GopherLink! DC City Council nixes the $49 million budget for H St. Streetcars, then finds $47 million later in the day to reinstate the program. Shrewd way to cut $2 million off the program...Read it here.

Tales from DC: Why I Shouldn't Do Recruiting

Last semester, I was sent on a recruiting trip to South Florida. After presenting something about the study abroad journalism program I work for, I paused for questions.

Student: Where do students typically go after they graduate from your program?

Greg: Excellent question. In the last year alone, we've placed five students at Chili's, four at Barnum and Bailey and one at Ringling Brothers.
(silence)
Greg: Nah, just yanking your chain. Ringling Brothers fell through.

Tales from DC: Men and Shoes

In a early class period this past semester:

Male Student: I noticed that in our Frequently Asked Questions paper, you mentioned that you should bring a pair of comfortable shoes to walk in and then heels for work...uh...I know that's just for girls, but should guys bring a pair of comfortable shoes too? You know. To change at work.

Greg: Well, you can. People might call you Mr. Rodgers, but you can.

Eight Reasons We'll Miss LOST

True Confession: I'm one of the Others. And I'm not talking about the LOST characters who walk around barefoot and then throw you in bear cages. No, I'm a true Other.

Typical people can watch a show and then manage to go about their daily lives without talking about it to strangers and dwelling on obscure connections to literature, religion and science. I'm not.

I've written academic papers on LOST. On a youth retreat, I made 25 middle and high school kids sit through the first four episodes (I hooked a good percentage of the kids who weren't already hooked--for weeks they came up to me telling me about season 1 and 2 episodes they were catching up on). I invite friends over and introduce them to the show. In my life, I have never had the inclination or desire to do any of the above with any other show. LOST is different.

I think I may be that guy. But I'm not the only one. There are other "Others" out there. But our reign at the water coolers is nearing it's end. Here's why we'll miss LOST.

(1) Sawyer's Nicknames: During the course of the show, Sawyer's nicknames progressed significantly from "Lardo" (Hurley)  and "Metro" (Jack) to more clever "Crouching Tiger/ Hidden Dragon" (Jin/Sun). And some were very contextual. When Kate is trying to pilot a canoe around the island, she earns the nickname "Magellan" (a maritime explorer from Portugal), or when locked up by Eko, he earns the nickname "Shaft" (a fictional detective from a 70s television show). Whatever else Sawyer was, he was a smartass and we loved it.

(2) Daniel Faraday's Nutty Professor-ness: Before getting shot by his mother while traveling back in time (WTF?), Faraday couldn't help but win our respect on the show. The passengers of Flight 815 are on the island for nine months before figuring out how to take a dump in the forest without getting attacked by polar bears and smoke monsters. Faraday is on the island for five minutes and he's already run tests that tell us that the island is dislodged from Time. Dude. He finally brought us some answers. He made us feel smart just by being on the show.

(3) Desmond, brotha: It's hard not to like Desmond. He has the most engaging love story (statistically, viewers favorite episode of all time is "The Constant"--a hippydippy time travel episode about Desmond's love for Penny). And there's just something about the Scot. He spent some time as a monk. He also spent some time as a pint-guzzling soccer fan. And he also spent some time traveling around the globe as part of an Around-the-World-in-80-Days-esque race. Oh, and he spent some time pushing a button that kept the world from ending. Quite a resume.

(4) Hurley, for representing us: While the rest of LOST characters slowly buy things like the smoke monster, giant polar bears, the Others and time travel, Hurley is the guy who represents us as viewers. His comic relief kept the show from becoming too serious--and this is something other narrative shows need to learn from (*cough* Flashforward, *cough* V).

(5) RAZZLE DAZZLE! They Killed Nikki and Paulo: Yeah, everyone thought it was ridiculous when two new actors suddenly started showing up and doing things with the Flight 815 survivors--especially since we knew they hadn't been there in any previous seasons. Other shows may have been able to pull it off but LOST has fans who literally re-watched old episodes to look for signs of the characters. The producers heard our grief and buried them alive. RAZZLE DAZZLE!

(6) Boone Survive Plane Crash 1 To Die in Plane Crash 2: He survived a 30,000 ft plane crash but died in a 30 ft crash. We kind of liked Boone for a while, but then we found out he and his sister...er....did some laundry in a unique way. So it was time for him to go. What better way than ANOTHER plane crash?

(7) McBeardy: Jack's character has fallen-been redeemed-fallen-and been redeemed again more times than Johnny Cash. The guy seems to be addicted to the process. The emblem of all this is, of course, the beard. At the end of Season 3, we got a twist ending in which a flashback turned out to be a flashforward--and that flashforward featured a mangy-bearded Jack Shephard who had turned to pill-popping and whiskey chugging. Thank God he's our leader.

(8) Dead People Keep Showing Up: The magic of LOST flashback structure (and now it's "flash-sideways"/alternative reality structure) is that folks who have been dead for seasons show up all the sudden. Charlie Pace drowned in Season 3 but has shown up numerous times since then because, well, Hurley sees Dead People and because in an alternative world, he's still just a washed up rock star. And Christian Shephard? Man, that guy was dead before the show started but he's been practically a regular on the show. Put his name in the credits.

All these and for many more reasons, we salute you LOST. Thanks for the ride.

Analysing Depictions of Faith in LOST

It’s no secret that people of faith often feel mistreated and misrepresented by a mainstream media that oversimplifies their beliefs (GetReligion: Martinez; An-Na`im; "Christians Misrepresented"). In the midst of numerous movies and television programs is a television show where the broken find redemption, the lame walk and the dead rise. This blog will analyze the ways in which LOST educates on issues of religion. Issues of faith are mainly represented in three key characters that appear on the show: Locke, a self-proclaimed “man of faith; Jack, a self-proclaimed “man of science”; and Eko”—a drug dealer turned Catholic priest. Entertainment Weekly recently noted the Biblical connections seen in LOST (Click for an 8 minute, 15 second run-down of the show):

It is safe to say that from the outset LOST has been a rare show that allows those able to pick up on its Christian symbolism to appreciate it on a deeper level than the average viewer. Some of those symbols are writ in neon and some in postscripts (ask Christian fans about the thrill they experienced when the character Charlotte Staples Lewis—ahem, C.S. Lewis—arrived on the scene), but they are an ever-present, ever-developing feature of the story (Basham).

What NOT to do in a broadcast

I realize it's been a while since I've updated. Some intelligent thoughts (and some less intelligent) coming soon. I'm snowed in with my thesis. For now:

Tales from DC: Lede Writing Exercise

An exchange from a recent lede writing exercise in class. The exercise was based on a Denzel Washington press conference for the movie "The Book of Eli:"

Student: Alright, here's my lede. "Life...is a journey, said Denzel Washington in a press conference held--
Greg: Wait! Here's an even better one: "Life...is a highway."

(laughter)

Different student: And Denzel would ride it all night long.