quick-style and I was talking with the girls who were making my drink. Turns out one of them is actually from Pittsburg, CA, but that's a different story. I told them I was new in town and that this was my first job out of college. They were surprised and asked how old I was. I told them to guess my age. They guessed 26.

I talked to a few co-workers about the difference between what I looked like and what age I actually am. They said they could see how people would guess 26 as my age.

Interesting.

Maybe it makes sense. I've already started getting grey hairs, but they're short ones since I've got to keep my hair trimmed.

Back to College

Twice in the past two weeks I've been lucky enough to cover stories at Southern Oregon University (SOU). First it was a story about student leaders going through emergency training. More recently, I looked at SOU's enrollment numbers that might be the highest they've ever had.

Thursday was move-in day for the freshman and when I went to the Ashland campus to cover the story at nighttime, the students were right in the middle of their Orientation sessions and Welcome activities...something I am more than familiar with after three years of being an Orientation Leader at SMC.


And I was happy to cover the story, but more happy to be back in that kind of college atmosphere. I love college. Everything about it seems great, young adults moving away from home and taking on academic, social, moral/ethical challenges. It's a chance to grow and change and explore. Also, there's the lack of "real world" responsibility and abundance of friends and fun times everywhere. It's fantastic!

There's something magical about move-in day. The realization of the impending brevity of college is finally settling in. These new students (Can't call them "kids." They're not. Most are 18 and are now living on their own) are giddy at the thought of not having chaperones or parents. How could you not love being around something like that? Well, I'm sure there are a lot of reasons that you might not love that, but I usually don't feel them.

Anywho, it as great to be around that atmosphere at SOU. I can definitely see myself working at a college at some point in the future. Maybe working in video, athletics, or student affairs, but I'd certainly want to work with students, helping them find their way.

Follow Friday: Kevin Navarro, Grinding, and Running Music

Starting something new, every Friday I'll post links to three things that I am constantly checking out and can't get enough of. It's all in the name of using social media to pass along interesting, and sometimes important, info!


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NAVARRO'S NOTES

My brother, Kevin, is in his third and final year (yes, third and final) as a Political Science major at UC Davis, but for one quarter he won't be at Davis, but in Washington DC. He's studying at the UC in DC program and will be taking classes, interning, and exploring in Washington.

Kevin has started a blog and has been updating it everyday (something I can't say for myself) and it's been really entertaining to see what he's been up to as he interns with Raben Group, a political consulting firm (I think).

Check out his blog, it's got candid takes on his living situation, his work, politics, DC, and, occasionally, Bay Area sports.



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NOTHIN' BUT A GRIND

There are a few things that I'm really curious and passionate about, and this web video combines two of them: 1.) Digital documentary films, and 2.) The world that sports can open up.

This is an eight-minute short film that overviews a football camp for high schoolers. While it shows some emotional, pivotal moments filled with passion, it's also shot and put together in a beautiful way. Several of the comments praising the video come from self-proclaimed, non-football fans who can't get over the beauty and inspiration of the film.

I've probably watched it six or seven times in the past two weeks. Check it out.

Nothin' but a Grind - documentary from Richard Cameron White on Vimeo.

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"THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER" by FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE

I love this song! Been listening to it for a few weeks now and I can't get it out of my head.
At work, Emily and I will "clap-clap, clap" the beat and start singing along.
PLEASE NOTE: I don't particularly like the video, but the song is excellent!

The New North

Throughout Summer, the talk of the town was the new South Medford High School.

However, North Medford spent the past four years renovating buildings all over campus. Tuesday, the school dedicated it's new buildings with a big ribbon-cutting ceremony. The 6:30 NewsTeam initially planned to have a live shot at the school at 6:30 right as the party was getting started. About 200 people were there, the band was playing, the ribbon was about to get cut...LIVE SHOT GOLD! Unfortunately, it was not meant to be as we wouldn't have time to get a live van there.

But the high school was very nice, and I liked covering the story. The campus was beautiful and the students have some great places to enjoy.

Frankenfish

Monday I covered local reaction to the possibility of genetically engineered salmon being available for sale and consumption. If the FDA approves the modified fish, it would be the first genetically engineered fish or meat product on the market.

One of the ways that we work on stories is to take national stories and localize them to make them more interesting. For this story, I talked to a co-owner of a real cool store called The Butcher Shop that sells local beef, pork, fish, and produce. The co-owner was incredibly willing to talk with me candidly about his opinion on the genetically engineered fish. We tried getting in contact with the FDA to get two sides of the story and make it more balanced. The FDA would not talk with us (or any other local affiliate) but pointed us in the direction of our national news affiliate. ABC produced video and soundbites on the story that we ended up using.

There already is modified fruits and vegetables in the market, and if it passes, GE salmon wouldn't be available for about two years. However, critics are concerned because it appears that the FDA might not require special labels to signify the difference between GE salmon and natural salmon. There would be no extra labeling, reportedly, because the salmon are so genetically similar.