medill

The Dunce Cap: March 21, 2011

in: heavy rotation, in: the press

Ju·gee·toe

The Dunce Cap, Vol. 31: ‘Cause they’re gonna be cool happy genius heroes. (click on link to listen to mix via 8tracks)

1. “When U Love Somebody” – The Fruit Bats
2. “All the Beautiful Things” – Eels
3. “Ambling Alp” – Yeasayer
4. “Always On My Mind” – Phantom Planet
5. “Santa Clara” – The National
6. “King of Carrot Flowers, Pt.1” – Neutral Milk Hotel
7. “Keep Fishin’” – Weezer
8. “Oregon Girl” – Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin
9. “Dancing Choose” – TV on the Radio
10. “Last Flight Out” – Butch Walker

I’ve got to say – I feel really guilty, you guys. Not only has The Girl With the Dunce Cap only produced a handful of entries this year, this is only the second Dunce Cap mix of 2011.  I have to be totally honest, though, and admit it’s been a pretty tough year thus far. So tough, in fact, that I’ve taken to watching “Fancy Feast” commercials for warmth in my heart.

Okay, that last part was a fib. But wouldn’t that be sad and indicative of my inevitable and massively disastrous cat lady future?

Anyhow. It’s spring break for the itty bitty kitty ‘Cats like myself, and it could not have come at a better time. This quarter honestly felt like a terse struggle for survival, and I’m ripe for an explosion. That was fairly melodramatic, sure, but winter is always the hardest. This winter was particularly tough, what with that ridiculous blizzard, incredible overcommitting, a deplorable gluttony of Netflix instant and a still-mending broken heart. But it wasn’t all bad. I think I learned a lot more about myself and what I want. I gained a greater understanding of the healing power of time, and I really, truly think I figured out what it is that I want. And I’m strong enough to risk it all to get it.

This mix is a testament to the long overdue start to spring. It’s ultra-warm down South, and I am loving the heat waves. I like these songs because they make my feet tick and the corners of my mouth turn up, and I want to let the wind in my hair and the sun on my skin, and that is the feeling I think I’m constantly coveting. God, I’m starting to sound so sappy. But I’m truly confident about what lies ahead, and I’m really learning to count on myself. I’m still very much in love, perhaps with what used to be, but I have a good feeling. There’s still more to come.

OH. AND THE PHOTO. If you ever experience a lull in conversation with me, ask me why Judge Lance Ito is important to me.

Stray additions:

  • My favorite line of the week came from Thursday’s quite excellent 30 Rock. “I miss my weird love,” says Angie about Tracy, and I’ve got to say – I totally understand where she’s coming from.
  • I bought this hat. It’s possibly the best thing to potentially ever happen to anyone anywhere in the history of the universe (thank you, Leslie Knope!), and I plan to wear it at every opportunity, including but not limited to (my first actually attended) crush party, Dillo Day and my 21st birthday epic bar crawl. For the record, that’s not me in the photo. I know. You thought wrong.
  • I’m living like Eloise all week long! Seriously. I’m residing in a hotel instead of my childhood home because of a big ol’ fire – yeah, that sucks. -, and it’s actually really cool. Plus, there’s a tap of cheap beer at my disposal.
  • Dude. Last week’s NBC Thursday night television? Totally excellent. My crush on Adam Scott deepens. And my favorite use of Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker’s “American Girl” ever. I can’t explain to you how hard I laughed when I saw Swanson on that li’l train, with Tom taking up the rear. Even better use of the song than in that seriously creepy scene in Silence of the Lambs!
  • I like Memphis. And I like Twitter. Happy 5th birthday, Twitter!
  • I’m particularly intrigued by the whole debacle happening in the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communication (yawnx10,000 to the name change) with renowned Medill Innocence Project Professor David Protess. Check out the coverage in the Sun-Times.

Alright, y’all. Happy listening, and happy pretty weather & frolicking & springtime! The Dunce Cap will be back in a big way this quarter, with mixes out every Monday and regular pop culture updates from the mouths of (this) babe. Thrilling!

Press This!: From North by Northwestern magazine

on: journalistic writing

I’ve been (un)suspiciously absent from the blog scene for most of the quarter, I know. There’s been a lot happening on this end of things, but one piece in particular has really consumed my life. Finally, it’s in print!

North by Northwestern magazine, Fall 2010

For the fall 2010 issue of North by Northwestern (the nation’s number one student magazine), I wrote two stories. The first, “School of Phish,” is a profile of one of Northwestern University’s oldest students, a 37-year-old undergraduate who followed jam band Phish on the road for nearly ten of the last 15 years. The second, “Missing Syghe,” is the cover story and is a piece nine months in the making. Since March, I’ve tracked a host of very real characters to find out the truth about a Northwestern undergraduate who allegedly took his own life. The student, a Medill freshman named Syghe L’Oveture, was completely made up. The people he left in his wake were not. Altogether, The Syghe Story amounted to more strange tidbits of information, lies and betrayal than I could have ever imagined.

Please read these!, and please take any comments (particularly on the second article) with a grain of salt. I worked really really hard on both pieces and chronicled the stories with the utmost integrity and conviction. I am more than happy to answer any and all questions. In all, the magazine – fantastically edited by Gus Wezerek – is really quite incredible. Read the whole thing on the website.

Also! The Dunce Cap should be back with regular programming next week (perhaps with a new schedule for mixes, etc.), and I’ll also be slightly fictionalizing the insanity which is my life on a newly reinvigorated endeavor, Adventures in Place. On Adventures in Place, I’ll be working on a series of weekly tales about my friends, family and the people I encounter.

Happy reading, and happy Thanksgiving!

Q & A: Medill Professor David Standish

on: journalistic writing

Conducted 1/25/10
Excerpted from a longer interview

Acclaimed journalist David Standish has retired his recorder and, for the time being, his professorship to spend his days completing his third book, a biography of author Stephen Crane. Standish began his career as party jokes editor at Playboy magazine, where the Cleveland native spent ten years at what he calls “Harper’s with nude girls,” editing and writing for both feature pieces and the music section. In 1980, Standish began freelancing and co-wrote the script for a 1986 feature film, Club Paradise. The father of three and Medill School of Journalism professor talks about his journalistic past and imparts words of wisdom upon aspiring journalists.

What was your first celebrity interview?

Eric Clapton when he was with Cream, which was a disaster.

Why was it a disaster?

I went up to his hotel room to interview Cream, and Clapton comes out, and I break into sweats. I was totally flustered. The door opens, and it’s Ginger Baker and Frank Zappa. Zappa sits down on one side of me on this little couch, and Ginger Baker sits down on the other side of me, and they start doing this surreal mock interview with me. “What’s the moon?” and “How’s the news?” and “What is cheese?” and “Why are French?” I was so flustered that I lasted about eight minutes and packed up my tape recorder and fled.

What would you say was your best interview experience?

Kurt Vonnegut. I did that interview with him in the very early ‘70s, and he said things in that interview that seem so wise and so true and so funny that they still stick with me. Another is Peter O’Toole. He couldn’t have been more gracious and wonderful and funny and smart.

How was interviewing Willie Nelson?

In all my years as a journalist, he’s the only person I’ve encountered to whom I would apply the word “charismatic.” My son is named Willie. What can I tell you?

So, you’ve interviewed celebrities, and you’ve been on tour with Queen, KISS, Willie Nelson – how do you think these experiences have affected you, both as a journalist and as an individual?

It really shows who you are. It’s a magnification of how you as a person affect the people around you. The people like Willie who are good human beings, the people around them are good. Queen were the sourest, most poisonous individuals I have ever encountered, and it went down in their whole structure. Who you are is setting the tone for everyone. And it made me not that interested in celebrity. I got much more interested in going new places, writing about history.

Is there anything you miss about magazine writing that you can’t find in book writing?

You can have more variety of experience. Now that I’m doing books, I’m doing far fewer pieces and going fewer places.

If you weren’t a journalist, what would you be doing?

I’m sort of an accidental journalist. My great desire in life was to be William Faulkner number two. I don’t think I’d be doing anything beyond writing. I wouldn’t mind being Charlie Parker or Jimi Hendrix, though.

What would you most recommend for any young journalist?

Have the courage to have your own voice. Write. Write for free. In this crummy market, you almost have to.