I was discussing this with friends on Facebook, and my dear sister could not fathom such an emotion. Does it mean “Misery loves company?” she commented about “Shadenfreude.”

“No, it’s more like being happy for someone else’s misfortunes. A very nasty kind of thing,” my high school chum, Gaye Spetka had to spell it out again for my incredulous sibling. I’m not sure yet that my sis was receiving the signals.

I love my sister’s innocence. Growing up under the same roof as preacher’s kids, we had been taught the Greek word for “Agape” love, another word for which there is no English parallel. We had learned that that particular kind of love privileges the good of others above your own. This highest kind of love is the opposite of “Shadenfreude,” as it turns out, and it was the standard to follow, according to many a pulpiteer under whom my sisters and I sat.

Not a bad standard, I think, not at all, though I have to admit, “Shadenfreude” comes much more naturally to most of us. Confound our human nature. I am grateful for those nouns that articulate a better way.

When Tolkien started a reading club called the Coalbiters at Oxford University, he was fostering an incendiary fellowship. The word “coalbiter” claims roots in Iceland where it was used for those who stood so close to the fire in winter that they could bite the coal.   At the Coalbiters’ gatherings of Oxford, univeristy dons read and discussed Icelandic sagas with each other. This is where Tolkien and Lewis began to meet regularly, a friendship that would nurture the creation of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia.

Perhaps another reason Tolkien chose this title for the club was that “coalbiter” also names a host of reluctant heroes in the Old Norse sagas, characters who have greatness thrust upon them. This genre of hero starts off weak, maybe even pathetic, then rises to perform great deeds. Perhaps as writer Peter Hallberg has noted, Tolkien’s Bilbo Baggins, Frodo and Sam were all coalbiters in their own right.

Students today flock to campuses seeking fellowship that will light their vision for a future. To all, I say, don’t be afraid. You can’t stand too close to the fire.

Always some trinity of wisdom,
Three sages, looking for the
Truth, who know that Herod’s
‘Scribes and priest hold the truth
They refuse to tell…

Always some Mary and Joseph
Moving inside us, the most
Unlikely couple to have the divine
Child who changes every life
Who touches Him…

And some manger, some unlooked
For spot to be the safest
And humblest birthplace
The divine born among
Cattle and sheep and donkeys
And two bewildered parents
With shepherds running to see if
The news the angels sang is true…

Always, all the time
This is happening in me, in you,
In everyone we know, in everyone
We see — this Herod claim
Of kingship, this divine child whose
Presence usurps all authority,
And the haunting sense we
Are in the story and must decide
What we are to do.

“Would you like to put together a journalism resource site?” he asked me. We agreed to team up for the project.

Three months later and raring to go live, we reviewed the site’s design.

Research and networking sites, videos and writing exercises are among the resources aggregated on this site. You will find PVCC’s Journalism Web page under “Research Guides” on the library home page. Check it out at http://paradisevalley.libguides.com/journalism .

After reviewing several texts in search of powerful voices, I have found The One. What does it have that I like?

• mastery of classic  journalism,
• realism about how the industry now struggles,
• a prophetic voice pointing the way to the future.

Not least of all, I like that it has a copyright date of 2010. The text is “Telling The Story” by the Missouri Group comprised of professors Brian Brooks, George Kennedy, Daryl Moen and Don Ranly of the University of Missouri at Columbia’s School of Journalism, long recognized as a leader in this field. I’m excited about revamping the News Writing course with the support of this new text.

Puma Press world news editor, Miguel Saucedo, told this.

This Monday, Feb. 8, Saucedo pitched a story idea in the ABC15 newsroom at the start of the day.  Saucedo had read in “The New York Times” that the Boy Scouts were recruiting Hispanic children across  the nation. He wondered what the scouts were doing in Arizona.

Forewarned by fellow student and news editor, Carmela Kelly, Saucedo had come to the conference table prepared.

As it happens on days when unexpected grace excites a blush, Monday was also the day in Phoenix when the Boy Scouts of America was celebrating its 100th anniversary at the Arizona State Capitol. Vetscher and Saucedo  were there, camera in hand, and the rest is broadcast history.

These students are looking toward opportunity. Attendance at the first two staff meetings has ranged over 25. The press has scheduled 57 articles for the March issues of the Puma Press and Lynx. New classes have filled, and the distribution of enrollment across the classes is heartening:

News Writing—13,
Feature Writing/Magazine Article Writing—23,
Writing for Online Media—13,
Broadcast Writing—14,
News Production and Special Projects—13.

Meanwhile, seasoned students in the program are exploring freelance opportunities in the new marketplace. Lifestyle editor, Sandra Hoopes, is successfully exploring food publishing markets. Copyeditor, Janice Semmel, is writing for the Catholic Sun Times and has recently published with North Central News.

Add to that the cool accomplishment of  former web editor, Amanda Jaskuski, who received a unanimous pass on her portfolio from the jury of PVCC’s advisory council in December.

My view? Publishing has never been so exciting.

When I first began advising PVCC’s journalism program, the press published on four print pages.  The staff comprised nine students in JRN201, News Writing.  We shared a computer and desk with Student Life, and we pasted up pages for the printer while we scrambled to learn QuarkExpress, so that we could do the layout graphically, sometimes working at school until the wee hours of the morning.

It was an exciting time.  Within three semesters, we went from four to 24 pages and incorporated a magazine in the school’s student publication. With the support of then president, Gina Kranitz; then dean of student services, Paul Dale; then associate dean of instruction, Mary Lou Mosley; then English chair, Jack Sexton; and later, current chair, John Nelson, the press gained a newsroom and developed the Occupational Journalism Certificate Program.

However, no one was more crucial in this enterprise than the students. The Puma Press’ first editors led the press forward as pioneers. Timothy Wooten, Kenneth Overton and Patricia Whitney each brought a unique energy to the press that set the pace for student publishing at PVCC.

Last week, I had a chance to visit with two of these three. Pat Whitney and her husband Herb, who formerly taught Media and Society at PVCC, met my husband and I for lunch while vacationing for the holidays in Phoenix.  Pat now writes for The Madison Courier in Madison, Indiana. She went through PVCC before the journalism certificate became available in 2005, but she took every journalism class she could and emerged from college ready to take a job in the industry.

Overton stopped by my office last week, too, making it feel like old home week. Overton is a paramedic with the Phoenix Fire Department. That elite group of firefighters welcomed him, vetted him and put him to work in a job he loves and has chosen to keep, despite an offer to write for TMZ. Overton is now interning as an instructor at PVCC with the plan to teach paramedics.

Here’s what Overton has to say about PVCC’s journalism program:

Students give to the press, forging the way forward, and the press gives back.

• Blogging,
• Tweeting stories,
• Compiling slideshows,
• Writing hard copy stories and columns,
• Producing video reports,
• Copyediting,
• Starting a Puma Press Twitter Page,
• Maintaining web pages,
• Laying out hard copy pages,
• Developing an editors’ profile page,
• Being on call to shoot photos,
• Running polls online.

Whew!  Each semester, Puma Press editors take the press to a new high.

Go press!

Sadly, we are saying good-bye to John Dill, Charity Parker, Femi Olanubi, Amanda Jaskulski and Jorge Melchor; and Kyle Porter is drawing back from the load of editor-in-chief to do an internship.

Josselyn Berry will be moving into the editor-in-chief position, Tegan McRae will become blogging editor, Britnee Flood will take over Community, and Rio Christoffersen will edit the Contemporary Culture pages.

While it is exciting to see students move to new things, it is also difficult to let those who are leaving go. All departing editors, I hope you will continue publishing with the Puma Press and linking your blogs to the press’ blog page.

Fortunately, we have a strong team of editors returning, and new editors Travis Duprey, Britnee Flood, Kristen Vidulich and Ginger Hoil are joining the team. We are also expanding the web team in the wake of Jaskulski’s departure and will be moving to publish stories routinely on a schedule between traditional, hard copy deadlines. Plus, we plan to coordinate publishing efforts with the Writing for Online Media and Broadcast Writing classes.

Here’s the line up of 16 editors plus the web team for Spring 2010:

Web Team:
Kyle Porter
Forrest Rossi
Akemi Kunugi
Janice Semmel
Travis Duprey

Support Editors:
Copyeditor—Janice Semmel
Photo Editors—Morgan Jacobs and Ginger Hoil
Blogging Editor—Tegan McRae
Graphics Editor—Akemi Kunugi

Puma Press Editors:
Editor-in-chief—Josselyn Berry
News Editor—Carmela Kelly
World News Editor—Miguel Saucedo
State News Editor—Nathan King
Environment Editor—Lisa Racz
Community Editor—Britnee Flood
Sports Editor—Trey Warren
Political Editor—Travis Duprey

Lynx Editors:
Contemporary Culture Editor—Rio Christoffersen
Fine Arts—Kristen Vidulich
Lifestyle—Sandra Hoopes

Go press!