I have the best students… Or at least they listen to things I say that aren’t on the test, which is pretty close to the same thing…

I found this going through my desk while cleaning in advance of important people showing up at the frat house/disaster zone I call my office. The story behind this is that during a reporting class, where I was using example after example that somehow involved either a drug dealer or a dead body, one kid asked, “Did you ever cover anything alive or legal as a reporter?”

I then explained that I spent almost my entire journalism career on a night desk or on the crime beat. “I’m sorry, folks,” I told them. “If you had a normal professor who covered city government, you’d have a lot more planning and zoning stuff. If you had someone who covered education, you’d have stories about kids making cute hand-print turkeys and school board meetings. You’re stuck with a guy who was told if it caught on fire, got shot, ended up dead or got arrested, I’d likely have a byline in the next day’s paper.”

The next day, one of the more artistic students in my class pushed this under my door. She later told me, “Everyone deserves a hand-print turkey.”

With that in mind, I think everyone deserves a break as well, so I’m off until after Thanksgiving. I hope you all get a break and a chance to recharge and we’ll see you on the other side of the holiday.

Vince

(a.k.a. The Doctor of Paper)