November 09, 2003 - 10:57 p.m.
Dallas - The State News came away from the National College Media Convention in this cold and wet central Texas city as winners of "The Pacemaker," which is college journalism's equivalent to the Pulitzer Prize.
The award, presented Saturday, is a big step in the right direction for us and tangible recognition for a semester's worth of hard work that included a war, a riot, a university president's departure and a whole lot of other breaking or challenging news. Beyond recognition for good work, it's recognition of good history. This was the 14th Pacemaker in our newspaper's history. I'm still awed that in January, I'll be taking control of this news organization.
This isn't your average college newspaper, and I've got 14 tough acts to follow.
Dallas itself was interesting. The town is kind of quiet. Most bars and restaurants close their doors around 10 p.m., except on Friday and Saturday when they stay open until midnight. Living in a college town, I forgot there are places where things don't stay open until 2 and 3 a.m.
We saw Dealey Plaza, the site of President John F. Kennedy's assassination. I saw the street, a historical marker on the curb adjacent to where the fatal bullet hit, I walked on the grassy knoll, and even looked out the window from which Lee Harvey Oswald fired the bullets that killed the president. It was incredible. It's very strange to be somewhere so historically significant. You feel like you're in a place that's bigger than yourself --- somewhere that has such significance in American history that you can't believe you're there. I imagine being on Ground Zero evokes an even more intense feeling of the same nature.
On the more fun side of things, we went to Gilly's, a famous cowboy bar, where my friend Kevin (our current editor in chief) rode a mechanical bull. He said it hurt his wrist, because that's really the only thing bearing the weight of your entire body.
The place itself was about the size of four gymnaisiums, had four bars within it and a whole lot of "cowboys." Something tells me none of these men have ever actually been on a cattle drive, but they had the hat thing happening. Our group of Michigan State reporters was definitely the minority in the place.
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