Friday, February 20, 2004
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MAN OF TROY
Today I blog, for the first time in months, from lovely Troy, Alabama, home of Troy State University, the 2004 Southeastern Journalism Conference and a few other, um, handy entities.
Currently, I'm waiting for the rest of my group from USM to finish their on-site competitions - contests in news, feature, entertainment and PR writing, plus tests on media ethics and history - so we can break for a little while. I just finished my competition (current events), which I would have absolutely kicked ass on this time last year but struggled through a bit just now. Some of the questions came across as kind of vague and arbirtrary, too, but probably only because I didn't know about the stories they referred to. It only took about ten minutes to answer the 50-question test, as opposed to the hour everyone else's competitions will need.
My somewhat off-the-wall submissions in the opinion/editorial category didn't even place in the top ten, but it was exactly the result I wanted if I couldn't win. When I found out before the competition that I hadn't placed, I said I hoped I finished last rather than just missing on a top ten spot, because I'd much rather have them reject everything about my columns - just completely miss the point of my tone, arguments and motivation - than get it and think it just sucked. And judging from the three judges' critiques of my three submissions (available here, here and here), that's exactly what happened. A sample, from judge Laura Lytle of Weakley Co. Press:
You scare me! Don't trivialize moments like Pearl Harbor and abused women by drawing parallels with "Saved by the Bell" and games (i.e. football). You have talent - all you need is maturity to go with it.
Ms. Lytle ranked me as "average" in a majority of categories (Out of "good," "average," "unsatisfactory," and "unacceptable"), while rating my grammar, AP Style, judgment and creativity ad "unsatisfactory."
Judge Joe Lofaro of UT-Martin, however, really liked me, rating me "good" in every category except "Leads & Conclusions" and "Overall Judgment of Quality." His only comments:
Which is harder, being a Saints fan or a N.Y. Mets fan?
Nice job.
Louie (I think that's what the signature says) Parrish of UT Martin rated me as "average" all the way, with the exception of "Leads and Conclusions" and "Judgment," where he thought I was "good." He also says I have talent in his comments, but this seems a little pandering. He didn't like my abused women comment, either, which I thought was actually sort of benign in context; it's not like I sent in the cannibalism column.
The other categories I get, but how did my AP Style score range from "good" to "average" to "unsatisfactory"? That's not really a highly flexible category, is it?
Now off to...well, I don't know where. Meet up with my people, I guess, and try to occupy the time before tonight's neat-o student mixer.
Oh, I should mention that I'm the envy of the other guys for landing a couple of the chicks in our group in my hotel room. This was actually their idea - not that I complained, of course, especially since the point was to alleviate overcrowding on the girls' side and rid me of a particularly unpopular roommate (and in case he should somehow come across this: Chad, you're not that bad. I would've roomed with you. We just pick on you. Congrats on second place in the photo competition). No wild sexual escapades, though - yet.
We return Saturday, and early, early, early Sunday morning, it's Mardi Gras time!
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posted by Matt 2:55 PM
