By Lydia Reeves Timmins, Temple University

Spring has finally come to my part of the world. I can tell because not only are there blue skies, birds singing and flowers blooming… my students seem unable to get to class at the actual beginning of class. Plus, they spend a lot of time peering out the window (we’re in the basement) trying to get a glimpse of the outdoors.

It’s interesting how the experiences and perceptions of being a student revolve around a set school year—with holidays, breaks and everything else built into the calendar. After being in the working world, with no holidays and just a few weeks of vacation in the year, you forget what it was like to have that structure. I have to admit, I’m liking it!

My friend from the assignment desk stopped by to see me the other day. As I was giving her directions, I told her my office number. She asked if she could walk in and I said sure, it’s my office. Silence. Then “Wait—you have a door? With a key? And you could have a phone conversation and no one listens in?!” An amazing thing, yes it is. I’m sure my office situation will be the talk of the newsroom!

I just received my copy of the book I’ll be using to teach my TV writing class in a few weeks. Wow. It’s really strange to see what we do laid out methodically and, well, explained in an academic way. My first reaction was negative—how can the author reduce my craft to a step-by-step process? And be smug about it? But after calming down, I realized that the old learn-by-doing, seat-of-your-pants approach to news really doesn’t serve anyone well. If we want to regain the trust and respect of news consumers, we do need to start having visible processes and standards that we follow, and that we can also explain or defend to critics.

Like those doggone academics.