Skip to main content
Can’t always get what you want . . . for Christmas

All I want for Christmas is. . . . 
Well, I already have my two front teeth. So I’ll just reiterate my perennial request for more public officials who truly understand and abide by the notion of transparency when doing the public’s business.
Somehow, I’m getting a sinking feeling that Santa is gonna stiff me again.

Need a lift? Spend career day with third graders

A lot of us love newspapering because of all the challenges the business presents us each day. But from time to time, all those challenges can have us feeling really down in the dumps.
We continue to grapple with how we communicate our journalism and advertising to an increasingly diffused and finicky market. Revenue challenges mean we have to work even harder in an attempt to deliver more with tighter budgets. And we always seem to hear from those who are all too quick to hate us for what we do or don’t do.

Learning, loving the newspaper business

Do you remember your first real assignment? I do.
It was my first day as a summer intern at the old San Antonio Light. Up walked Bend Segal, a gruff, seasoned assistant city editor who had weaned many a cub reporter. He handed me a six-page press release. “Rewrite it,” he said. “And let me know when you’re done.”
Seems like it took me forever to rewrite that press release. But I finally managed to finish it, reducing the six-page release to three. I handed the copy to Ben, who took his red marker and quickly circled a typo and handed it back to me, saying, “Do it again.”

The horrible hurricane that was Harvey showed us a lot

Once again, Mother Nature showed us just how brutal and indiscriminate she can be. The storm raked the Texas coast in late August, devastating places like Rockport, Port Aransas and Aransas Pass. And then its leftovers tried to drown cities such as Houston, Beaumont and Port Arthur.
It turned the lives of so many upside down – literally destroyed some. People will be spending the coming months and years trying to put everything back together as best as possible.

If not the Texas Press Association, then who?

To be sure, that question is top of mind with some TPA members and staff.  TPA’s Legislative Advisory Committee is busy monitoring the current special session of the Legislature to fight any bill that harms the interests of Texas newspapers.

Summer meeting musings

Well, we just wrapped up what I like to call the Texas Press Association’s very first “international conference” — the TPA Summer Leadership Retreat in Ruidoso, NM. Heck, we were even in a different time zone!
As always, the gathering was a great success. It featured great programs and discussion. And it gave us the opportunity to offer a huge “Thank You!” to outgoing TPA President Randy Keck for the stellar job he did for the organization this past year.

Keep fighting the good fight

Several years ago my newspaper was selected to participate in a roundtable discussion with several journalists from the Middle East. I’m not sure how that happened, but it was an enlightening experience.

Mr. Broadcaster has left the photo

In the spring if the stars align just right, you can cover a lot of sports in Aledo. The way our athletic complex is laid out, if all teams are at home, you can go shoot some soccer, baseball and softball without changing parking spaces.
My mind took me back to such a situation in February of 2008, when I was scurrying between soccer and softball. (I scurried, rather than plodded, back in those days.)

Having 'the dream'

I hate to admit it has been about 38 years since I received my bachelor’s degree from Midwestern State University. I awakened in a sweat Monday morning, relieved that the very vivid dream sequence, in which I was still enrolled in classes, was indeed just a dream.

Who, Toto? Toto’s my dog!

Back in the “olden days” of my childhood I could never wait for “The Wizard of Oz” to come on television. It seems like it came on as a special every year or so in those days before DVR, DVD and VHS. And even on our black-and-white television, the colors of Munchkin City came to life in my childhood imagination.
The Wizard of Oz was a powerful, almost god-like manifestation when first seen in the 1939 classic. Of course, later, little Toto drew back the curtain to expose the man operating the controls.

Subscribe to TPA President