Where are all those people going?

Saturday in the newsroom is a different pace. It’s slow. It’s quiet. The phone’s not for me. It’s nothing like sunrise to midnight during the week, when news in all its forms is calling, e-mailing, tweeting, faxing. You name it and someone has something important to give to the newspaper. It’s why most of us work here. Always bustling. Never dull.
But Saturdays are an opportunity to catch up on all those things that there just isn’t time for during the week. So that’s what I was doing when I decided a cafe mocha from Starbucks would be just about perfect. The Starbucks in Target is about four blocks away. I knew from the beginning that proximity this close to a Starbucks was going to test my willpower, of which I have none.
But I had just enough left on a birthday gift card from my sister to have a mocha on this Saturday so it was off to Target for me. I take a path that puts me into the mall parking lot on the theater side. There I spy a line of cars snaking around the mall to the left, on the outer rim of the parking lot, disappearing into the distance near the new Holiday Inn Express.
I have to zig and zag through the mall parking lot to avoid getting into that line to who knows where. It reminded me of those lines for ice and water after Hurricane Rita, blocks and block long of people patiently waiting, inching toward the goal. In this line people were cordial at intersections, no breaking or honking. They let me slip through and take the right to get to Target without so much as a raised fist for breaking in, then breaking out, of their queue.
Craning my neck to see the destination of the line while walking through the parking lot, I could tell they were bypassing the hotel and continuing along the edge of the parking lot, now parallel with U.S. 69.
Well first things first, so into Starbucks I went to get my mocha. The coffee girl had me fixed up quick as always, yes whipped cream. So now back to the car to find the reason for this anaconda of a line. I angled across from Target toward Penney’s, looking for the end of the line. And there is was, where they were all going. It was the Shred It and Forget It truck.
All these people had documents that needed to be shredded and disposed of. Whew. A mile-long line of cars of people willing to take that trouble to avoid identity theft. The Better Business Bureau, which sponsors the shred it event, can be sure they are offering a service people want.
Now, if I can just get myself and my mocha back through that mass of people and resume my Saturday at the office.
Roger Cowles is editor of The Port Arthur News. Contact him at rcowles@panews.com.

Other ways to deliver the news

People reading this blog entry online are probably familiar with many of the ways news is being delivered these days. Those reading it in the newspaper, maybe not so much.
One fun way for news to be delivered in short little bursts, known as tweets, is Twitter. The Port Arthur News has long had a Twitter account — @panews (the at sign is how Twitter accounts are addressed) — and all the stories that are posted on panews.com are “tweeted.” The tweet consists of a headline and a link back to the story on the Web page. So anyone who receives the breaking news on Twitter — such as “Pat Knight, son of legendary basketball coach Bob Knight, hired by Lamar University” — can go with one click to the Web page and read the entire story.
That’s the way lots of people are getting their news these days. They “follow” various people and news organizations. They scroll through the tweets on their smart phones. Once they find something that interests them, such as the headline about the new coach at Lamar, they click on the link and read the full story.
Twitter is also being used to provide live coverage of events. We did our first live coverage, complete with photos, on Wednesday from the Port Arthur Public School Foundation’s State of the School Luncheon. Anyone who was following @rogercowles, and I know at least my sons and a few other people were, received real time reports from the event, including photos of the student jazz band that performed. They were excellent, by the way.
Follow us on Twitter @panews for instant delivery of the headlines on panews.com. Follow @rogercowles and I’ll report on events I attend. We are encouraging (read that gently requiring) other reporters to dabble in the new media too.
If Twitter or other new media are not your regular way of getting news yet, you may be surprised by how it begins to sneak into your life. We’ll be out there in cyberspace with your news whenever you’re ready.
Roger Cowles is editor of The Port Arthur News. Contact him at rcowles@panews.com.