I’m sure every newsroom has one of those observant types. Ours sits behind me and apparently me being quiet in the newsroom is grounds for them to ask me if I’m okay.
I appreciate the kind notion, but now I realize that “normal” is when I spew a certain decibel of noise.
Why was I quiet this morning? I spent an ungodly amount of time fumbling through the AP Stylebook to double check measurement rules.
I couldn’t find it.
7. clean up (verb); cleanup (noun and adjective): We clean up the yard after winter. I hit cleanup in tonight’s game.
What would I do without my AP Stylebook? This came out just in time for all those upcoming Spokane River cleanups. At least I now know there is no hyphen in cleanup.
My Very First AP Wire Hit
Charlie wouldn’t understand the festivities happening around him because he’s a wild animal, a red-tail hawk eying the room in a way one does to understand their surroundings and survive.
He’s the oldest living red-tail hawk in the entire world as defined in the longevity records by falconers. His home is Washington State University with the Raptor Club. Calculations have estimated his age to equal about 234 human years.
If a human being lived 234 years, they’d been born just after the signing of the United State’s Declaration of Independence. They’d live through one civil and two world wars. They’d see a man walk on the moon.
A certain birthday boy, Charlie, did not witness all those things, but this is just an illustration to say how old he is. It was his 31st birthday on Thursday and he was surrounded by friends and acquaintances.
I say friends because the members of the Washington State University Raptor Club love him. His fellow birds really aren’t social so let’s call them acquaintances.
Next thing I know, the story was picked up by the AP. A fellow producer texted me while I was in the grocery store taking pictures of a dead fly on a package of pickled radishes. I may or may not have jumped up and down.
PULLMAN, Wash. - A 31-year-old red tail hawk living in Washington State University’s raptor club may be the oldest of his kind.
KXLY TV reports that Charlie the hawk’s handlers celebrated his birthday Friday. They calculate that at 31, Charlie has lived the equivalent of about 234 human years.
This is a career first for me. Excuse me while I twirl.
I saw my first revamped AP logo in the wild. I was at the Spokane County fairgrounds doing a story on horses and sheep available for adoption. A woman who owns a riding school in North Spokane stopped by to look at some horses. She had already adopted five.
That’s when I saw the logo on her hat. It turns out she actually works for the AP locally doing sport scores.
Oh, and there’s a horse right behind her.
But… My coveted AP canteen now has an old logo. Does this mean AP will send me a new one?
Nicole Hensley is a reporter at The Spokesman Review.
I'm currently in Spokane, Wash., origins in Western Washington, and Brooklyn-bound in May/June.
Email sweet story ideas about breaking news or public safety to nicoleh@spokesman.com.
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