The Heat was "ON" and now the rains have come; KUDOS for Sept. 9 issue were "a little wet"

Well, we now have proof that God does read The South Texan. After more than 90 days of drought and a month of August with 10 dates with 100 degrees temperature or higher, the staff of The South Texan decided to do a package (feature story) on how the heat had impacted the area. Mary Beth Cleavlin did a wonderful story complete with sources and scientific data and Katrina Alejandro and Angela Palacios worked on doing a front page story with a jump to feature page 8 to make it look as enticing as possible. It was nice. The day the paper was delievered, it rained. I mean, it RAINED! More than 3 1/2 inches of rain fell that Sept. 10, most of it right on good ol' AMK. It was gratifying, however, to see student used our "HEAT WAVE" issue to cover themselves from the rain. It's enough to make a grown man cry! But, hey, after God saw our headline about the summer drought, he must have said, "Well let's just let it rain down there fellas. It's all fine. We'll take care of you." The downpours were needed and we thank God for little relief from the heat, not to mention the comic relief from those who reacted to our story while trying to escaped the rain.

Still, it was a good issue with plenty of readable and informative stories. Let's look at this issue, page-by-page.

Page 1: Katrina finally got the layout down with the burnt grass in from of College Hall as a backdrop and the headline worked, sort of. We could have done better, but this package, which jumped to page 8, worked well. Jacque Hutton's story on the Town Hall Round Table meeting was very informative. Good lead and plenty of good information and quotes. Story needed help, but that's what we have editors for....good job Jacque. Carlos' story on the Sabrios and Claudia's story on the new risk management leader were well done. Teasers at bottom look better but I still can't see the VBall photo and the maracas (they are maracas, right?) look like Indian pottery. We could have found something better than this for Hispanic Heritage. Specking of Hispanic Heritage, who is working on the "bug" for the upcoming features?

Page 2: Erika is the bomb! Really. Wow. She knows how to strengthen the bond with man. Yea. It's simple really feed us, love us, leave us along and pretty much we will be like loyal puppy dogs waiting for our next treat. But, excellent, Erika. You are getting better at this and this has syndication potential. Let me work on that on my time off. Theatre story was weak. We needed photo and a real story. We did not need a rewrite from a flier. Blotter was good. Let's develop this with a little better format. "Green Tip of the Week" well done. Nice Focus on Us page.

Page 3: Claudia tracked down the Cheech Marin story, good job. I would have suggested calling Cheech. Why did we not call him? Next time we are doing a story on a celebrity, we should try to make contact that celebrity. The Miss Hispanic Heritage story by Tania had a killer headline: "Hola Chica!" Que cute. Adolfo's story on the Poli Sci Pi Sigma Alpha chapter well done. Godd stories. Good campus news. A well-deisgned campus news page. KUDOs.

Page 4: Color on an inside page. Wow! Nice photo package on "Distant Light." Jumps well placed, but we always need to have some type of art with these many jumpbs. We should have planned this better. Nice page, for one that is inside. However, a suggestion. Let's make the color inside page our Best Campus news page and use the other black and white Campus News page for jumps. What do you think?

Page 5: This was a very newsy Campus News page and also in color. Yea! Excellent ROTC features. Where did you find this guy, Angela? His story on the Victory Cannon and the new commander were excellent. Let's use him some more. Let's talk about potential stories. Only thing bad here was the lead art on the "topping out" lunch. Surely, there was something "topped out." That was the photo we needed. Still, nice page.

Page 6: This ed-ops page was a little dull. Still, it had some poignant commentary by Nndy and Sabrina and Angela had a good column on how an editorial page works. Also, editorial were well done. A suggestion: let's keep our editorial together on this page. Claudia, you are doing a good job designing this page but you need to develop your own style and look. That includes having a solid editorial cartoon and a letter's to the editor section. Let's see if you can generate some letters.

Page 7:Sports page is weak. We need big headlines and big photos.Photo by Artie, good! Volleyball story was very well done. Where are volleyball photos?

Page 8: An interesting features page, to say, the least. Good effort on graphics, but we can do better. Sabrina's photo was excellent.

So, who gets KUDOs? Well, we can't go wroing with the rainmaker. KUDOs goes to Mary Beth Cleavelin. Great story, good sources and well designed. Good job Mary Beth. We missed you last spring semester. So, you're on the pot for $100.

KUDOs Sept. 1 issue

Our venture into social media via our Plan 21 Project is off to a great
start thanks to the efforts of the Football Online Reporting Team
(FORT, ha) for the Javelinas football opener last Saturday against nationally-ranked Delta (Miss.) State.

Behind the leadership of David Brott,
online editor, and the supervision of new journalism instructor Don
Fisher, the team was able to give us quarterly updates on the progress
of the game. Those updates included photos by ArtieLeal, quarterly narratives by Adrian Trevino, and game and summary reviews by Mark Molina. In addition, David Brott
downloaded quarterly stats. It was a good solid package. As a result,
our hits from last week went up from 50 the previous week to more than
500.
Well done FORT. And, to make it better, theJaveinas won, 28-17. Go Hogs!

As for the Sept. 21 issue, it was another strong effort for this early in the semester. The experience of staffers like Angela Palacios,
Jaime Gonzalez, Tania Garcia, Erika Hernandez, Carlos Alvarado, Edwin
Vasquez and Katrina Alejandro came through and the enthusiasm of new
staffers like AmandaMarcum, Mary Beth Cleavelin, Caludia Garcia and others really showed.

Page 1 - Nice reader at the top. Poor photo with it. SGA
election story well done. Too bad we could not promote it more. Mark's
game story was excellent effort. Lead photo great but not ours. Please
do not run photos that were not taken by our staffers.
We probably needed a mug of Upshaw. Hughes/Gines story well done. Teasers at bottom need to be fixed. Too many, too small. Chose 3 or 4 at most.

Page 2 - Nice teaser at top. Focus On Us weak. Weak photo. Weak play. Serna story solid and also good photo. Well done. Erika's column is "bitching." Ha. Bottom of page too great.

Page
3 - A very nice, very modular page. Lead BAP a little too far down the
page and was too dark. Every B&W photo must be lightened in Quark
or PhotoShop . Okay? the lead headline on the Blackboard story needed to
be bigger at top and smaller at bottom. We also needed info box
explaining whatBlackBoard truly is.....but not bad. Engineering story was well done. Lots of quotes and good info.

Pge 4 - Lead photo needed to be cropped. Girl eating popsicle cute but, not needed. Ice Cream social and music students stories were well done. James Guidry play was good but what was he doing? Not good! Jennifer sold lots of ads and they were pretty. Good job, Jennifer.

Page 5 - Can't read teaser. Needed to lighten backgroun. Flutist story well written and color helps here, but the Stop, listen in . . was hard to se.
This was a good idea. Let's play with it. Life Wellness picture very
good (good job), but tell my what it was? Why did they win. It needed
more info.

Page 6 - The lost page surfaces. Through no fault of
ours, the printer ran the wrong page, one from last week. We got 500
copies of the do-rights and it looks very good. Lots of good stuff on
this page. Amanda, wow! Jaime, double wow, wow! Claudia, excellent.
And, to boot, a good editorial by Jennifer, I believe.Laout is okay. It's modular. We need some letters to the editor. You guys are not controversial enough. Ha.

Page 7 - Sports page is good, not great. Nice story on top. Good use of archved photo of Vball girls. Jump needed to be in two columns and it doesn't look like body text. Is it? The charticle on the Javelina Game Day needs more info like season records, last week, etc. Can we do this?

Page
8 - This needed to be a photo spread. And, the headline at top needed
to be bigger, Bigger, BIGGER. Nice stories by both Edwin and Mary Beth
and good, strong photos by Amanda and Artie.

Overall, guys y gals, good job. A nice issue.

KUDOs....everyone, as usual did well. But this week we must give it to the Football Online Reporting Team. So, KUDOs to David Brott, Mark Molina, Adrian Trevion, Artie Leal, Amanda Marcum and Angela Palacios. Oh, give ol' Don Fisher a big ol' pat on the back. Well done.

Off to a great start in Fall 2009 - KUDOs go to Adriana Garza, Jennifer Garcia, Mary Beth Cleavlin and Claudia Garcia

We are doing so many new things this semester as we adjust to the changing media landscape that I will keep this critique short and sweet.

First, welcome back to Texas A&M University-Kingsville. I hope you have a wonderful year and an enjoyable communications/journalism experience. We expect great things from you as you learn the nuances of the new world of communications. We expect you to be serious students and journalists/communicators. We want you to know that you represent not only yourselves and your family and parents, but also the legacy of many great South Texan staffers who have come before you. The South Texan has regained its reputation of being an informative, intelligent tool of communicating with our students, faculty and community. We will not tarnish that reputation. Understoods.

As I write this on Saturday prior to the first football game of the season, I can't help to be proud of our first two issues - The Back to School (BTS) edition and the first South Texan of the year. Wonderful job.

Angela Palacios, our new editor, has taken the proverbial bull by the horns and, with the help of key staffers, has overseen the production of two quality issues. A special thanks to all who showed up early to help Angela.

Now, let's look at the two issues.

The BTS issue was solid with good information, especially for incoming students, and some key stories that tell the story of our university from a historical perspective. It was a key component on our WIIFM efforts. What's WIIFM? It stands to "What's In It For Me?" That's the question every reader asks as he or she picks up a print newspaper or visits a website. Definitely, we had information that filled that need in this issue. So, good job. Let's keep WIIFM in mind as we produce each edition of The South Texan. I was, however, not as pleased with the design. It was too "common," for lack of a better description. In particular, I feel like we missed a chance to have outstanding layouts in athletics and traditions. Still, good effort.

We also had some label heads (i.e. "University Traditions"). Every story needs a clear distinct headline. The cover was excellent, but a little confusing. The use of color throughout, well, excellent. Good planning on that part.

One of the highlights of this issue was the advertising. We sold enough ads to pay for almost half the issue. The fact that we started late in the summer to sell this issue and we wound up with a good package is commendable. The ads were sold by our new and very efficient advertising manager - Jennifer Garcia. This was facilitated by the work this summer by our Publications Lab Director Adriana Garza. Adriana sent out letters to prospective advertisers and answered many of the early phone calls before Angela and her staffers arrived. Not only were the ad sales "good" for the BTS issue, this has set the standard for the rest of the semester. So, who gets KUDOs? And, what is KUDOs?

KUDOs is our weekly effort to recognize outstanding performances by our editors and staffers. While there were many good performances in the BTS issue, the work of the advertising team was exemplary. So, KUDOs go to Adriana Garza and Jennifer Garcia. They are in the pot for a $100 scholarship which will be given out at our "15" Party at the end of the first semester. What is a "15" Party? It's a mid-year celebration of our excellence. In journalism, the No. "-30-" has traditionally meant the end. So, therefore, "-15-" is the midpoint and we use it to celebrate the end of our fall semester. Congratulations to Adriana and Jennifer.

Now, for the first issue. Good job. This is as solid a first issue as I have seen in the past three years. Package on front page was excellent. I would have preferred to use the photo with the dad as the lead photo, and bigger. I really didn't like the top photo. It was unflattering and did not really tell a story. All photos must tell a story. The "reader" - that's the story at the top of the page which must never be deeper than 3 inches - was very appropriate. We had a solid picture of Dr. Tallant. I would have like a quote out, but this worked. The story on the Bishop Hall cafeteria had solid photo but it was dated. When we have a file photo we must say so and not fool the reader into thinking it was taken this week. The story on Upshaw was a good touch and definitely deserved front page play. The convocation story, for some reason, was lost. Why? Do you think it could have used some art work to attract attention? Don't know. This is one incident where the editors must look at the layout and say, "Hey, how can we improve this?" But, hey, this works. Nice.

The inside pages are very nice and I think we have a good design with the teasers at the top. Page 2 is a little "grey" at the bottom, but has some excellent stories and art at the top. Erika did a good job with her column. Page 3 had some interesting WIIFM type stories and good, solid layout. Photos are a little weak, in particular the photo of the band. Certainly we can get better photos of "bandies." As for Dr. Gandy, well, we did the best we could. The "Doggone It" headline works. It was almost cute. I don't like cute. Page 4 had useful information, but again our photos were weak. The freshman dinner photo barely worked. Editorial Page solid. It had a good pro and con feature, which I don't like. I want us to have opinions, even we ruffle some feathers on our own staff, including mine. Angela, nice work on column. Mark, your column had some nice point but make sure you write, re-write and make it as good as you can before our editors see the final product. You made a good case of TAKS being "meaningless." Sports page was a little weak but you had little space and not enough action - yet. Action starts this week and I can't wait to see next week's issue. Oh, guys, on sports page, do not use Sport Information material unless it's a last resort. We write our own stories. I don't want this to happen again. OKAY?

Finally, PLAN21 is off and running. Mr. Fisher and his crew have planned some excellent elements for our first football game coverage. We will have quarterly photo and stats updates as well as running reports on progress of the game. In the meantime, we're tweeting, MyFacing and MySpacing (whatever?) and using social media well. A key to this Plan 21 effort is the work of David Brott and Noe Longoria. Good work by both and, I guess, a hearty congratulations to Don Fisher. We welcome his expertise in this area and looked forward to great accomplishments in this area.

KUDOs for the second issue? We had many outstanding efforts, which is what a staff is all about. Mary Beth Cleavlin had three solids stories (including a solid editorial on healthcare). Mark Molina had a front-page story and a column, Carlos Alvarado and Edwin Vasquez both had solid pi (pi in itals is short for page 1 in journalism) stories. Tania's story on the comedian and her layout on page 2 showed her hard work and passion. Sabrina Salinas again had a good "Green Tip." Claudia Garcia had a good story on the "bandies" being "Zepped" and another on the freshmen dinner with the president. Jamie Gonzalez had the greatest story of all on some perro named "Bandit." Wonder who it belongs to? He also had a solid editorial on healthcare. So, it's difficult to pick one district winner. Still, because of the passion that Claudia Garcia showed and the commitment Mary Beth Cleavelin showed upon her return, we are going to honor both these staffers. All of you did well on this first issue, but Claudia and Mary Beth just had a little edge. Congratulations. You are both in the pot for the $100 KUDOs cold cash scholarship during our "-15-" party.

From myself, Mr. Fisher and Adriana, thanks for your effort.

TWIT, TWIT, TWIT Away!

The South Texan has it's own twitter account. We will start using it in August but all of the staff members are asked to sign up now. Contact Adriana Garza at the office (593-3700) for more information. Also, we are going to have a social media editor this year as well. Check in about this and other exciting news. Stay in touch. I know, no one reads my blog.
Dr. Flores

New Journalism Instructor Due This Summer

We are in the process of hiring a new journalism instructor to help with new media and assist with the production of The South Texan. A Communications Theatre Arts Department Search Committee headed by Mr. Eric Ramos narrowed the list down to three finalists. Mr. Ramos and committee members Dr. Patrick Faherty and Mr. Corey Ranson have interviewed the three. The three are: Dr. Stuart Lenig (from Tennessee), Mr. Don Fisher (from Ingleside) and Mr. Mike McIlvain, who currently teaches at Texas A&M International University in Laredo, Texas. We will make our announcement early next week.

Our Interns are out there -JC HAS A JOB!

Just a note to check in and remind all of you to be sure to call The South Texan in late July and early August. Please check in with Adriana Garza, out publications lab director, and myself. We need you to help us produce the back-to-school (BTS) issue and of course to plan for the fall semester. It is rapidly approaching. In the meantime, I hope all of you are having a great summer. We have several students doing internships and we are very proud of the J majors as well as RTV and theatre arts majors who are out there in the "real world." Of course, if you all have not heard, last year's editor, Juan Carlos Reyes, is now gainfully employed at the Fort Bend Herald Coaster in the Houston area. Good job, JC. It's hard to land a job in print journalism nowadays but you did it and, from the reports we get, are doing well. I know, you should "giggle" about now.

For the record, here is a list of interns that we have:

Carlos Alvarado, SODEXHO Administrative/PR Internship, Washington, D.C. Area
Amanda Marcum, Institute of Political Journalism, Washington, D.C. Area
Angela Palacios, Catholic Diocese of Corpus Christi, Dallas, TX
Devina Arredondo, Coastal Bend Thunder Baseball Team, Robstown, TX
Savannah Martinez, KIII-TV, Corpus Christi, Texas
Katrina Alejandro, TAMUK Sports Information, Kingsville, TX
Noe Longoria, TAMUK Sports Information, Kingsville, TX
Christin Rycroft, KTAI-91.1 FM, Kingsville, TX
Katherine Robinette, Kingsville Bishop Record News, Kingsville, TX
Priscilla Meadows, BTS issue The South Texan, Kingsville, TX
Jacque Hutton, The TAMUK Communicator, Kingsville, TX

We are very proud of all our interns. We wish them well. Good luck.