Month: February 2002

Day Five: Less hectic than the previous few days had been. Wrote my rodeo story and watched some American domination in the men

I won

Today’s story: Rodeo experiences rough ride. Grrrr…they called me Josh instead of Joshua in my byline. For deep psychological reasons I do not fully understand, I hate that.

The B-list celebrity sitings continue: Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt just dropped by. He said to say hello to everyone in Dallas for him. So: hello.

Oh, I actually had another story in the paper, cowritten with the stellar Terry Stutz: School ideas may tilt governor’s race. (Anybody see the paper today? Was this on page one? I can’t tell from here. It’s very odd to think about education writing when you’re in the snow in Salt Lake City.)

Day Four: Before I get started, I’d like you all to read Kelly’s story of the one-legged man in the Tough Man competition. I’ll wait.
Back? Okay. A couple of planned stories fell through for me Sunday, so I had to scramble to do a piece I’d planned for later. Many, many thanks to Vis10n for coming through for me when I needed some help on my volunteers piece.
Have I mentioned that the ancient Dell laptop the paper gave me takes roughly 15 seconds to switch between IE windows? Well, it does.
Went to a Mormon church service Sunday morning. I’ll admit that it was for sniper-journalist reasons: I was hoping the Olympics would come up at some point, at least to the degree that I might be able to turn it into a brief story. No dice, but a pleasant service nonetheless. Chatted with the LDS media folks afterward, where I learned a bit more about the Nauvoo Temple rebuilding, which would be a great story for a religion writer to do. Spent the afternoon interviewing volunteers for the Monday story, then headed up to tiny Farmington for the Olympic rodeo. Quite an experience, but no time to write about it now — I’ve got to write my story about it for tomorrow’s paper. Another classic Olympic day, working until 11 p.m.; I hope that ceases to be the norm sometime soon.

Two more stories in today’s paper: Smile, darn it; that’s an order and Reporter’s Notebook: Dullness, efficiency going hand in hand. (Alas, space requirements meant my brilliant observations about the New Orleans/Utah Jazz were cut from the notebook story, which is why it seems a little oddly constructed.)

Actual conversation a few minutes ago, at the checkout counter of the convenience store within the Main Media Center in Salt Lake City:
Smiley checkout lady: Have you seen our new dollar coins?
Stunningly beautiful Italian media woman: No. Who is that woman on them?
Smiley checkout lady: That’s Sacagawea. Do you know who she is? She led the Indians to America.
Second, less smiley checkout lady: Are you sure?
Smiley checkout lady: Yeah, I think she led them to America. From America? To America? Something like that.
Me: [smarty pants] Actually, I think she led Lewis and Clark across America.
Stunningly beautiful Italian media woman: [stunned] She led Superman across America?!?
Me: [pause] [realization] No, Lewis and Clark. They were explorers in the American West.
Stunningly beautiful Italian media woman: [uninterested] Oh. Okay.
Smiley checkout lady: Are you sure? I think she led the Indians to America.
Second, less smiley checkout lady: Honey, the Indians have always been here. Nobody had to lead them here.
Smiley checkout lady: Hmm. Learn something new every day.

Today’s story: There’s a jiggle in their walk. (Folks, I don’t write the headlines, just the stories.)

Day Three: Well, my office has become writer-celebrity central. Sitting a few desks away from Dave Barry is now Mitch Albom, sports columnist and writer of sappy, yet oddly affecting memoir. First impression: he’s a little bit short.
Slept in a bit, then headed downtown with the goal of writing the definitive story on the role lime Jell-O plays in Utah life. You can read tomorrow’s paper to see if I’ve succeeded. Spent some time wandering around the ZCMI Mall (the Z stands for Zion, and don’t you forget it), where a traveling exhibit of the Jell-O Museum is current stationed. Jell-O was invented in Le Roy, N.Y., and I’m not sure I’ll ever forgive my friend Kim for not telling me about the museum when we were but a few minutes away in Rochester back on December. (I will give her a pass, though, for telling me about the exhibit.)
Anyway, interviewing Utahns is a treat. They’re all extremely nice. So are Texans, but Texans are nice with an edge of suspicion. Ohioans, in contrast, are not nice and very suspicious. Just Midwestern chill. Utahns just open up with a smile, even if they secretly suspect you’re going to write a stupid story vaguely making fun of them for eating too much Jell-O. These people could be abused pretty easily. (It’s also quite a contrast from the Mormon church, whose media-industrial complex is extremely sophisticated and quick to call out any media coverage they think is out of line.)
At lunch, I got a chance to try out another Utah delicacy, fry sauce. Don’t like ketchup with your fries? Well, try this concoction made of ketchup and mayo, perhaps with some pickle juice thrown in. (And you though Quentin Tarantino invented the mayo-with-fries idea.) Not bad, although I’m not sure if fries really need any more fat content.