Follow Friday...er, uh...Sunday

REMEMBER THE TITANS

My favorite day of the workweek is Friday. Obviously.

But one of the biggest reasons it's my favorite is because Fridays I get to go out and shoot football. I love shooting sports. Football is especially fun. High school football is even more fun.

I saw this article today and wanted to pass it on. Maybe you've seen one of the better, fairy-tale football movies from the past fifteen years: "Remember the Titans."

The school represented in the film, T.C. Williams, actually does NOT participate in one of the sacred traditions of high school football: Playing underneath Friday Night Lights.

Well that changed recently. More here.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
THRIVING IVORY: "On Your Side"

My favorite band is Thriving Ivory. They're a piano rock band from Pleasanton.

About four years ago a friend turned me on to their music and I was hooked. Seeing and hearing them perform live is even better than their albums.



Two months ago, TI released a new album. It had a bit of a different sound and took a while to grow on me, but after two listens I was hooked.

My favorite song is called "On Your Side." To me, it's about keeping friends and having their backs and knowing they feel the same way.




- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
ELECTION SMACKDOWN

Tuesday was election day and the race for the biggest seat in the Beaver State was between (D) John Kitzhaber and (R) Chris Dudley.

Introducing the video I want to share requires giving a bit more information about the candidates Here's the shortest possible bio I can give on each candidate:

Kitzhaber was Oregon's governor for two terms ('95-'03).
Dudley played in the NBA for 16 years ('87-'03). Dudley set a record for most consecutive missed free throws (13) and one time missed five Free Throws on one trip to the foul line, also a record. (Darn! Lost track of "important" parts of the bio)

Anywho, Dudley played in the NBA and that brings you the onslaught of these videos we watched after Election Night.

Shaq v. Dudley


The Retaliation


The Election Result



Note: Dudley conceded the Gubernatorial race to Kitzhaber Wednesday evening. Kitz has only about 20,000 more votes.

World Champions

The Giants are World Champions. Champions.

It still hasn't sunk in yet. It doesn't feel believable.

Maybe it's because I'm not in the Bay Area and am not surrounded by thousands of people wearing Orange and Black.
Maybe it's because I barely was able to see the end of Game 5.

I was working a story that took me to a Hotel's Conference Room in Shady Cove (about 20 minutes from Medford). The meeting finished, and I grabbed the interview I needed to grab. As I headed back to the car, I saw a TV through the lobby windows. There was baseball playing on the screen.

I walked into the lobby and checked in with the game. It was bottom of the ninth, two outs. The receptionist joined me in the lobby and we watched Brian Wilson strike out Nelson Cruz. Even though I was working, I got to see the last out. We cheered together for a few minutes and watched the team spill out onto the field. They jumped and screamed and hugged, and we cheered.

I didn't get to watch almost the entire game, but I did get to see the most important out.

And that made it all worth it.

Southern Oregon Adventures VII: Pumpkin Patch

Saturday a few of us from the station wanted to take adventure of the beautiful Fall weather and do something that fit with the Autumn season. We went to a Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze.

Kerry-Ann, the morning show producer, and Chris Leone, the sports director, joined me on the adventure.

The drive took us about 45 minutes to the north, to Fort Vannoy Farms past Grants Pass.

The trees here are changing color and making for beautiful vistas.

At the Farm, we went through a muddy corn maze, walked through the mostly empty pumpkin patch, and petted alpacas.

















It was a fantastical Autumnal adventure.

It's been a while...

It's been a while since I last posted something. I've been busy doing things around town and editing a pair of weddings I shot over the summer. So, I haven't had a ton of time to post new entries or stories, but I'm slowly working back to it.

To start, here's a report I did last week about an elementary school in Ashland. Walker Elementary says 62% of its students are in poverty and they have the lowest test scores in the District.

Last Monday, the Ashland School Board attended a presentation by the school that demonstrated how it was working to improve its students.


I was originally told the meeting may discuss the future of the school and the possibility of reducing the number of teachers, or even closing the school entirely. However that wasn't the case at all. As I got there, my story changed from covering the meeting, to finding out what the school was doing despite all of the possible obstacles it faced.

Hopefully, it turned out ok.



Also, there's more blog entries coming...

Follow Friday: 3 Ms: Mayne, Mango, and Miracle

Happy Friday! It's finally getting to be Autumn weather in Southern Oregon. Earlier this week we had highs in the mid 80s, but it's starting to get cloudy, windy, and sprinkle raindrops. In case it's wet in your neck of the woods and you want to stay indoors, here's a few videos to check out.

Of course, I'd love it if you posted some videos or songs in the comments box below and passed along anything you like too!

Enjoy!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
MAYNE STREET
Kenny Mayne is a well-known comedic ESPN personality. Every so often he produces a short video that airs on TV and lives online. Somehow, I came across this one and it had me laughing throughout. This episode takes viewers on a fictional view behind the scenes as a newbie joins the ESPN team. It reminds me a bit of my experience starting out in the TV biz. Just exaggerated. A lot.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5681697


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
MANGO TREE
This is a song I heard back in April and fell in love with. I remembered that I liked it so much but didn't have it. I downloaded it this week and have been listening to it nonstop. What do you think it's about?




- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
MIRACLE EARS
Found this video on facebook. An 8 month old baby that was born deaf had implants inserted in into his ear. This video shows one of the first times he is able to hear. I can't get over his reaction to hearing the world around him for the first time, especially his mother's voice.



I think it shows how important human contact and communication is to a person's emotions...

Catching Up on Stories

It's been a while since I posted stories that I've covered. I've been spending as much time I can with my friends before they left and in the sun before it leaves, as well. However, now I've got a bit of time and I'm happy to post some of the work I've done lately.

Free After-School Dinners
We've all heard about free school breakfasts and lunches, but some children in the Rogue Valley also receive a free supper. It's part of an after-school program sponsored by Sodexo Catering (who is also the food supplier at Saint Mary's) and non-profits. It was a really cool program to learn about and I'm glad i got to do the story.

First Southern Oregon Gay Pride Parade
Last week was National Coming Out week and Ashland celebrated with its first ever Gay Pride Parade. It's kind of a big deal that a town with a population of 19-thousand in a relatively conservative area (So. Oregon) is hosting an event like this. Usually you hear about big cities like San Francisco, Boston, Chicago hosting parades, but I liked that a small town rallied together to do something like this. The parade it self was on Saturday, but I covered a preview of the weekend's events on Thursday and Friday.

Dirty Dancing
Grants Pass High School's homecoming dance was came to a grinding halt when students were accused of dancing inappropriately. This was the second time students had done so and the school's administration is considering canceling dances for the rest of the year. It's an interesting story but I knew that I'd need something visual to really bring the story home. While I was talking to students, one told me about a youtube video that was taken on cell phone while the dance was shut down. Thankfully the audio was usable and I incorporated it. I think the story is pretty interesting and could lead to good discussion about what's appropriate for a school-sponsored event.

Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood in Medford is receiving a million federal dollars over the next five years to implement a teen outreach program that has been shown to reduce dropout rates, teen pregnancy, and improve decision making. It sounds like it's oging to be a good program that will help hundreds in the Rogue Valley. What made reporting this story difficult is that another reporter Tove conducted the first interview and I was picking up from there. I was going to be reporting on this story without as much background as I would normally like. I also needed a second interview and no one was getting to me. Thankfully, Tove helped and we were able to get Planned Parenthood to help too. The end result was a pretty cool story about the group's program.

Follow Friday: Good Life, Luck-y hit, See the Sea

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"GOOD LIFE" by OneRepublic

This song feels so positive. And that's why I like it.




- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
STANFORD QB - ANDREW LUCK

The Heisman-hopeful Quaterback may be lining up as a Linebacker this weekend...




- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"THE UNSEEN SEA"

Beautiful images of San Francisco

The Unseen Sea from Simon Christen on Vimeo.