During our time here, I've decided a number of things based upon what I have "drunk in" from the environment.
One, is that the first amendment is not dead or even mortally wounded; it may have been sleeping, but there are still a few newspaper people happily kicking it in the ribs. Glenn Proctor immediately comes to mind. He is a diligent soldier still willing to stand in the front lines when the bullets start flying. I hope I will always muster the courage to stand shoulder to shoulder with him.
Secondly, this newspaper adviser thing can be a complicated business. The skills required to do it well include the all-encompassing abilities of a global ambassador, a Chancellor of the Exchequer, a technical zenmaster, a visual alchemist, and an administrative bull-rider. I don't think I have all of these skills, just yet. I've fallen off a few mustangs in my day. But the key is to keep getting back up on the horse. Perhaps In-Design and I will come to terms someday.
Nobody is going to die. All the mediums that I have been been mourning are not yet dying grievously pitiful deaths. It was refreshing to be reminded by Wendy Zamparelli that established media is not obsolete. Her reassurance that newspapers will really morph into visual and literary butterflies, and that the true act of journalism is in the delivery and not the medium speaks to the fact that it is still a blissful art.
Lastly, Marshall McLuhan is still right after all these years: The medium is the message.
Meta everyone,
Susan C-S