And That's The Way It . . . Will Be?

He is young; he is bright, bilingual, ambitious. And he wants to be a journalist.

We have had lunch and talked (watch short video* now).

A soccer player, he aspires to sportscasting. I haven’t doused his desire to reach ESPN.

Neither have I made all of this look easy (“like on TV”). Many journalists exert the dogged diligence of toiling on in relative obscurity. (Having served in ag journalism, I love the line about “pork belly futures . . .”) But this trait is unportrayed by the quick conflict/resolution plots of television and cinema.

The journalist was negative, more so than I have been. This is due in part to my young friend’s interest in sportscasting. Whereas people may starve themselves of news (especially international news, decimated by budget cuts) the appetite for sports coverage remains. “Seventy-five percent of what people come to the page for is sports,” observed Mr. C of the Deseret News.

Time was, sports formed a portion of a newscast, even as the audience grabbed a view of the world from trusted voices – journalists’ voices. Walter Cronkite comes to mind, of course.

As my young friend attempts to learn something from me, the easier part is to evaluate journalism of the past. The harder part – as audiences continue fragmenting into niche segments – is to predict job possibilities and the future.

And to sound authoritative and conclusive with a summarizing statement like, “That’s the way it will be . . .”

*Video by: Lee Gjertsen Malone.

Some Shots From Ecuador's Coast

Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,

Your justice like the great deep.

You, LORD, preserve both people and animals.




















Yes, he is in there . . . yeah, he's there. Possibly a stenocercus iridescens, or iguana to most of us.








Here . . . let's get closer. A LOT closer. Actually, I never got near him. I helped a small crab escape the swimming pool where someone had put it. Yeah, picked that out of the water.


As to the beached eel, I was willing to let it be. I pointed it out to a passing beachcomber, and with his stick, he flicked it into the water.






And what do you suppose is going on here?




















Pelecanus occidentalis, which is known as the brown pelican, captures fish by a spectacular plunge from the air. Other species of pelicans swim in formation, driving small schools of fish into shoal water where they are scooped up by the birds.












There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.