Leslie Wilcox Blogs

Photog Ron Edmonds' "Cheep" Shots

     Former Honolulu Star-Bulletin photographer Ron Edmonds was known here for his keen eye and his ability to get a shot at precisely the right moment.

      He went on to a career in Washington DC with the Associated Press, winning the Pulitzer Prize for his series of photos of President Reagan being shot by an a would-be assassin.

      If you look, you'll see his "cutline" on many newspaper photos coming out of news coverage of the White House. Somehow he's able to key in on unexpected, telling moments in power and officialdom--exasperation, weariness, despair, bemusement, gloating, embarrassment, pride, relief, exhilaration.

       But it's not just political animals that his lens finds.

       Just outside the White House Press Room, he spied robins nesting. That led to a new venue for his photos----a story the other night on the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. Ron captured the sight of robin hatchlings making their very first appearance. (Sorry, I had a link to the story but it no longer works.)

        Anchor Williams called Ron "the famously sharp-eyed..photographer."

       Congratulations to Ron for his "cheep" shots!

Back When 'Iolani School Went Co-ed...

      I remember the day that the Honolulu private school 'Iolani opened its doors for the first time to girls. The day was a long time in coming--115 years.

      It was September 4, 1979. Many of the boys looked a bit leery and kept their distance. The girls tended to walk around in groups. I watched a spitball sail near one of the girls and a couple of boys laughed nervously as they quickly walked away.

       These 87 pioneering girls were hand-picked--extremely bright and socially hardy. If girls were being admitted to make campus life more like the real world for the boys, the boys had reason to brace against the real world. The girls were tough academic competitors.

         'Iolani School's spring '09 publication recalls the prep school's "dawn of coeducation" nearly 30 years ago. Editor Cathy Lee Chong dredged up a TV news story I filed back then. www.iolanibulletin.org

         I interviewed one of those first girls, brand-new ninth grader Meri Mika Morisada. Her brother, an 'Iolani student, had given her some good advice: "Just be yourself." He also told her, "They're just as scared as you."

         The uncertainty and tensions of girls entering the ranks of a previously all-boy bastion didn't last long. Novelty turned to normalcy.

       And now, from Editor Chong, I get to learn...the rest of the story. Meri Mika Morisada ended up going to medical school. Nearly three decades later, she's a pediatrician doing well in private practice. No surprise to learn she's successful. She's a mother of two, married to an 'Iolani math teacher.

        While the first 'Iolani girls represented just a fraction of the student body, the school now admits boys and girls in equal numbers. And Ms. Chong writes: "My own children and their classmates (at 'Iolani) can't fathom that a generation ago 'Iolani excluded females."

Designing a Transparent Workplace

         Back when I was a high school student, transparent was usually a bad thing.  As in, "their motives are so transparent."

         Today, of course, transparent  is more often a good thing, meaning full disclosure.

        And, as I found out from the national Emmy Award-winning Searider video production students at Waianae High School, there's another desirable transparency-- the kind of environment in which they want to work.

       I asked them how they'd design a great media center.

       Here are some of the things on the students' wish list, beginning with transparency.

---Create very open interiors, with different rooms for different uses, separated by glass so that one can easily keep tabs on what's going on throughout.

---Privacy is not prized; walls are barriers. For example, while private editing bays are the sleek, happy "caves" of today's experienced editors, the next generation wants a common room for editors. They like working near each other. Collaboration is as quick and easy as motioning the person at the next workstation to take off his/her headphones.

---Plan a route for tours for the public. Transparency of the lay-out makes the visit more interesting.

---It's not necessary to assign desks. Workers are mobile, carrying their visual/reference materials in drive sticks in their pockets.

---Make the building energy-efficient.

---Embrace  natural light and plants.

---Use bright, welcoming colors.

      The students, under the guidance of first-rate educator Candy Suiso, are clear, passionate and unified in their idea of a great workplace--it's open and modern.

       But here's a bit of a surprise.  Because they consider their workplace to be another home, they want the exterior to look like a home. A classic home.

      Their teacher explained it this way: "A beautiful Manoa house is just as homey and current today as it was 100 years ago."

       Which makes me think of the wide porches on gracious old homes. Open and transparent places from which to view the world outside.

Mahalo to Military Families

     How many times have you wanted to say or do something to show appreciation to a member of the armed forces or their families during this time of war and multiple deployments?

      PBS Hawaii worked with our community partner, Ruby Tuesday Hawaii, to create an occasion to say a simple thank-you.

       About a hundred parents and children were invited yesterday to the Ruby Tuesday restaurant at the Moanalua Shopping Center to visit with popular PBS children's character Curious George, enjoy banana splits ice cream treats, and take part in crafts and "Dr. K's" balloon magic.

        Rick Nakashima, co-owner of Ruby Tuesday Hawaii, invited the families to enjoy themselves and thanked them for their personal sacrifices. His college-age and high-school children were on hand to help.

     A mother of two little ones whose husband is in Iraq said it was great to see her kids smiling and having fun, and it was nice to feel the support of the community.

         One of Rick's employees, Michelle Gibson, is familiar with displaying courage on the home front. Her husband is deployed to Iraq, and she takes care of their three young children while also holding down her restaurant job.

         Some local civilians who caught sight of the lanai party stopped by and told me they were happy to see the effort for the military families. One even offered to help. "This is important," he said. "Want me to bus the tables?"

         It was a light-hearted Sunday afternoon gathering, with a deeply felt message. To fellow citizens serving in war and to their families at home, thank you.

          

A Treasure of a TV Station

     This is a time when citizens stand to lose some things that they as a community love and depend upon. That is, unless they take care and show special support.

      I hope you believe, as I do, that Hawaii's only public television station, PBS Hawaii, is a treasure.  

      Please allow me a small story: I ran into the proprietor of a favorite Honolulu crackseed shop which had shut its doors. "You were the best!" I said. "I always looked forward to your warm welcome, the character of your store, and the variety of special treats in those big glass jars." He surprised me with his response: "That's what everybody tells me. They tell me they had so much aloha for my store. But where were they most of the time? Probably at some place that was more convenient and cheaper. Because we had to close."

      It's hard for me to imagine Hawaii without a public TV station, locally owned and noncommercial. People have such aloha for our exceptional programming.

       And yet, we're one of the valued community organizations and institutions which could slip in quality, or sink, without enough public support during this economic crisis.

       PBS Hawaii's Board of Directors and staff are taking the long view. We're determined to get through these rolling, chopping waters. When the sailing is smoother, we'll thrive. Because we're hard at work building a better future.

        But first, the present.

        People's jobs and investments have taken a beating. We feel for those suffering.

        As more residents save money by staying home, we're glad to be in their homes with a bright, steady light of hope and inspiration that honors education, integrity, innovation.

         If you can afford to step up, your donation will strengthen the precious community resource called PBS Hawaii. And your contribution will help more than ever in nourishing minds and spirits throughout the state.

         http://www.pbshawaii.org/support

         Mahalo for listening. We appreciate our viewers and web users. And we take pride in reaching remote areas in the islands not served by commercial TV or pay services, like cable and satellite.

Saying Good-bye to a Beloved Dog

Doing the right thing never felt so bad.

Kaena, our family's formerly exuberant, athletic, joyful pointer, was elderly, deaf, lame, incontinent. He had a progressive, incurable illness.

Months ago, our vet, Dr. Troy Smith of North Shore Veterinary Clinic, told us that "you'll know when it's time" to humanely end Kaena's struggle.

How?

"When he no longer has joy in life," the doc said. 

For those months, most of the time Kaena was joyful about something or other in the course of a day--mealtime, a new chew toy, a good back scratch, the afternoon sun, watching finches in the guava tree.

But last weekend, we could tell life had become an unending chore. The light had left his eyes, and he looked bewildered, confused.

I made the appointment for a vet injection to end Kaena's life and felt guilty and heart-broken as my husband Jeff and I lifted him into the car for his final ride.

Dr. Smith gave Kaena the shot and the dog's eyes locked onto my husband's, which were red and teary.  Man and dog had a rich history. For years, they ran six miles a day together. They explored the foothills of the Waianae mountains, with Kaena pointing and flushing birds and having the odd encounter with a bold mongoose. They walked the Waialua shoreline. Kaena disliked getting his feet wet, but he loved poking his nose in the sand, wet or dry. He'd come home with his tail wagging wildly and a snoot full of sand.

Jeff and I always marveled at Kaena's abiding good nature and happy spirit. Once a small pack of dogs went after him, and he nimbly dodged them, again and again, having  a great time. What attack? It was playtime, with feral playmates.

Now, lying on a stainless steel table at the vet's, his tired old eyes closed. The last thing he saw was the face of his loyal best friend and running partner. He gently slumped, looking  peaceful. Soon there was no pulse.

For Kaena, it was best. For us, doing the right thing never felt so bad.

I Know the Feeling

    From San Francisco, a Hawaii ex-pat journalist phoned, saying my previous blog entry sounded like I don't believe in journalism schools anymore.

     Oh, I do. Good j-schools are a good place to seek answers to the serious questions hanging like a sword over journalism's institutions.

      Leading a television station, I'm feeling the heat of the media meltdown. I've traveled the country, looking for ways to monetize our New Media work. As far as I can tell, nobody has a proven business model, especially for noncommercial media like PBS Hawaii. 

      But I feel  confident the answers are out there. And we won't find them unless we pose the right questions. J-majors and professors,  keep asking, seeking, innovating! So will those of us out here in the battered real world,  looking to make a transition from traditional mass media, to the vast universe of digital niches--and the future.

More Questions than Answers in J-School

      Go figure. J-school enrollment is up despite the shrinking of traditional journalism jobs in newspapers and television.

       I keep in touch with a number of Hawaii students in journalism schools on the continent. Several are taking marketing classes--just in case. But they're sticking with their major despite the scary headlines.

        They aren't sure what the journalism of the future will be, but they want to be part of it. Somehow they intend to fill in the blanks. Somehow they expect to find a new media business model that works.

       It's inconceivable, they say, for a participatory democracy not to have a vigorous "press" (the term lives on, even though printing presses are an endangered species.)

       Journalism professors frame the questions but can't provide the answers.

       One thing today's J-students are clear about is this: they need to get comfortable working on multiple platforms.

      Want to be a print reporter? Print purists are vanishing just as fast as newsprint. Still, writers will write. If you're just starting out, better know how to uplink your copy to the web. Better be ready to maintain a blog. And better make space in your purse or pockets for a palm-sized video camera and a Gumby-like tripod. 

      For most college students, the web part is easy. They're digital natives. But figuring out how to make a living in a world in which journalism's institutions are melting down is going to be some education.

"Golden Age" on Sunday Mornings?

     Insights on PBS Hawaii producer Colette Fox is sharing with her PBS colleagues this article by Baltimore Sun TV critic David Zurawik:

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/zontv/2009/04/stephanopoulos_gregory_king_sc.html

     While mass media are struggling to produce both quality and viewers, Zurawik says the national Sunday morning public affairs shows are coming up with both.

      Zurawik writes: "We are living in a golden age of some exceptionally fine Sunday morning public affairs programs. And as much as some critics say an emphasis on ratings often comes at the expense of journalism, I think this ratings competition is making each of the top two programs better."

       The top two programs are ABC's Meet the Press and This Week with George Stephanopoulos, with the new State of the Union on CNN off to a good start.  

       These are discussion shows that depend on the host drawing out guests and making sure they answer the unscripted questions.  For the most part, it's old-school journalism with online elements. That means, viewers across the nation have an opportunity to see newsmakers think on their feet. No filters. No telepromptered responses. That endangered species, the follow-up question, still exists on these programs.

        Insights on PBS Hawaii is the only weekly live local public affairs program on a statewide broadcast channel in Hawaii. Here's a link to last week's program, "Funding Social Services."   http://www.kmeb.org/insights02.htm 

        The hour-long call-in show hosted by Dan Boylan airs in primetime, at 7:30pm Thursdays.

 

       

Mike Trapasso, Mike McCartney, Linda Coble

    University of Hawaii Manoa baseball coach Mike Trapasso, new Hawaii Tourism Transportation Authority (HTA) chief Mike McCartney, Honolulu TV personality and Rotary leader Linda Coble.

     Question: What do they all have in common?

      Answer: They're all recent guests onLeahey & Leahey, PBS Hawaii's weekly program devoted to sports and well, life in general. 

      We call it our generationally challenged show, because father Jim Leahey and son Kanoa Leahey sometimes disagree.  Neither one is known for relenting, but while the arguments are strenuous they're always good-natured.

       And both Leaheys welcome guests at their screen door and make them feel comfortable at their kitchen table.

      Here's a link that you may click on and choose the conversation you'd like to see:

http://www.pbshawaii.org/ourproductions/leahey_video.htm

       Leahey & Leaheyairs on Hawaii's only public television station,  PBS Hawaii,  at 7:30pm on Wednesdays.