During the Summer session in our Journalism I class, five people from the St. Petersburg Times spoke on a variety of journalism-related subjects. They gave us prospective journalists insight into the business and some humorous tales from its lighter side. Here's the list:
Brian Landman: Our first speaker has been a sportswriter for over 20 years, and also helps teach this class. As a sportswriter at the college paper, I was able to learn a lot of good tidbits from him. I don't know how he has dealt with egotistical athletes and pompous executives for that long without his hair turning snow white. I'll never forget his story in which he was told off by then-Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose, who basically told him to do his homework before interviewing him. Do your homework, kids.
Jack Rowland: This man is the "Jack" of all trades, having done photojournalism and now doing audio, video and web publishing for Tampabay.com. Having once been a student of web design and interactive media myself, this presentation was like everything rolled into one. He was very interesting to listen to and watch as he engaged us in the new visual side of journalism. It's good to see that not every so-called "old-timer" is falling by the wayside.
Sue Carlton: If we could have held a four-hour discussion entitled "Best Stories by Sue Carlton," I would have taken a front-row seat. This reporter-turned-columnist told us about everything, including covering court cases, the most shocking stories, the moronic comments left on the Internet under her stories and more. Her best tales included the one where a man shot in the head wrote "Dave" in his own blood on the sidewalk... then it turned out the man's name was Scott; and one where a video of a dog marriage turned into a comment war about gay marriage, marriage with large age differences and "interspecies breeding." Carlton has a wealth of good information.
Alexandra Zayas: This lady is only 26 years old, so she immediately related to us. She told us what to expect upon entering the journalism world today and about the day-to-day excitement of general assignment reporting. She also had some very interesting stories of doing long-term research on people to write narrative stories. She has lived in a Christian commune for a month, stayed several days and nights with a wounded soldier, his wife and their newborn baby, and attended meetings of people who believe they're vampires. And not only is she a reporter, she's a drummer in an all-reporter band, Super Secret Best Friends. How is that for an eclectic life? Plus, she was very nice when I e-mailed her after she spoke with us.
Steve Persall: A veteran movie reviewer with some good inside information, Persall had fun telling us about the best and worst movies he has seen and about the people who make them. If you ever hear his story of interviewing Paul Rudd about "bromance," you will repeat it to your friends. This man actually backdoored his way into journalism, just walking in and covering local sporting events. This was back when high school football was the best football in Tampa Bay. But he rose through the ranks and had some tips on doing that, though he did encourage us to study it more than he did.
Overall, all of our guest speakers gave us a combination of great advice and hilarious stories that make us want to step into journalism more every time. Special thanks to these people for taking their time to speak to an evening class. It was worth it.
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