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NEW MEMBERS
SPJ ... TCU j-major Kristiana Heap
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COMINGS & GOINGS
Additions ... at the S-T: Leila Fadel, a Knight Ridder reporter intern in Arlington for the past quarter, now full time in the Northeast newsroom ... Stephanie Allmon, formerly features editor at the Waco Tribune-Herald, and Karalee Miller, a reporter at The Kansas City Star, splitting Class Acts; Allmon led a movement in the Cox chain to get teens into the paper, and Miller interned at the S-T two years ago
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READING MATTERS
"Every Second Counts" /
In 1999, Armstrong made world headlines with the most stunning comeback in the history of sport, winning the Tour de France in the fastest-ever time after battling testicular cancer just 18 months previously. He hasn't lost a Tour de France since. His first book, "It's Not About the Bike," charted his journey back to life; now as he prepares to seek a record-breaking sixth title (and as he rebuts allegations that he has used performance-enhancing drugs), he shares more details of his story, including an Olympic medal and the births of twin daughters Grace and Isabel. Armstrong offers, with typical frankness, his thoughts on competing, winning and failure, and on the challenge of living in the aftermath of cancer and treatment.
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PRESIDENT'S CORNER
Pamela Smith, Greater Fort Worth PRSA
A Web site is a critical component of an organization's communication structure. In many cases, our Web site is the first contact clients and potential customers have with us. What does your Web site say about you? Does it say scatterbrained, disorganized, missionless? Or does it leave the impression of leadership, control and customer service? Greater Fort Worth PRSA wants to answer these questions about its own Web site, fortworthprsa.org.
The site went live in 1999 during the tenure of then-online committee chair Marc Flake. Another member, Beth Park, volunteered her husband, Doug, to create our Web template as a favor to Paul Sturiale, chapter president at the time. Since 2000, PRSA member Jerrod Resweber has volunteered his expertise. He serves as online chair for a yet-to-be-determined term limit!
Over the years, the Web site has served as a means to communicate meeting information, job leads and membership benefits. But five technology years is a long time. We're a small, nonprofit group with one volunteer handling site maintenance; still, as we evaluate our communication tools, it's important that we ask our members, "Is our Web site serving you?"
PRSA member Kelly Keenum is leading a task force to gauge the benefits and impressions our site gives. At her paying job, Kelly manages the online pressroom at Pier 1, so she knows what she's doing. Perhaps our site serves your needs just fine and we can call it a day. Or maybe a major overhaul is needed. Either way, look for an update from Kelly in the coming months. And whether you're a Web guru or a novice, if you have an opinion or would serve on a committee, contact her at (817) 252-8414 or kkeenum@pier1.com.
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PRESIDENT'S COLUMN
Tim Tune, IABC/Fort Worth
Thanks, Lori De La Cruz, for a fabulous year as president. If we could bottle your spirit, we'd outsell Perrier. You're a tough act to follow, and I'm grateful the board gave me this opportunity to try.
So where do we go from here? Expect more lively meetings, coordinated by programs czar Richard Maxwell, among them "How to Build a Better You" on Aug. 3 and "The Other Communication Skill: Effective Listening" on Sept. 7. This fall, IABC/Fort Worth will host a group of South Hills High School students as part of Team Fort Worth, a Fort Worth ISD stay-in-school initiative. Join us in September and be a 60-minute mentor.
We'll expand our work with IABC District 5. Aug. 1 is the early sign-up deadline for the district conference, Sept. 26-28 in Scottsdale, Ariz. Go if you can. Great experience. Back home, the D5 board will meet in Cowtown in early February. We'll help out with hospitality. That's the fun stuff. And as always, we'll find time for side trips like the recent membership drive. Don't be surprised to see Wendy Krizmanic driving around town in her winner's prize-for-a-weekend, a Jaguar X-type. Good girls do finish first.
New fiscal year, new board, same great IABC/Fort Worth. If you're not excited, you're not breathing. But we can fix that, too. Come to the meeting July 6 -- IABC Tuesday -- and we'll start CPR.
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OVER & OUT
John Dycus, Fort Worth SPJ
Let's see those RSVPs for the July 17 splash day at hacienda Hardee. Choice chow, a real body of water to splash in and a promised appearance from members of the Association of Young Journalists. Don't tell me that Grand Prairie just past the county line is too far to drive when we went to Decatur once. Operators are standing by.
Many thanks to O.K. Carter for the fine p. 1 piece on his mentor, George Hawkes. Count Carter among those area pros who cut their teeth at the C-J. Mr. Hawkes was also supremely encouraging to an Arlington State College youth searching for a career path -- I am grateful, to this day. And my, what crystal-clear photos ran in the C-J. They were as static as a bowl of fruit, if I recall, but you could count every wrinkle in a grandmother's grin. ...
SPJ national prez Mac McKerral provides details on the recent board of directors meetings and the decisions that were made at spj.org. The latest budget was adopted, and important governance changes were discussed. While you're at the Web site, note the July 15 application deadline for the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation's $10,000 Eugene S. Pulliam Award, which recognizes an individual, group or organization for work on behalf of First Amendment freedoms. And let's consider a fall junket to New York City, as the 2004 National Convention -- Walter Cronkite! Clarence Page! Bill Moyers! Brian Williams! Jill Abramson! -- is Sept. 9-11 at the Grand Hyatt, Park Avenue at Grand Central Station. Nice digs. Kristin Sullivan and Kay Pirtle will represent the chapter. ...
Closing words: "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard." -- coach Ken Hitchcock in the Dallas Stars' 1999 Stanley Cup championship season, quoted by Randy Galloway ... "Oh my goodness, I cried. I'm still trying to process everything. It really makes me question what I feel about the president. I'm still going to respect him as our president, but it makes me question his motives. Of course, I think that's the whole point of the film, to question his motives. But after watching it, I do question my loyalty to the president. And that's scary for me." -- Monica Moody, 20-year-old restaurant hostess and self-described conservative Republican in Pensacola, Fla., after seeing "Fahrenheit 9/11" ... The book is "sloppy, self-indulgent and often eye-crossingly dull -- the sound of one man prattling away, not for the reader, but for himself and some distant recording angel of history." -- New York Times book reviewer Michiko Kakutani on Bill Clinton's "My Life" ... "Dad was also a deeply, unabashedly religious man. But he never made the fatal mistake of so many politicians wearing his faith on his sleeve to gain political advantage." -- Ron Reagan Jr. ... "He's like an aging relative who refuses to wear a hearing aid. He will lead, he will not bend, and he will do what he thinks right, even if he's the only one who thinks it." -- Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee on Prime Minister Tony Blair ... "It hasn't gone well. We've had almost one year of no progress." -- Army Maj. Gen. Paul D. Eaton, who has left Iraq after spending a year assembling and training the country's 200,000 army, police and civil defense troops ... "You don't have to deserve your mother's love. You have to deserve your father's. He's more particular." -- Robert Frost
