Overheard in the Newsroom

Overnight Producer: “We have a caller who is convinced he IS Charlie Sheen. We are on call number 11, and I’ve been here an hour. Is it a full moon?!?”

Morning anchor: “I want to be Charlie Sheen when I grow up.”

Associate Editor: “I need $2 from petty cash so I can buy a 40 of malt liquor from that store the city’s purchasing. It’s research.”
Account person, handing over the money: “Well, you are the editor.”

Editor, the day after an election: “Before I commend you all on a job well done, were there any fuck-ups that I’m not aware of?”

Reporter, after dealing with an upset parent: “And then she asked me if there was a manager she could speak with… do we look like a grocery store?”

Copy editor: “Do restraining orders extend to Twitter?”

Copy Editor: “Here’s a story slugged ‘Drunken Driving Nun.’ But it’s just a nun who was hit by a drunk driver. Booorrring.”

Reporter 1: “I’m going to an interview. Can you guys try to not burn the office down.”
Reporter 2: “You don’t want us to burn the place down?”
Reporter 1: “Yeah.”
Reporter 2: “Are you sure?”
Reporter 1: [Silent, contemplating.]

Reporter: “I’m seriously considering jumping off the top of the building.”
Student Journo: “Oh don’t do that! You’d become a story and that’s not good ethics.”

Metro reporter on phone with source apprehensive about being directly quoted: “Oh, don’t worry. We make everyone sound smart — not that you’re not.”

Reporter: “Do I have a photographer that I can take with me?”
Photographer: “So we’re purses now?”

(from www.overheardinthenewsroom.com)

Medical supply drive

Hey everyone!

I am collecting medical supplies and other items for the clinic in Haiti. Below is a list of what is needed now. If you want to donate, let me know and I will give you details about how you can get your donations to me. I will be bringing them down when I return to Haiti on April 9.

Items needed:
Tylenol adult/kids
Motrin adult/ kids
kids and adult vits
laxatives
sterile 2x2's (gauze pads)
sterile 4x4's
ace bandages
baby powder
dandruff shampoo
vitamin B12
iron
blood pressure cuffs (all sizes)
otoscope
pens
clip boards

My favorite of the day

Editor, arguing with a reporter over edits: “This is not a democracy! We report on democracies. We don’t practice them.”

from Overheard in the Newsroom

(To the right, I am dodging one of my editors trying to take my picture.)

26 years old today

37 days and counting.

It is official.

I am going to Haiti April 9-23. I bought my ticket yesterday! SO excited.

The Recorder goes national

My co-worker Arn Albertini (picture to the right) wrote a story about the arrest of an ESPN baseball writer in Franklin County, Mass, where our newspaper is located. His lawyer says allegations that Bryant assaulted his wife and a police officer over the weekend are racially motivated.

This story made the Huffington Post and The Recorder was cited.

Here is Arn's story.

By ARN ALBERTINI
Recorder Staff

The local lawyer for ESPN writer Howard Bryant of Ashfield says allegations that Bryant assaulted his wife and a police officer over the weekend are racially motivated.

“Mr. Bryant was the victim of excessive force,” lawyer Buz Eisenberg said after his client’s arraignment in Greenfield District Court Monday. “(Police) responded to the scene and rather than do an investigation they made an arrest of a black man with white wife.

“This is a sad end to Black History Month.”

In response, David Procopio, director of media communications for the Massachusetts State Police, said, “To claim race had anything to do with his arrest is not only wrong, but is also an affront to domestic violence victims and to the vast majority of people from all racial backgrounds who choose to obey the law.”

On Monday morning, Bryant pleaded innocent to charges of domestic assault and battery, assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest. He was released on personal recognizance with the condition that he not abuse the alleged victim.

“I am so sad today,” said Bryant, speaking from his Ashfield home on Monday afternoon. “I am sad today because this attack on me by the Massachusetts State Police and the Buckland Police has made it necessary for me to defend untrue allegations and repair my reputation when one conversation with either Veronique (his wife) or with me would have diffused the entire situation. Instead, the police chose violence over dialogue, threatened to Taser me whenever I tried to speak, all in front of my 6 year-old son.

“As a result, I have to defend a charge that I attacked both the woman I love and the police when nothing could be further from the truth.

“I’m a 42-year-old black man. Why would I hit a cop?

Justices Rule for Protestors at Military Funerals

WASHINGTON — The First Amendment protects hateful protests at military funerals, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday in an 8-1 decision.

“Speech is powerful,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote for the majority. “It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow, and — as it did here — inflict great pain.”