Tag Archives: walter cronkite

Chicken, Waffles, Birthdays, and Sacred Prayers

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William and Andrew Gilstrap at Lo-Lo’s Chicken and Waffles

November 16, 2012

Our oldest son, Andrew, celebrates his 28th birthday today. We had a great family kick-off to his ‘birthday week’ last weekend at the sinfully delicious Lo-Lo’s Chicken and Waffles in Scottsdale.

It would have been a perfect day had Andrew’s lovely wife Katie been able to make it, but she’s a nurse and duty called. The rest of our gang was there–Mary, Will, Amanda & Stephen, Andrew and Emmett–so it took a while to get a booth big enough for all of us. It was worth the wait. I found Larry ‘Lo-Lo’ White’s soul food combinations unique, yet familiar. That is probably because, in my case, “You can take the boy away from his butter and chicken grease upbringing, but you can’t take the butter and fried chicken away from the boy!

As good as the food was, the company was even better. Mary and I later remarked how lucky we are to have great kids (although all are now adults). And, just as importantly, we feel so blessed to experience great kids having great kids.

Andrew is in his last semester of graduate school at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. As has been the case with Mary and all of our children, Andrew has been incredibly helpful as I have struggled to regain my health. He is a frequent contributor and editor for this blog; and continues to encourage me to seek healing through photography. Happy birthday, Andrew! Here’s our prayer for you on this special day.

 

Capturing Costas at Cronkite

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By Andrew Gilstrap

Perhaps you don’t watch the MLB Network or NBC’s Sunday Night Football Coverage. If you don’t, then you’re probably not familiar with a certain sports anchor’s latest work. But certainly you recognize the name: Bob Costas. Surely you do. And I’ll bet you caught him at some point this summer anchoring the most recent Olympic Games in London.

To be honest, I haven’t seen a whole lot of Costas since NBC stopped airing NBA games. However, I was impressed to see my school, the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, got the broadcast legend to visit the campus last week.

I went to the top floor of the Cronkite building last Monday evening to snap pictures of Costas’ visit to the Cronkite NewsWatch newsroom. And then the 23-time Emmy winner was back in the building Tuesday morning for a one hour question-and-answer session with Dr. Joseph Russomanno, a Cronkite school professor (who also happens to be my Media Law teacher this semester). Later on Tuesday, there was a special luncheon where Costas accepted the 2012 Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism.

I was not able to attend the luncheon, but I used his other two appearances on campus to try dozens of different shots of him with my Canon camera. I even walked by him in the bathroom as he was either washing his hands or splashing his face right before he went ‘on stage’ for the Q-and-A session on Tuesday. I had a perfect chance to either pester him or introduce myself, but, knowing that he was expected in our First Amendment Forum, I smiled nervously and left him alone.

With all that I look forward to doing in sports, this is a guy to look up to (even though he’s not all that tall, as I found out when I was in his presence). I’m surprised how youthful this broadcast icon still looks. It was also refreshing to hear his commitment to objective, non-sensational journalism. Too bad he’s doesn’t do anything with basketball at the moment, because that’s where I’d see more of his work.

Take a look below at a slideshow of some of my captures (with minimal edits) of Costas’ trip to the Cronkite school.

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