Arizona « Patricia Lapadula

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Something about hockey

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

Working for a major newspaper has never been about the perks for the little guy or gal. I’ve had some great opportunities, to be sure, like photographing concerts, and that fun SkyCycle project. But there have never been any real perks. As in, things you get to do that are fun and great without it being related to a project you’re working on.

This weekend, finally (and ironically), a perk trickled down my way.

My friend Tyler down in Sports was given some comp “luxury suite” tickets for the Coyotes-New York Ranger’s game. It was then that I realized I’ve never been to a hockey game, let alone watched it from a nice, lux suite.

The view was fantastic.

It’s the only way to watch a game!

Right below us on the stands, a teenager got hit by a puck, and was spitting blood and, apparently, some teeth. No thanks.

You don’t need to understand hockey to be truly amazed by those guys out there. Seeing them skate, move, run, stop, turn around, push each other, ALL while on ice, is ridiculous. I have a hard time doing any of those on solid ground. They make you forget they’re on this hard, unforgiving, slippery surface.

Coyotes win 3-2. They were leading 3-0 most of the game, but the Rangers stepped it up toward the end and almost tied it.

I think I would go to more sporting events if I got invited to more suites.

Posted in Arizona, Sports | 3 Comments »

Arizona Storm

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

A storm of biblical proportions (well, at least by Arizona standards) has hit the entire state. Snow is blanketing the north part of Arizona, while unrelenting rain continues to soak the Phoenix metro area.

Here are just a few shots I managed throughout the day with my point-and-shoot camera.

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As you can see, I’ve got a re-design going on around here, so bare with me while I finalize everything.

Posted in Arizona, Photography | No Comments »

Viewpoints illustration

Monday, January 11th, 2010

A while ago, the Daily Show did a hilarious segment about how the state of Arizona was going to sell its Capitol and other government buildings (and then lease them back) in order to crawl out of their enormous budget deficit.

Then a few weeks ago, we were presented with the idea of doing some sort of illustration about the topic, mainly emphasizing what a big mess Arizona lawmakers have on their hands. After several meetings in which a variety of ideas were tossed around, @jacysmith suggested doing a puzzle. After all, it’s literally puzzling how the state will ever figure out its budget. The idea just grew from there, and the whole package ended up having several components with the same ‘puzzle’ theme.

I did a puzzle box for the cover of the section while Jacy took the helm on the inside puzzle. Here’s what the front of the section looked like…

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And here’s the inside puzzle. Click on the thumbnail below to see a larger version.

Posted in Arizona, Graphics | 4 Comments »

Tales from the inbox

Saturday, January 2nd, 2010

Today I received an email from former co-worker Mark Waters, who happens to be one of the countless journalist laid off in 2009.

Early on Friday morning, a family’s Mesa home burned down. Tragic, of course, but it’s good to know that everyone got out safe thanks to smoke detectors. If anyone is interested in helping, click here to go to their church’s website, which is accepting donations for the family.

This post though, is not about the fire.

It’s about the email from Mark (whose house is in close proximity to the fire) that made me think and, yes, laugh. With his permission, I’m sharing it with you…

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“Did you hear about the house fire in Mesa today? That 2-story house that burned down is, ’scuse me, was right behind our house.

The police woke us up at 5 am and told us to get out. At one point, we had a ladder truck in front of our house shooting water over our house.

And later, Javier Soto from Channel 3 did three live reports from my ladder in our backyard.

I gave him my resume.”

Despite the fact the someone’s house burning down is not funny at all, I could not stop laughing picturing the scene, in which Mark networks with the TV station people and whips out his resume as flames rage in the background.

And who can blame him?

It’s such a casual email, but I found it to be a HUGE reflection of the times, and declining opportunities in the media industry, in which you gotta do what you gotta do, even if, literally, the building is on fire.

Everyone always says “network, network, network”, and any out-of-work journalist would have jumped at the opportunity to network in a situation like this one, where several members of the media have descended into your own house.

But this whole situation isn’t necessarily about journalists in particular, but about every single person out there who, through no fault of their own, find themselves unemployed. I give props to Mark for not letting the towering flames distract him from his goal to network and get back out there into the profession he loves.

“I got them coffee and water in between reports … talked quite a bit about how the economy has impacted broadcast journalism.”

As the economy improves, I have no doubts that there are plenty of employers out there who will see in Mark the kind of hard, dedicated worker who, despite having no immediate benefit, continues to be passionate about getting the stories out to audiences, whether it’s with video, graphics, multimedia, or just providing the ladder.