Switching Codes with Eric Deggans

Knight Chair, Journalism and Media Ethics, Washington & Lee University. Critic-at-large, NPR. Author, "Race-Baiter: How Media Wields Dangerous Words..."

[Switching Codes with Eric Deggans @Deggans]

On this Juneteenth, please check out my list of cool TV shows, films and books which capture the holiday, w./work by Ava DuVernay, Ta-Nehisi Coates and Colson Whitehead. Rather than dusty history lessons, these projects offer new ways of thinking on history, race, media, more. https://t.co/m5N95zUlGi

[Switching Codes with Eric Deggans @Deggans]

So sad to GOP politicians find their spine AFTER Trump has crippled their career, instead of standing up to him when Congress could have limited his wasteful, damaging excesses.

[Burgess Everett @burgessev]

New - John Cornyn, unplugged and unleashed in interview w Semafor

- - Says Trump "seems to revel in chaos": Conversations with Trump aren’t “particularly useful because he can and will change his mind depending on the next person he talks to on the phone

- Is hosting a September joint fundraiser for five GOP candidates ... and Ken Paxton isn't one of them: “The president picked Paxton, and he’s got $350 million dollars. I think he can spend his money"

- Threatened to vote against immigration spending bill unless admin released money for border states: “Basically, I told Senator Barrasso and Senator Thune: ‘There’s a price for my vote"

- Is worried about Senate control, questions whether Paxton can win: “I don’t know how Paxton raises the money he’s going to need to run against Talarico ... and while Talarico is definitely a weirdo, you know, take your pick"

- Says Texas GOP leaders are “basically continuing to alienate what I would call traditional conservative Republicans like me, and the people who voted for me. Makes no sense whatsoever"

- Undecided on Blanche and discussed what he would do if Trump asked him directly to break the law. Blanche said that “I hesitate to answer the question, because I don’t want to suggest the president would ever ask me to do anything inappropriate,’” Cornyn recalled. “But he said if [Trump] did, and it was something that he felt like he could not in good conscience do, that he would resign"

[Switching Codes with Eric Deggans @Deggans]

Sigh.

[James Tate @JamesTate121]

Step 1: Remove filters in Reflecting Pool because Obama put them in.
Step 2: Give your criminal neighbor who runs "Greenwater Services" a $20 million no-bid contract to paint the pool.
Step 3: Fill the pool with water from the Potomac River, the phosphates from which cause algae blooms.
Step 4: Freshly sealed pool and extreme heat result in a super scum event
Step 5: Direct National Park Service to dump hydrogen peroxide into the pool which causes the paint to peel.
Step 5: Deploy US National Guard to stop people from taking photos of the swamp as a perfect metaphor for the administration.
Step 6: Blame someone else.

[Switching Codes with Eric Deggans @Deggans]

Wow…

[Jeff Barker @JeffBarkermedia]

I’ve resigned from The Baltimore Sun after 25 years of politics and sports reporting. I was proud to have been there during a long period when our reporting followed the facts wherever they happened to lead. I’m not saying anything readers can’t see for themselves, but The Sun has changed since its purchase by David Smith, executive chairman of the Sinclair Broadcast Group. I no longer fit there. I’m grateful to the sources whose trust enabled me to report responsibly, and to the readers who supported our work. I’m exploring new opportunities inside and outside journalism. My DMs are open.

[Switching Codes with Eric Deggans @Deggans]

When people really don’t care about something, they ignore it. You obviously care quite a lot about this, which only highlights how important the holiday is…thanks!

[Switching Codes with Eric Deggans @Deggans]

Voting for Emmy nominations ends Monday. Which makes this a perfect time to ask: What makes a truly superior TV show nowadays, when there is so much TV around? Here's my answer, with references to Widow's Bay, Margo's Got Money Troubles, Shrinking, Stephen Colbert and more: https://t.co/V7STss05aB

[Switching Codes with Eric Deggans @Deggans]

For Father’s Day, I’m resurfacing a piece I wrote last year on how my greatest lessons about being a father have come from two sources: my own children, and television shows. READ: https://t.co/9gVdZff5iP

[Switching Codes with Eric Deggans @Deggans]

As Hollywood mourns the death of legendary sitcom director James Burrows, who helmed everything from Taxi and Cheers to Paramount’s Frasier, I’m resurfacing an interview I did w/him for KCRW’s The Business. He spoke on the Frasier revival and whether sitcom-style comedy could survive in thew age of streaming. LISTEN: https://t.co/SckscunQ3o

[Switching Codes with Eric Deggans @Deggans]

NPR used to feature an array of Black staffers reading the Emancipation Proclamation for Juneteenth. I'm not sure if it is happening today. But in case it isn't, here's a link to hear me and several other staffers of color performing the reading from 2020: https://t.co/jFQB4nItiO

[Switching Codes with Eric Deggans @Deggans]

Word.

[Kim @KimsyWhimsy79]

I’m gonna go ahead and say THIS is Americas 250th celebration. ❤️ 🇺🇸

[Switching Codes with Eric Deggans @Deggans]

Imagine that.

[Jake Tapper 🦅 @jaketapper]

NYT: A major flu outbreak has sickened nearly 160 troops at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas weeks after Defense Secretary Hegseth announced that U.S. troops would no longer be required to be vaccinated for the flu, defense officials said.

https://t.co/fFIt8Mhyzg

[Switching Codes with Eric Deggans @Deggans]

Lol.

[Hoodlum 🇺🇸 @NotHoodlum]

“The reflecting pool is open and everyone is having a wonderful time.”

[Switching Codes with Eric Deggans @Deggans]

Won’t last.

[Decoding Fox News @DecodingFoxNews]

When Trump loses Fox News…

[Switching Codes with Eric Deggans @Deggans]

You missed the part where a syncophantic, propagandistic media structure pretends that whatever harebrained idea Trump comes up with actually worked, despite actual facts. Otherwise, no notes. LOL.

[Sam Stein @samstein]

The algae infested reflecting pool is a metaphor

[Switching Codes with Eric Deggans @Deggans]

Wow. This is amazing advice.

[Cheo Hodari Coker @cheo_coker]

My advice? Fuck a deck. I'm all decked out. Write an outline and sit down and write the script.

The average script page is 225 words. Four pages a day for 12 days, you have a television script. Add another fifteen days, you have a feature. And you're not done. Writing is rewriting. Put it away for another week, and come back with new eyes. I'm not saying it will be any good. Not yet. But it's a start.

Not telling you anything I'm not also doing.

If you put all that energy into a deck and it doesn't sell ---and trust me, most don't, all you have is a nice brochure. At least with a spec, you have something to show for it. Something you can build on.

Stop making excuses. Rip the band-aid off. Working full time? Toni Morrison got up at 3:45 am., wrote from 4 to 6, and then took her kids to school, and then edited books full time. And still managed to write Song Of Solomon, the Bluest Eye, and constant other classics while waiting for her shot.

Don't have a computer? Tarantino, Spike Lee, and Stallone all write by hand, which is something I've gone back to. Moleskine and Paper Mate markers. No distractions, you can do it a anywhere, and when you retype, gives you a second bite at the apple.

(Photograph your pages. If you lose your notebook or spill coffee on it, that's all she wrote.)

Don't start with four pages. Start with one. Fifteen minutes -- you spend longer in the shower, brushing your teeth, and scrolling.

I wish I could give you a shortcut, but I can't. Writing sucks. No way around that. If you box, no one else gonna put in the roadwork, skip rope, hit the bag, or get punched in the face for you. That's your job.

Everybody wants a hug, and to be told it's all going to be okay, and I can't tell you that. But what I can tell you is no unwritten script ever gets sold.

As for me? I've got miles to run and pages to hit. Keep going....Always Forward, Forward Always...

[Switching Codes with Eric Deggans @Deggans]

Can't help getting excited for the next Spider-Man movie after watching this amazing trailer for Brand New Day. Somehow, they've figured how to keep evolving a key superhero franchise in bold new ways, even as other franchises around it falter. WATCH: https://t.co/nccaijndlg

[Switching Codes with Eric Deggans @Deggans]

True. I don’t think I’ve missed a flight in 15 years.

[Kaprice @Kaprice777]

@abylurv Idk how yall miss flights my people always say arrive 2 hours early no matter what time it is

[Switching Codes with Eric Deggans @Deggans]

Word.

[Luke Johnson 🇺🇸 @Orly_licious]

Welcome back, #KennedyCenter!

[Switching Codes with Eric Deggans @Deggans]

Yup.

[Molly Jong-Fast @MollyJongFast]

Live your life so people don’t celebrate when they take your name off things

[Switching Codes with Eric Deggans @Deggans]

Back when I was TV critic for the St. Petersburg Times/Tampa Bay Times, Gene Shalit - who had a soft spot for the paper - would occasionally send notes when I wrote something he liked. RIP to a fun, down to earth critic. https://t.co/PaSbuVoyMi