Keith B. Darrell's Blog, page 54

Execution Vigil

(This post is a continuation of the previous post, chronicling my adventures as a reporter for a small town country newspaper)



One of my favorite stories Iwrote for the High Springs Herald was the John Spenkelink execution vigil coverage.I traveled to Florida State Prison in Starke. It was an exciting story tocover. It was the second execution in the United States since the Supreme Courtruled executions were not a violation of the Eighth Amendment's ban on crueland unusual punishment. Prior...

Sally the Cow

(This post is a continuation of the previous post, chronicling my adventures as a reporter for a small town country newspaper)
High Springs Herald Publisher and Editor Bob Sharkey kept a police radio mountedin the corner of the room, on the ground floor of his two-story home that served as the offices of the weekly paper. One evening, about a week after my 20thbirthday, I was sitting in the newspaper office chatting with a local teenagerwho had dropped by. He was what folks back home would...

Country Journalism

(This post is a continuation of the previous post)
I was a 19-year-old journalismstudent at the University of Florida when I talked my Journalism departmenthead John Griffith into getting me an internship with the High Springs Herald.O.K., it didn't take a lot of convincing; most journalism students wrotefulltime for the Independent Florida Alligator, the off-campus school newspaperand the rest, like myself, would occasionally freelance for the GainesvilleSun, the city's local newspaper. Few...

The Blue Max

(This post is a continuation of the previous post)
I wrote feature articles for the community college general feature magazine but I desperately wanted to write for the school newspaper. After all, the excitement of journalism was in hard news, not feature writing. Hildy Johnson never wrote features! But it took six months for me to get a shot at writing for the school paper. I didn't get along with Max, mostly because he didn't care for me. It was more than a personality conflict. When the...

Adventures of A Student Journalist

(This post is a continuation of the previous post)
The community college journalismdepartment was housed in Building 80. The single floor structure was dividedinto newspaper publishing and magazine publishing. The realm of the schoolnewspaper was ruled by a gruff and intimidating white-haired man named Max,while an affable woman named Betty oversaw production of the three schoolmagazines — an orientation magazine for new students; a literarymagazine; and a general feature magazine. Students...

Cub

(This post is a continuation of the previous post)

"And don't call me 'Chief'!" John Hamilton, in his role asPerry White, editor of The Daily Planet, would scream after cub reporter JimmyOlsen, played by actor Jack Larson in " The Adventures of Superman ". I had noidea what a "cub" reporter was, but while other kids dreamed of donning tightsand a red cape (or, in a pinch, a red bath towel secured around the neck by asafety pin) and becoming Superman, I knew that the real heroes of the...

Lunch With Stallion

Over lunch with my friend Stallion, I announced I wanted towrite my memoirs of my brief years in journalism.
Stallion looked up from his hamburger, puzzled. "Why?"
I grimaced. "Why not? I covered some fascinating events andinterviewed many interesting people. I covered the state's first execution andJimmy Carter's presidential campaign. I had lunch with Zsa Zsa Gabor, spent anentire day with Vincent Price, and another with Steve Cauthen before he won theTriple Crown. I interviewed Gene...

What Makes A Fictional Character Memorable?

What makes a fictional character memorable?

I think the character has to have a quirkiness (Randle McMurphy in Ken Kessey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; the misogynistic, conceited Sherlock Holmes; or any of the supporting characters in books like Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series), strong motivation (Inspector Javert's unyielding pursuit of Valjean in Victor Hugo's Les Miserables or Captain Ahab's relentless quest for Moby Dick)...

Behind "The Lobster Thriller"

Searching for new markets to sell my short stories to, Istumbled across an odd little e-zine called The Journal of UnlikelyEntomology. I perused their submission requirements, mentally checking offwhich ones I met. Speculative fiction? Check. Weird stories? Check.Avant-garde? Check. Reprints? Check. "Beautifully written fiction, charactersthat grab us by the throats and refuse to let go until their stories have beentold, worlds that draw us in and demand to be explored?" Check. Bugs? WTF ?
Ah...

Hair - the Age of Aquarius

I was at the barber shop the other day and I ran into a guywho...  what's that? OK, you're right. Iadmit it: I haven't been to a barber shop since I turned 14 and had my last50-cent haircut. The Vitalis, greased back wet look was on the way out and the blown-dry"dry look" was in vogue, so with the start of junior high, Iconvinced my mother to do what all the cool kids at school were doing and havemy hair not cut by Sam the barber but instead coiffed by a men's hair stylist.
The storefront...