There are two big anniversaries this weekend. Living in the Dallas area, I've been inundated lately with Kennedy assassination stuff. It's been pretty much non-stop, with just about everyone who knows anything being interviewed in all kinds of special news stories. Most of it isn't news to me because I've heard so many first-hand accounts. One of my college journalism professors was one of the reporters on the scene, and he used that as his case study for the lecture on covering breaking news that turns into a major event (strangely, the main thing I remember from that lecture was the digression about running out of underwear because he thought he was just in town to cover a presidential visit and ended up staying longer than planned when it turned into a bigger story). I had a journalism seminar with Walter Cronkite, who talked about breaking the news. My first job out of college was at the medical school attached to Parkland hospital, and most of the doctors who treated Kennedy were on the faculty (some were residents at the time who were faculty when I worked there). The offices for the emergency medicine department were next to our offices, and that was one of the departments I covered, so I was quite familiar with so many of the names that keep coming up in these stories. I fielded the call from the Quantum Leap producers when they were doing their JFK episode and wanted to know what color the scrubs were at Parkland at that time, and I had to track down someone who was working in the ER then who could talk to them. Then there was a man at the church I used to attend who was a Dallas police officer at that time who knew most of the players involved. One Saturday, a group of us loaded up the church van and had him give us a tour, going down the motorcade route, visiting the old police station where Ruby was killed, seeing the Texas theater, etc. So I guess I don't really need all the TV talking heads.
The other big anniversary is the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. I'll be spending the weekend (weather permitting -- there's a chance of ice Sunday) at a local Doctor Who convention. I'm doing a number of panels, so we'll be testing the depth of my knowledge. I don't go back that far other than in vague awareness.
Though, apparently I should look into more Second Doctor episodes, because according to the "which Doctor are you" quiz, that's who I am: What is the point, in a scary universe filled with all manner of unpleasant and upsetting things, of taking life too seriously? Sure, it's important to stand up and be counted, to oppose the things you despise and so on, but that's no reason to walk round with a sour expression all the time. You like to keep things free and easy, relying on your natural charm and whimsical nature to guide you through life, until such time as you have to marshall your formidable resources. Then, let those who would oppose you look out!
Seems eerily accurate. According to the Companion quiz, I'm Martha: While occasionally lead by your heart, you have an enormously practical head on your shoulders, and are extraordinarily loyal, which means you can be relied upon to fulfill any task to the letter, no matter how personally inconvenient it may be. Guns, bandages, science, amorous playwrights from the past, there's little you can't handle.
I'm a little afraid to take the "How Dalek-y Are You?" quiz. I don't think I need that particular insight into my personality. It's likely to be scary.
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