An important day

Having survived my adventurous driving escapades of the previous night (and left my passengers laughing instead of screaming) I offered the brave a lift to KHQ. Rhonda was willing to try me again and Jim laughed but made sure to get into someone else's car.

The morning session included a five-minute speech by Ginny (who took the opportunity to take another run at the CAFO issue. We also briefly revisited our video interviews the previous day, then after a break launched into a panel discussion by reporters Matt Rogers of KHQ TV and John Stucke of the Spokesman Review. It's not uncommon knowledge that print media is under assault from a variety of electronic media, including the Internet, and Stucke was understandably emotional in his remarks, having just learned of his own reassigment and staff layoffs.

It is hard to imagine (if you're beyond a certain age) that there will soon come a time when newspapers can be found only in museum archives, but that day may come much sooner than we think. I'd predicted by 10 years newspapers would be gone; for some in our state, the end may well come much more quickly. This is an 800 pound gorilla in the room for so many entities who currently assume that newspapers will cover their issues despite this competition, despite drastic cutbacks in order to meet the bottom line.

Where does that leave rural towns? Where does it leave those of us who still like to read in-depth analysis of difficult or controversial issues? The Internet, TV and radio all rely on succinct sound bites and the public's impatience with lengthy discussion has already lead to drastic over-simplification of many, manhy complex issues.

If  others in the room are thinking along these lines, we (and thousands of others) may come to the conclusion that we need some forum like newspapers for in-depth issues exposition. Will it come too late for the newspapers? Who can say?

Elections

Our class meeting began after the panel. After discussion on the best way to proceed (sparked in part by Orv's five-minute speech, which was  a timely call to action urging classmates to stretch their comfort zones and run for an office), nominations were opened for the various offices. A few of us, myself included, had previously declared intent to run, but Orv's talk had, I think, the desired result in making nearly every position a bit of a horse race. The end results were as follows:

President: David B.; Vice-President: your humble scribe; Secretary: Stephanie; Treasurer: Clay; Special Projects Officer: Ginny; Board Rep: Steve B-M; Curriculum Coordinating Committee Representative: Rachel; Graduate Services Committee Representative: Juan.

It was satisfying, of course, to be elected; more so because there was so much participation in the process. I'm convinced that any of us could step forward to lead, and I nearly declined to consider an office to allow someone else to grow into the position, but heavens know I'm comfortable riding herd on groups of volunteers.

Building Rapport with the Media

I pity the speaker assigned to the after-lunch session of any seminar. Fortunately, it was fated neither to Skip, our speaker, or my class as an audience, to snooze. We had an excellent and lively lecture on developing relationships with media personnel and thereby shoring up our own credibility. He had several handouts, including one of strategic planning communications strategy, which was very handy for me, as I'm looking at our SP retreat when I return to work next Tuesday.

Fox Theatre Tour

The afternoon was most pleasantly spent: we were treated by Katherine (Class XXIX) to a tour of the gorgeously renovated Art Deco Fox Theatre, which just re-opened after a $30 million renovation. Mark would have loved it. My jaw frequently dropped at the amazing decor, and I had a special treat at the end: as our tour guide took us backstage, I recognised a very old friend from Portland, Oregon, one of the first staffers to the first board I ever participated on. I lingered for about 15 minutes to learn how she'd come to Spokane, and we exchanged information. She's had some challenges coming to the Fox, but my guess is that she'll do very well there.

Editorial Review

Our final agenda item included auditing the editorial board at the Spokesman Review to see how the subsequent day's issue was put together—a very speedy process indeed.

At last we were cut loose to our own devices. Several classmates decided to go ice-skating, others rented go-karts; my policy group decided to attack our issue over excellent hors d'oeuvres and entrees at the heavenly Blue Fish Grille (accidentally discovered yesterday when Josh and I were looking for lunch. We wrestled with the topic and how to drill down to something achievable. At this juncture, we've decided to do a little research and reconvene, perhaps with a telephone conference.

At not so long last, we returned to the hotel—at least Steve, Josh and I did— and I've enjoyed an hour's quiet time to reflect on a full day. Tomorrow, if I can manage to get there without getting lost again, we recovene at the Farm Credit Bureau for our final session of the year.