TV is a last-minute medium

Not that long ago a La Salle student, communication major Jodi Gilbert responded to a twitter by ABC Evening News to see if she'd be willing to participate in a story about a study that found that families who spend time together, particuarly at dinner, have children who have fewer problems with drugs an alcohol. Because TV is the medium it is, nothing is ever settled until the last minute. Well, ABC contacted Jodie and asked if they could film her family that night -- in three hours! Well, the cameras showed up and the family was on the air.

Philadephia Daily News columnist Dan Gross reported this in his column today -- I think he was intrigued with the last-minute angle of the story. Here's a link to it:

www.phillycom/philly/columnistsdan_gross/20110929/_Dan_Gross_Karen_Hepp_a_theft_victim.html

Now that the 10th anniversary of 9/11 is past...

I was pretty busy with the 10th anniversary of 9/11: some of the results were Social Work professor Janine Mariscotti talking on KYW Newsradio about the "recovery" of 9/11, both as a nation and on an individual basis. Philosophy Professor Robert Dobie wrote an oped for the Philadelphia Inquirer on the cultural differences between west and east that still plauge relations; English professor Kevin Grauke quoted in an Inqurier story on how 9/11 affected literature; and the Philadelphia Daily News ran photos of our students planting more than 2,700 American flags on the quad (one for each victim) and a candlelight vigil held on 9/11.

Some 9/11 stories were done by August.

Now back to the usual business of student achievements, faculty expertise and all things La Salle.

The smartest student they ever had...

I asked a few professors here who was the smartest student they ever had. Two, John Rossi and George Stow of the history dept., said William Burns, Jr. a 1978 grad who went on to do graduate work at Oxford. Burns has been ambassador to Jordan and Russia and on 9/8 wil be named Deputy Secretary of State. He has a helluva resume (fluent in three languages, special envoy on numerous occasions), but I wondered what would attract the Inquirer or Daily News about him. Well, his roots in Philly, for one, but in my emails to the papers I told two stories about Burns and what Rossi and Stow said. Stow recalled how he was lecturing and Burns was in the back of the room with his head bowed and hands folded in his lap. Stow thought Burns was bound for trouble, but after reading the first two pages of his first test Stow was astonished at what Burns wrote: he had absorbed all the lectures and readings.

I was hoping the two contrasts: the seemingly unasuminig but brillliant student who also happens to be a pretty good basketblal player, would intrigue them. I guess it did. Here's a link to the story:


http://www.philly.com/philly/insights/in_education/20110905_Soon_to_be_deputy_secretary_of_state__William_Burns_set_his_course_at_La_Salle.html


I also mentioned to the Inquirer and Daily News that Burns was a pretty good basketball player! On 9/5, the Inquirer ran a longish story about Burns; here's the link