I still love Halloween

but not for the candy...

It's a good opportunity for media coverage, everything from how the holiday started to how much candy should kids eat to why adults like dressing up in costumes more than kids. Also, the children from La Salle's Building Blocks Daycare Center go trick-or-treating through the campus and local TV has covered it just about every year they've done it.

Many thanks to Marti Hottenstein, who shared her personal story of losing her son and the changes in her life since to Daily News columnist Jen Armstrong. My colleague Amy Cranston came across Marti's story (she's a grad student in psychology) and pitched it to the paper. Jen did the story very quickly. Here's a link:

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/jenice_armstrong/20101020_Jenice_Armstrong__Mom_scarred_by_tragedy_helps_addicts_in_their_struggle.html

Here's where luck plays a part in this business: including the above column by Jen Armstrong, ther ewere three La Salle items in the Oct. 20 issue of the Philadelphia Daily News. All three were submitted at different times but it just happened that they all ran on the same date. The other two were a column by Jack Rooney on his favorite Philadelphia baseball team and an item by columnist Dan Gross on how five La Salle alums have published books recently and will appear on campus to talk about them.

Next up are the mid-term elections: the media will be looking for pre and post analysis, so I'm asking the faculty for any and all opinions.

Deadlines....

Many thanks to Kale Beers of the Athletics Dept. here at La Salle: The BBC's Washington office called me today wanted to talk to John Rossi about American baseball (he's written three books on the topic) tomorrow morning, but the network had specific technical needs that Athletics has and Kale is nice enough to take the time to help out with the interview tomorrow morning.

As the Phillies progress through the playoffs and, we hope, to the World Series, I expect more media will be interested in speaking to Prof. Rossi

And speaking of thanks, I'd like to thank Dr. Luis Gomez, director of La Salle's Hispanic Institute, for taking out of a very busy day to speak with an Inquirer reporter (on deadline) about Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa receiving the Nobel Prize for literature. Several comments from him were published in the story. Here's a link to the article:

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/entertainment/books/20101008_Mario_Vargas_Llosa__visiting_professor_at_Princeton__wins_Nobel_Prize_in_literature.html

In less than an hour there will be a candlelight vigil on the main quad in remembrance of the Hatian Earthquake and those who still need help; La Salle's gospel choir is scheduled to perform. This is an ideal event for TV to cover, as it's visual and will have sound, but I wonder about the odds of the stations being here because the Earthquake has been out of the news and the public's attention for a while (hence the need for a vigil). Frankly, I hope it's dark enough at 6:30 for the candlelight to have a dark background.

Speaking of baseball....several years ago English Professor James Butler told me a story about how he and his brothers had jobs under the grandstand of Forbes Field, the long-gone baseball stadium where the Pittsburgh Pirates played. 50 years ago the Bucs defeated the Yankees in the 1960 World Series and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is doing a year-long celebration of the victory and all things Pirates. Prof. Butler penned a wonderful memoir about his job and the newspaper published it. Here's a link:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10260/1088129-294.stm

Incidentally, Prof. Butler got many emails from Pittsburghers about his piece.