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Last night I attended Lawrence's "Get Downtown" music festival Day 2.  Having not attended Day 1 I can't speculate on how it went.  I can however talk about the second day.

What struck me about Day 2 was the quality of the Lineup.  Trombone Shorty, Split Lip Rayfield, and Split Lip Rayfield all played last night.  This concert would have been worth $30, but was free. 

Trombone Shorty kicked off the music at about 5:45 P.M.  The first time I saw this funky big group was at the Wakarusa festival in June out at Clinton Lake.  The band consists of Trombone Shorty, who is a trombonist and trumpet player as well as the lead singer and a rag tag group of youngsters.  Though, Shorty himself can't be older than 30.

The music of Trombone Shorty itself consists of a greatest hits of 60s and 70s funk, ranging from James Brown to George Clinton.  The band did play a few original tracks, but this is not the strength of the band as Shorty's lyrics are typically cliche diatribes about love.  The music itself was great and the band is still young. 

Split Lip Rayfield brought it home with some bluegrass Lawrence style.  They played a few tunes off their new album and a greatest hits sampling of their catalog.  "$100 bill" was memorable for the crowd participation in its refrain, which is "She's looking good as a $100 bill."  This was the third time I've seen the band and the slowest set I've seen, though this was to be expected as each sucessive time I've seen them they've slowed it down more and more.  The first time I saw them at Wakarusa 2005, I was exahausted from dancing after about a half hour, whereas this time I made it through the full hour and half without being too tired to stand.

This was also the second time I saw Dumpstafunk, the first again being at Wakarusa this year.  Ivan Neville of the Neville Brothers leads this other funky New Orleans outfit.    The band consists of two bassists, Ivan on Keyboards, a drummer and his son Ian on guitar.  The show was super high energy and the audience got down all night.  They provided the perfect ending to a perfect evening.  

The news media has hailed this presidential election as unprecedented. One for the history books. A huge step forward for America no matter how you slice it, Democratic ticket or Republican ticket.

 

But in this fete of supposed progressive thinking, one archaic practice is still being tossed around by both the news media and by the politicians themselves: isms.

 

Racism. Sexism. Ageism. Fanaticism. Liberalism. Conservatism.

 

Isms are a quick fix for our brains -- a simple, tidy way of roping a group of people with related opinions together, setting them to one side and saying there. That's that. I get what you're about.

 

Yes, isms make us think we understand others when in fact they actually hinder our ability to truly do so. To use an ism is to generalize, and to in effect deny the diverse rationales that can lead people to hold the same opinion. We stoop to using isms either because we're too lazy or too narrow-minded to take time to think out these diverse rationales.

 

It's so much easier to argue that anyone who doesn't like Barack Obama is racist than it is to dig deeper, start a dialogue, find out what could really be behind this opinion.

 

A reporter can fit together an easy, crisp little story around the fact that Barack Obama is black, that Sarah Palin is a woman, and that these qualities attract and alienate certain voters. It would be difficult, however, to go beyond the "ism" buzzwords -- beyond this gross homogenizing of the American people -- to discuss why voters hold the opinions they do, why they value certain things in candidates, why other things don't appeal to them.

 

The sooner we step up to the task of discussing what's behind our differing opinions rather than ism-ing them away, the sooner we can really take that huge step forward that we've all been hearing about.

 "-Ism's in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an -ism, he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon, 'I don't believe in The Beatles, I just believe in me."'

- Matthew Broderick as Ferris Buehler

Elections are full of the much maligned -ism.  Every possibility if -ism is explored for each candidate.  If a candidate is white, then his or her potential racism is made an issue.  If the candidate is black then the racism of the public is central (Washington Post).  If the candidate is female then the country is too sexist to elect her.  If the candidate is male he may be too much a sexist to effectively govern a half female country.  There is so much ado about the -ism that one might agree with Ferris and want to be rid of them all, as if that were possible.

The truth of the -ism is that they are simple ideological constructions people erect in order that other people can understand a complicated idea.  Could Joseph McCarthy have rallied the country to almost tear itself apart over the state run program to forcibly reallocate property and remove rights of owners for said property for the United States? Not likely.  But he could rally people against communism.  At the most basic level and -ism is simple shorthand.  

The issue with the -ism comes when they are used to define people as opposed to ideas.  Once you label a person a communist, that is what they become.  That communist is no longer a person and become just a classification.  This can come in handy when we deal with scores of new people every day, but it is also an inherent weakness in our thought processes that conspires to damage our good judgement.  As an example of such a failure it is not widely appreciated how many Russians died defending their homeland in World War II (about 10.7 million).  They were communists and not even American communists.  By virtue of that fact they were far less meaningful to learn about in history class.

-Isms make ideas easier to digest.  But we must remember that some indigestion is good. It tells us what ideas are actually are worth eating.

When the epic Tom Waits epically interviewed himself, he was asked (by himself) what was wrong with the world. To himself he replied, "We are buried beneath the weight of information, which is being confused with knowledge; quantity is being confused with abundance..."

'Ole Tom said a mouthful. This sage observation can be applied broadly to many things, but specifically it brings to mind 24 hour news coverage. Even more specifically, it can be said of election coverage in 2008, a year still fully embedded in the "Information Age." In many ways, the internet has made it more treacherous to be a politician than ever before. Anything you say can and will be used against you (on youtube) and will be commented upon by legions of disgruntled web surfing trolls (again, on youtube).

Recall George Allen's "macaca moment" which single handedly derailed his campaign. This world in which every second counts has forced politicians to become slicker than ever in their public appearances which could be good or bad depending on how you look at it. But, in effect, we all lose out when politicians are hijacked by their own sound bytes.

The average citizen pursuing election coverage online is typically met with a barrage of sound byte headlines or pulled quotes and in many cases, flat-out irrelevant controversies such as the recent "Palin Pregnancy Conspiracy"

Despite the tired old argument of the bias found in CNN or Fox or wherever, the web has made it even easier to narrow one's scope to their own particular view. If someone were to solely view Huffingtonpost.com day after day, they would have a very different version of events that is tailored to very specific tastes. The internet, like many things in this world, is a very powerful tool when used judiciously. Subscribing to sound bytes with no depth and following sites that only affirm our currently held beliefs are just as bad or even worse than not being informed at all. We have a responsibility to follow 3 "D's": Diversify our browsing for variety of coverage, Demand better, more in-depth coverage from our sources and ultimately Decide for ourselves what content we should retain to make informed decisions.

The future of democracy in an information age will ultimately be decided by just how responsible we, as citizens of the state, can be with the abundance so that we may (as Mr. Waits encourages) sift out the knowledge.

For a few hours yesterday I got a short glimpse into what it's like to be a college football player playing in a big-time bowl game. I came from Kansas and took the field, not to play Virginia Tech, but to run a camera along the sidelines.

We arrived at the stadium early, got the anticipation and build up of waiting for the game to start and looked around an empty stadium that would soon be filled with almost 74,000 people.

While admittedly running a camera isn't quite as strenuous as two-a-days, it was hard work, it was tiring, but most of all it was exhilarating.

The weather in Miami was surprisingly chilly. One Miami resident said it was the coldest weather he could remember in the 40 years he's lived here. Because of this I'm still not sure whether the goosebumps I got during the opening kickoff were from the weather or just the thrill of the moment.

As the game went on I moved around the stadium constantly trying to get as close to the action as I could. I went from sideline to sideline, end zone to end zone probably covering more ground than any player in the game.

Then as the game ended and Todd Reesing hurled the ball into the air I sprinted onto the field like a bull released from the gates in Pamplona looking for anyone in a red Kansas jersey.

Players danced around me, they shouted messages into my camera, threw oranges and put on their Orange Bowl champion hats and shirts. Third-string quarterback and fellow Shawnee Mission West graduate Tyler Lawrence walked up to me shook my hand and said, "Mr. Mertel, I'm glad you could be here."

After the players cleared the field their accomplishments finally seemed to set in during the post-game press conferences.

"We won the Orange Bowl fellas!" Aqib Talib shouted across the room. "Hey Mute, we won the Orange Bowl!" He shouted to teammate Marcus Henry.

"To finally be at this point, at the top, finishing 12-1, it's awesome. It's ecstasy." Todd Reesing said.

"Words can't describe what it feels like right now," Joe Mortensen said, "I, I just can't describe it."

Well Joe, I'm doing my best to do it for you.

The FedEx Orange Bowl presented on FOX is big time business. It's everything a sponsor could ever dream of. 100,000 lost tourists have descended onto the Miami area with every intention to spend as much money as they can. Except, when you're a member of the media, you're almost never allowed to spend any money.

The FedEx Orange Bowl presented by FOX provides the food. The FedEx Orange Bowl presented by FOX provides the drinks. When we first arrived the FedEx Orange Bowl presented by FOX provided us with a free raincoat.

Last night my esteemed colleague Justin O'Neal walked away from the media party with a brand new Bacardi Golf Bag, a bottle of Bacardi Rum and a FedEx Orange Bowl Shirt made by Cutter & Buck.

This afternoon we went to the AvMed Coaches Luncheon with supporting sponsors Wachovia, At&t and Gold Coast Beverage Servies followed by the WaMu Fan Fest to celebrate the FedEx Orange Bowl Presented by FOX.

During his press conference this morning Mark Mangino said that his job as Kansas Football coach was to get Kansas Football onto the national stage. When you think about it, that's what this event is for the sponsors as well.

KU football will use the exposure of the national broadcast to show themselves to the nation. The FedEx Orange Bowl presented by FOX will use two attractive football teams to get sponsors who can show themselves to the nation.

I am one of the biggest proponents of a college football playoff system that you will find. However, after being here I can see why the NCAA and the bowls are so hesitant to give all of this up. They can rake the money from sponsors, show off to fans and do it all under the purity of "student-athletes playing for the love of the game."

Tonight I will surely have more things thrown my way just because I have a card hanging around my neck that has my picture and says 1-FOTO. The FedEx Orange Bowl presented by FOX will continue to give things away just to make sure I say nice things about them when I write stories and tell friends.

So, here you go guys… There is no company that I would trust to ship my packages more than WaMu… wait, or was it FedEx that does that? It's all just a blur of sponsors at this point.

I'll spare you from all of the "If you told me in September that I would be here…" talk because I am still yet to meet that single person that goes around making promises like that.

Of course nobody thought this could happen. But this team is full of "nobody thought" type of players.

Nobody thought Todd Reesing was big enough.

Nobody thought Brandon McAnderson was fast enough.

Nobody thought Marcus Henry had hands that could catch touchdown after touchdown.

Nobody thought true freshman like Chris Harris could play cornerback in the Big 12.

Nobody thought a group of 2-star recruits could lead a team to this much success.

And that's what makes all of this so special. At the beginning of the year the only people that had faith in this team were the students who didn't know better and the old hippies like White Owl who were so baked out of their mind that they didn't know any better.

Need more proof that nobody saw this coming? Las Vegas set lines for each of KU's 11 wins this season and KU beat that line every time. The experts in Las Vegas continued to up their expectations for these Jayhawks and still KU exceeded those expectations and continued to win game after game.

I'm tired of all the "nobody thought this would happen" talk that surrounds this team. Sports are full of unseen heroes and underdog stories. KU is in the Orange Bowl and still people focus the expectations of this season while overlooking what KU has accomplished.

Leading up to this game stories around the country are saying, "KU has never played in a game with this much pressure." Well, KU has also never won this many road games. KU has never scored 76 points on Nebraska. KU has never thrown this many touchdown passes in this season.

This has been an extraordinary season and Thursday night KU will cap that off by playing in its first Orange Bowl since 1969. Experts and fans around the country are picking Virginia Tech, but let's be honest, nobody knows what's coming.

It really is horribly depressing to think that we all (as in the J694 class) will not be together anymore. Out of my four years in college I cannot think of a single class that felt like its own little family.

I'm not an emotional or blatantly touching person, but I will admit that we have a bond that has developed both in and out of the classroom. I'll definitely miss having class with our little "newsroom family" but, I know we shall continue with our "TV.KU.EDU Thursday Night Out" and our random excursions.

I'm pretty sure you get the picture that we're friends outside of the classroom and it probably seems like nothing will change, but that's not the case. Good ‘ole Sam and Brad will be graduating, leaving the rest of us two family members short.

Sam – I'm not sure you know this, but I learn new words from you every class. Your speeches, rants, whatever you want to call them, are sometimes confusing and sometimes insightful but, I learn new words.

Brad – Please laugh for me one more time before you go. Now, if you haven't seen Brad in a fit of laughter, you should probably add that to your "Before I Die To-Do List".

To those who will be sticking around for another lovely semester: I look forward to our crazy nights, dinner dates (that's you Peteritas) and random group dates (whether those be hamburger night at Cochran's or dinner at Grandma Quante's).

Thanks everyone, it's been fun. I give you all my best.

One more thing, perhaps we should arrange a special reunion so that when we're all married and old with kids, or just old, we can reminisce about the good old days of KUJH TV. Who's in?

During the first week of class, after hearing that we'd write blogs for this class, I was excited about the opportunity to post my ranting and raving for all to see. I immediately started thinking up themes and topics for my blog that would rival my favorite vlogger, William Sledd. (I couldn't post my last blog without mentioning him.)

I was a little bummed to discover that my blog would be about a topic related to the course and not whatever was on my mind that week. (What a concept.) But, my blogging experience turned out to be a good one.

While I was directed in what I could talk about, I enjoyed the opportunity to write again. As much as I enjoy editing and as good of a fit it is for me, I miss writing. I forgot that I missed writing until my mom reminded me of this. I sent her an e-mail after Googling her name and discovering a main character in the book "Like Always" shares her name. I dreamt up all the possibilities of why an author would use her name. Her explanation: I've gone mad and I haven't written as much lately and needed an outlet for my creative energy. Luckily for my mom's own sanity I've had this blog keeping me from sending her too many imaginative stories.

My experience blogging has come in handy. My mom teaches computer classes at a senior citizen center and knowing that I blog, she asked me for advice about the medium because some of her participants were interested in blogging. On a side note: (Which, I'm allowed because it's my last blog) I love how accepting of and excited about all this new technology my mom's 70-year-old students are. It's encouraging to see them willing to adapt. For example, my grandma is in my mom's class and e-mails me. She used to send me letters, and she still does, but she also e-mails me on a more frequent basis.

Anyway, back to the point. This blog has also been useful in keeping in touch with my family. This weekend, my uncle who lives in the Little Rock, Ark., area informed me that after Googling my name, he came across this blog and reads it occasionally. (Hi, Leonard!)

While I have had difficulty coming up with an opinion on some of the issues and enough to say about some others, blogging routinely has been an enjoyable experience. I probably won't be creating my own account on blogger.com after this semester, as I wouldn't make the time to blog without the responsibility of a grade linked to a post, but this has been a good experience. I'll miss you, my blog readers (aka Uncle Rick, Uncle Leonard and Mom).

I'm graduating in two weeks. Holy cow.

It seems like just yesterday I was sitting in Multimedia Reporting, scared to death of TedFred and Uncle Rick, thinking I was the worst reporter on the face of the planet, wondering who all the weird people in my class were. It seems like just yesterday I was doing my first newsroom shift for TV News I, freaking out about getting B-roll and an interview, talking to Gretchen on the phone every 10 minutes trying to calm each other down.

It seems like just yesterday I was online producing with Chris Raine, HTML coding, impressing him with my ability to sing every Spangles jingle. Oh, wait... that was two weeks ago.

Now the newsroom has become not only my second home, but my second family. My classmates are some of the funniest, craziest, most wonderful people I've ever met. We've been through a lot together and we always managed to find a way to have a laugh.

Ok, so I'm not really leaving for good. I'm hoping to get in to law school here at KU. But I won't be in the newsroom every day and, honestly, I'm going to miss it. You know what they say, though: "Don't be sad because it's over; smile because it happened."