Dirty little secret…again
It’s confession time in MattDanTodd Land, I guess.
During my undergrad days, I encountered a journalism professor who drove many students nuts. He taught most of my core communications classes, so I came to know him pretty well. He would challenge me to think about how the role of mass media is shaping not just pop culture, but also the spiritual/religious culture as well. He introduced me to such works as Amusing Ourselves to Death, Roaring Lambs, and All God’s Children and Blue Suede Shoes.
In his previous life before teaching, he was a journalist. Like most journalists, he came across as a little arrogant. I really don’t think he was or is. I’ve come to realize that it comes with the territory. In order to get the facts and the quotes you need, you have to be confident in yourself and your abilities. That appears, at times, to be cockiness when it’s really not as prideful as many would think. It’s just the nature of the beast. Unfortunately, it turned off some students. He never turned me off, though. Those students missed out, I believe, on being stretched by a good teacher.
All professors have their quirks, I guess.
A Baptist-turned-Orthodox (by way of the Episcopal Church when I had him as a prof.), guitar playing, Amish-looking, reporting, U2 fan has to have some quirks, doesn’t he? What’s not to love?
If asked shortly after graduation what professor had the most impact on my career as a student, Terry Mattingly probably would not have come to mind. Nothing personal, it just wouldn’t have been the assumed response. Over the years, however, I have found myself wrestling with questions that he asked during my classes, wondering what the role of a Christian should be in every day life, and saying aloud, “I wonder what Mattingly would say about this.” I don’t really ask that about any other professor. He made more of an impact on my philosophy of ministry than the Bible faculty did. Even some of my postings in MattDanTodd Land have been influenced by him. I have discovered his most recent venture into cyberspace (he was all gung-ho about the church’s use of Internet technology – back before it really took off) and can now read his blog to see what his opinions really are on those same issues I would wonder about. Ain’t technology grand?
He’s still teaching, but now he’s in Washington, D.C., which is where he should be. If any Christian is going to really learn journalism, that student needs to be in the heart of it all – the District. Thank God for teachers like Mattingly, who challenge you to move outside of your comfort zone and display Christ in every aspect of life. Thank God for teachers like Mattingly who carry on, even when current students give him grief. They usually come around.
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Don’t tell him about this, though. It will be our little secret.
sssshhhhh
I can keep a secret.
But thank you.
tmatt