Terra Incognita

live from gannett
OK, not quite live, but maybe as J Dub would say, this report comes to you tape delayed from Gannett.

Dan and I represented the sarcastic, cynical, apathetic, yet wisened seniors in the back row of what was supposed to be the J-Scholars class representative election night. (We were the only two in the room not discussing the recent J200 lecture.) The night was not a waste as we gleaned fabulous info on what will be happening to and within the J-School over the next two and a half years. Read and weep: (you will cry, either because you are not hear to reap the benefits or because they are fowling up something cherished....cast your vote.)

Completed by fall semester 2006:
-Gutting the former Sociology building and creating within the old shell a four-story, glass building-within-a-building
-This will house the Reynolds Institute (think Poynter Institute, says Dean Brooks - not me, silly.)
-The Reynolds Institute will work to "connect the industry to education by adding a research element" and will house much of the school's graduate programs.
-The building will include an expanded journalism library, an auditorium, several seminar rooms, capabilities to broadcast CSPAN at all times and a coffee bar.
-It will also house the new convergence sequence.
-An underground walkway will connect Walter Williams to the Institute.
-This underground walkway will contain the facilities for all the online media the school does, meaning that the KOMU, Digmo and KBIA Web sites will all be produced from the basement of the Walter Williams-Reynolds Institute walkway. (taking digmo, et al out of their respective newsroom will definitely improve internal communication, won't it? yikes.)

other aspects of the plan:
-Adding another story on Neff Annex (the Neff Annex-squared).
-Definitely an updated press. They've already found a donor for a used press and think they might have found someone to donate money for a spankin' new one.
-Souping up the newsroom with a new frontline system. Whether this system will be PC- or Mac-based is yet to be determined. (The new building will be totally Mac, dude.)
-And - drum roll please - new computers for 214 Lee Hills Hall.

totally unrelated
I wondered this weekend who made the awful mistake of putting the "Gay Heat Wave" cover models in white on this month's cover of Vanity Fair. Of all people, the fashion-conscious gay community would know that wearing white is out of the question after Labor Day. Thank you to Details, for clarifying for me that this is ceasing to be a faux pas: "At the fall menswear shows, there was more bleached cloth on display than at a Klan really."

Things I've noticed about myself: I subscribe to more men's magazines than women's magazines. Is there something about myself that I haven't figured out? Also, when I shop, I measure my purchases in magazine subscriptions. (Is this $15 belt worth more to me than a subscription to Esquire?)