Journal 10

Word of the week: malaise. I came across this word in an opinion piece in the NY Times (before it kicked me off) about internships. It's a great read, and the writer uses malaise perfectly to describe the situation at universities. Webster's New World College Dictionary says a vague awareness of moral or social decline. Origin of Fr < mal, bad (see mal-) + aise, ease. American Heritage says the origin is similarly French, from Old French : mal-, mal- + aise, ease; see ease.

Catch of the week: spokesperson.


A hospital spokesperson reportedly said the man was believed to have left the premises.


Correct AP style is spokesman or spokeswoman. If sex is not known, use representative.

Headline of the week: UF Student Government meets with state lawmakers in Tallahassee. Long online hed but not very DWI.  I would have used: UF SG meets with Tallahassee lawmakers as part of Gator Day.

Passage of the week: 


He waves his hand in the direction of some 7,000 Joe and Jane Six-Packs squatting restlessly in a cavernous exhibition hall in the Orange County Convention Center. The folks are here on this March Tuesday because they are passionate about rural electricity — in other words, middle American and proud of it. Greenwood is here because this is just the sort of conservative gathering that slurps up his greatest hit.

He is about to sing God Bless the U.S.A.

And they are about to lose it.


Great feature from Sean Daly of the St. Pete Times about Lee Greenwood and his hit song. This was interesting to me especially because I used to sing this song, as required by my elementary school, every Friday morning for flag-raising ceremony. Many laughs were had in this feature. 

Journal 9

Word of the week: fugacious. I found this word while perusing racing stories, since I've been in St. Pete all weekend working the Grand Prix. The writer is talking about the debate about whether to cancel  Webster's New College World defines it as passing quickly away; fleeting; ephemeral. The origin is < L fugax (gen. fugacis) < fugere. American Heritage gives an origin of From Latin fugāx, fugāc-, from fugere, to flee.

Catch of the week: Alex "Tyson." This egregious error actually appeared in print in the St. Pete Times on Saturday.  In a column by Gary Shelton, he refers to Tyus as Tyson near the bottom of the story. I'm sure it was an innocuous typo, but it's still refreshing to see a paper as regarded as the Times make an error after having so many similar things happen in my stories at the Alligator.

Headline of the week: Hope for Japan solicits donations for victims. (More coming soon, gotta run.)

Passage of the week: This passage comes from fellow Alligator writer C.J. Pruner's editorial in Thursday's paper before UF took on BYU in the NCAA Tournament. It's a refreshing perspective leading up to what could have been, and probably was for some, a very contentious rematch.

While lighthearted swings at the Mormon faith may not come close to the same dirt-high level of burning scriptures or using a higher power’s name to justify the desecration of the memory of fallen soldiers, it’s still religious bigotry. These are human beings, some of whom you may be cheering alongside with on Thursday (Yes, there are Mormons in The Gator Nation). It’s fine to have qualms with their doctrine, but leave it in the pews come tip-off time.

Journal 8

Word of the week: detritus. Webster's New College World says the definition is fragments of rock produced by disintegration, abrasion, etc; or any debris. Origin: Latin, a rubbing away: see detriment. The American Heritage Dictionary also gives a French origin from détritus, from Latin dētrītus, from past participle of dēterere, to lessen, wear away; see detriment. The writer is using the word to detail the landscape in Benghazi after air strikes began today in Libya.

Catch of the week: Man seriously injured in Colfax hit-and-run. Correct AP Style is "hit and run" for a noun and "hit-and-run" for an adjective.  In this headline, the usage is clearly a noun, but the writer used the hyphenated adjective instead. The fact that it's an online hed makes it even less forgivable. There isn't a length restraint, so the writer could have used accident after "hit-and-run" but chose not to.

Headline of the week: Law school addition includes professional courtroom. Not bad, but not very DWI. I would go with "Addition at Levin opens, new courtroom attracts pros." The addition is more than just the courtroom, but the fact that it is already attracting lawyers is a big deal in my opinion.

Passage of the week:

"Corey?" called the drama teacher. "You ready, Corey?"

Corey didn't answer. He was focused on becoming George.

Being someone else is much easier than being himself.


Concise and carefully crafted. Lane DeGregory knows how to hit home with her words, and she does it again with this feature on an autistic actor.

Journal 7

Word of the week: blithely. Webster's New College World defines it as showing a cheerful, carefree disposition; lighthearted, with an origin of ME < OE; ult. < IE base *bhlei-, to shine, gleam. Merriam-Webster says it has origins in Middle English, from Old English blīthe; akin to Old High German blīdi joyous.  The writer uses the word in a lede about the manner in which one receives a text message.  However, this one is not very blithely after all.  I have a friend named Blythe so the word caught my eye.

Catch of the week: miniscule. "It's miniscule and he will recover," Lewis said.
Per AP, the word is always used as minuscule, not miniscule.

Headline of the week: Gators fail to clinch SEC, lose to Wildcats. First of all, I understand what our online editor was thinking when he wrote this headline. But the fact that the Gators lost should be first, because they can't fail to clinch the SEC without losing.  I would simply rewrite this as, "Gators lose to Wildcats, fail to clinch SEC."

Passage of the week: From the Alligator's one and only, Bill O'Connor: 

Since Vietnam, I’ve had no qualms about using escort services. During the war, whores were $4 apiece. At 19, I got all I could while I could.

Blatant, unimaginative ads devoted to call girls plaster page after page of the phone book. Holy shit, is this Bangkok or the Bible Belt?

Astounded, I erupt, “Eugene, can you believe this shit? Look at all these whores.”

Cutlines

There is no where to upload the cutline .doc on Sakai, so I'm adding it here.

Boy Shield:
A Palestinian child, Muhammad Badwan, rides on the front of an Israeli police vehicle after authorities tied the boy to the windscreen on Friday, April 23, 2004, in Biddo, Israel. Police used Badwan, 13, as a human shield after they said they caught him hurling rocks at border police. “When I saw him on the hood of the jeep, my whole mind went crazy,” said Saeed Badwan, the boy’s father.

Hummer and Bus:

Authorities investigate the aftermath of a crash involving a 2006 Hummer and a school bus Saturday, Feb. 19, 2010, in Centre County. No students were seriously hurt in the afternoon crash at the intersection of Portry Avenue and 15th street that sent bus driver Pat Higgens and the driver of the Hummer to Centre City Medical Center. 

Journal 6

Word of the week: corpulent. Webster's New College World defines it as fat and fleshy; stout; obese. It says the origin is Middle English, corporality, from Latin corpulentia, corpulence, from corpulentus,corpulent, from corpus, body; see kwrep- in Indo-European roots. Merriam-Webster says the origin is Middle English, from Latin corpulentus, from corpus with a first known use in the 14th century. The writer uses the word to describe primates that are being fattened up for studies on obesity.

Catch of the week: "While some students choose are spending their Spring Break soaking in the debauchery of sun-kissed tourist destinations..."
This was clearly an error at the copy desk.  Someone must have changed the lede from "choose to spend" to "are spending" but forgot to remove the word choose. It reads rather funny and makes you do a double-take.

Headline of the week:
Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll and engineer Norman Augustine speak at UF
Another Alligator speech article with a boring headline.  Not only do most students not know who Carroll or Augustine are, they probably don't care.  I would have used the following headline, which would attract more eyes to the pieces.
Florida is falling behind in technological advancements, Lt. Gov says

Passage of the week:
I ask Boyer about the girl. Does he worry about her? I don't know how she feels, because I haven't been able to track her down. (The fact that I tried angers some colleagues, who tell me that I would be victimizing her all over again if I contacted her. The fact that I fail distresses others, who argue that a story containing even a measure of sympathy for Boyer, without his victim's perspective, is an outrage.)
It's from a story about the first American cyclist in the Tour de France and his life as a child molester. While the prose isn't that powerful, the ethical dilemma is and it sparked an inner debate for myself.

Journal 5

Word of the week: trochanter. "The scientists noticed that the fleas sometimes jumped with trochanters and tarsi both planted on the Styrofoam." Webster's New College World dictionary defines it as the second segment from the base of an insect leg. Origin: Gr trochantēr < trechein, to run. Merriam-Webster's says basically the same, Greek trochantēr; akin to Greek trechein to run with a first known use in 1615. The writer is using the word when discussing a disagreement between two scientists on which part of the leg fleas use to jump.

Catch of the week:
"Florida State (18-7, 8-3) committed eight turnovers in the opening eight minutes, and the Cavaliers led by four with just fewer than 10 minutes remaining in the first half despite the Seminoles' best player, forward Chris Singleton, having tallied 11 points."
It should be less than, because minutes refers to an amount of minutes, not the individual minutes themselves.

Headline of the week:
Student Body President candidates against block tuition

Confusing, confusing, confusing. I had to read the headline at least two or three times to grasp what it was trying to convey. 

I would have gone with something else. Like, Unite, Progress can agree on one thing: block tuition.

Students understand there is only two parties, and most everyone apart from the administration is against block tuition, so that doesn't need to be in the headline.

Passage of the week:

"Craig Grant smiles, crooked teeth beneath his white handlebar mustache. He offers a rough hand with dirty nails, nods, looks away. Like he's trying to be personable but it doesn't come easy."This comes from a feature about the Caboodle Ranch in Madison County by Leonora LaPeter Anton of the St. Pete Times. I saw the ranch featured on the Colbert Report and Anton's account provides a greater background that I found compelling.