The Great Mandella…

...of life continues. What comes around, goes around. The above visual is from the McNair Fall Choir Concert - a poster to promote excellence for display in the library. Just can't stay away from that place. So here I am in my nth month of retirement and STILL trying to catch up with myself when …

We’ve been pranked…

There's a lesson in everything. Today some of the seniors at my high school decided to "prank" the campus. Roll out the TP and chickens - whoa! Chickens? Yeah. Chickens. It's that humdrum time of year before spring break but after the glory of winter break....kind of dull days with clouds and rain and everyone …

Editing the show…

This is the third in a series on getting a high school TV studio up and running for a daily program (in our case at McNair High School, it's the Daily Bulletin). If you have it all together, you may get your show together in one take - meaning you roll the open, cut between …

And here’s what the studio looks like!

Got the anchor desk hauled into the studio this weekend (love you Ron and Lexi for working in 100+ degree heat to haul that monolith) and went in this morning to snap some shots. If you want a closer view, just click on the individual photos. Word of explanation - for the past three years …

Hole In the Wall!!!!!

Life is GOOD. In the past few days something in the universe clicked and said, "Let's be kind to Cyndy." Yesterday I went into my TV studio at McNair High School and the district techies were meeting with the contractor who is wiring me up so we can send a signal campus-wide for daily bulletin. …

Damn the torpedos – full script ahead!

The "damn" above doesn't refer to sending out bombs. In the case of my broadcasting students it refers to not creating them. Don't create a script that I can't read and is merely words on paper. Dammit. I want a real script. Right now the advanced students are struggling (once again) with two column scripts. …

Ground Zero is my home…

Blame it on Sixty Minutes - the label stuck. Stockton is Ground Zero in the US real estate meltdown. More specifically, zip code 95210. That's my school - my kids. So what better way to get them into working on a news story than making personal. When I first introduced the concept, most of the …

After the meeting…

Last night my school board (Lodi Unified School District) was set to vote on cutting voted to cut 390 teacher jobs in order to save the district from bankruptcy. I would guess that's about 20% of the teachers in the district. Feelings ran high as hundreds of parents, students and district employees packed the auditorium …