Speed Scrabble

Bear

Our neighbor Avery loves animals. About three months ago, as she was working at Make A Wish Foundation (which has nothing to do with animals), a distraught woman called and told her that she had a dog in her backyard but wasn't able to take care of it. Avery, went over to the woman's house, and found Bear tied up in the backyard in August heat with no shade. He was covered with probably over 100 fully engorged ticks. Bear's owner, who was blind and couldn't take care of her dog, let Avery take him, as she promised to find him a new home. This is how Bear ended up in our backyard. And as they say, the rest is history. We are pleased to introduce the newest member of the McWhorter family.

I Got a Job

Since the middle of August, I have been working as the director of an after-school program called Kids' Involvement Network here in San Antonio. The program is affiliated with the North East Independent School District, and the site I direct is at Walzem Elementary School. It has definitely been a huge challenge and a very humbling experience. It is also one of the reasons I have been sadly absent from this blog. This photo was taken the morning of my interview.

My Wife

June 5, 2010.
Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey McWhorter.
I am so thankful for her.
Photo by Bryant Haertlein.
More photos by Sara Young, Peter Franklin and Bryant can be found here.

Backlog: January 25, 2007

This picture was my very first image to run in a newspaper. It was actually much smaller than you see it on your screen. I think it was one column width over on the far left side of PI, but it was in there. And it was in COLOR! It was my first assignment of my first tryout day of my first year at The Daily Texan. The story was about student government's campaign for tax-free textbooks. They had a table set up spread with Ramen noodles and a poster set up with the question posted, "Where will you spend the money save on textbooks?" I wonder if they ever got this passed.

I also remember that guy in the photo - Mr. Zach C. Hall. He was all over the place. When you shoot for the Texan, you start seeing the same few involved people rather frequently. Democratic state rep Mark Strama was another one of these guys.

Speaking of expensive textbooks, Kelly and I were looking at an article in the Alcalde, the UT alumni magazine (since we are old alumni now), about the possibility of digital textbooks. There is actually a small school in Pennsylvania that has already purchased iPads for their entire student body. Interesting.

Lesson #2: Always keep names

Having just moved to San Antonio, I have been working on getting together my portfolio and organizing it into a polished and presentable form. In this process, I have of course been writing and re-writing cutlines (captions). I have many photos that I took while at the Texan that I would consider using in my portfolio, but I no longer have caption information for them. I have been going on some amazing investigative journeys trying to track down these names. This photo was actually a success story:
I emailed the University of Colorado band director and asked him the name of this student and what instrument he was playing. He emailed me back the information within 15 minutes.

This photo, on the other hand, has given me a bit more trouble:
I took this picture right before the Fiesta Bowl in January 2009 in Glendale, Arizona. For some reason, probably because I thought he might eat me, I didn't get his name. So I summoned my Sherlock Holmes powers and came up with the idea of posting it on an Ohio State Buckeyes fan forum and asking if anyone knew the guy's name. To my surprise, a lot of people knew his name. It's actually Dwight Schrute. It's also Bill Brasky, Kirk Herbstreit and Buck-i-guy.

Lesson learned: when you get names, write them down. With a pen. On something more substantial than a reporter's pad. When you upload, put the caption in the IPTC info immediately, and not just for the photo that's running. Do it for any photo you consider to be good. You don't have to write an entire caption, just basic info like names and titles in case you have to come back and use it later. It may seem like a lot of work at the time, but it will save you a lot more work two years later when you are emailing the Austin Republican Women to figure out who the heck these ladies are:

Lesson #1: Always get names

A University of Texas maintenance worker cleans chairs that have been set up for 40 Acres Fest, an annual festival held on the South Mall of the UT campus, on April 12, 2007.

This guy's name is not "A University of Texas maintenance worker."

Always get names. You'll need them later.