I read Janet Paskin’s story The Velvet Rope in the Columbia Journalism Review this month and couldn’t stop thinking about it. Basically, she lays out the primary reason journalists like to see their name in print — they get paid more for it. This is, for me, a point of frustration.

I like to think that good journalism is not a thing of the past. I like to think that the web is where it’s going to be at for journalism for the foreseeable future. If the industry is serious about online and good online journalism, it needs to back that up with money.

Yes, yes, I understand the laws of supply and demand. I understand that there is lots of content online that is supplied for free or cheap. News organizations are floundering to identify a business plan that works in a drastically disrupted market, and it is money that news organizations are primarily after. Good journalism, in the list of priorities, comes in a distant second.

It seems to me, though, that this is a moment in which resolve is needed. A mentality shift is needed. Instead of outlets using the online-only status of a story as a reason to pay a reporter less, they should pay reporters an equal amount. If the work is of the same caliber, why not? It does, after all, cost less to publish on the web. This shift in pay and status seems to me an important part of the necessary industry shift. Major outlets — that’s right, New York Times, Washington Post, New Yorker — should take the lead.

As I was curating TucsonCitizen.com’s Twitter feed during the State of the Union address last night, I noticed that President Barack Obama’s seemingly uncontroversial statement that women ought to receive pay equal to men coincided with a lot of Twitter chatter about women — three specific women, in fact.

One woman who was the subject of much discussion was Gabrielle Giffords. There were many tweets about how her hug with the president brought them to tears. There were also many tweets about how great she looks in red. There were a lot of tweets about the first lady, Michelle Obama, most of them about her crisp blue dress and later, about who designed it and how much it cost. There were several tweets about Hillary Clinton and her appearance – to what degree she had aged, the appeal of her outfit, the wisdom of wearing a headband.

This chatter, at least in the #SOTU feed as I observed it, far outweighed any substantial conversation about these women or their public role. In the context of Obama’s statement, I found it especially disturbing. It’s not that I am against observations of appearance or fashion. In high school, I aspired to be a fashion designer. I do think how one presents oneself is important. But the volume of the how-she-looks chatter struck me as a symptom of the larger problem: Women are still judged disproportionately by how they look, even accomplished women with important policy roles.

Sure, House Speaker John Boehner was the target of a fair amount of superficial chatter about the darkness of his tan and the color of his tie, but there was about an equal number of observations about his behavior, his policy positions and political strategy. The same was not true in regards to three of the high-profile women present that night.

For a broader look at the Twittersphere reaction, check out 10,000 Words’s State of the Union infographic.

The battle over whether Tucson Unified School District ought to allow students to enroll in a Mexican American studies course as anything but an elective has been simmering for months inside the legislative and judicial systems. Students and activists were stirred up about it, but few others seemed to pay all that close attention. But when TUSD’s board voted to end the Mexican American Studies program and began taking the books used to teach those courses out of classrooms, protest erupted.

TUSD denied that its reaction could be fairly characterized as banning books (in TUSD Governing Board President Mark Stegeman’s own words here). Nonetheless, people on the street were talking about what does or does not constitute a book ban, what is or isn’t American and what does or doesn’t spur learning. What was an Arizona issue of limited national interest became an issue that got the attention of people, especially literary people, across the country. Books, we all seem to agree, are important to learning. (Some would take it a step further and argue that they may be a key ingredient in surviving one’s childhood, to cultivating imagination and a sense of opportunity. I can attest that they were for me.)

Once the narrative that books and free speech are good and book bans are Orwellian got established, outrage spread. It was social media, which some describe as itself a threat to general literacy, that helped to fan the flames. Presente.org, which describes itself as a national organization to amplify the political voice of Latino communities, created an online petition, and it has been tweeted and retweeted with incredible speed. What real-world manifestation the social media indignation will take is to be seen. Here’s a small taste of what the feeds looked like today.

Philip Schultz’s most prominent success is a book of poems called “Failure.” For that effort, he won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. He has since written a memoir called “My Dyslexia” from which he will read  October 20 at the Poetry Center.

Full disclosure: Schultz is technically my boss, one of them, anyway. He is the founder of The Writers Studio, a creative writing school for which I teach fiction and poetry workshops. But I haven’t yet met him yet, and I’m very excited to.

Among the reasons I’m so thrilled:

• He has devised a method for teaching creative writing that I deeply respect. It addresses not only the technical elements of good writing, but the emotional process — how to connect to emotion and how to tamp down anxiety. Interestingly, the writing method came out of the method he used to teach himself to read.

• Schultz studies things carefully and learns lessons some of us might pass over. For instance, in this video of a recent interview he did at the Churchill School, he makes the link between dyslexia, the necessary compassion for oneself and the corollary compassion for others.

• He writes about 100 drafts of every poem. He expects to. I admire and am inspired by his desire and persistence.

If you want to hear Schultz in his own words — I think it’s really worth it — you can listen to Schultz read his poem “Failure” here. You can also read an excerpt of “My Dyslexia” and listen to an interview with him on NPR here.

The local iteration of the massively popular TED talks is now selling tickets for its November 10 event. It looks like it will be a busy and interest-packed night, with talks stretching from 6:30 p.m. to 10:15 p.m. (Yes, there is music and intermission in there.) The event will be held at the Fox Tucson Theatre, 17 W. Congress St.

This is how the organizers describe the event:

TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Our event is called TEDxTucson, where x = independently organized TED event. At our TEDxTucson event, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection about sustainability. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including ours, are self-organized and intended to benefit our community.

I’m especially interested to hear from Silver Thread Trio, Ross Evans, Robin Hoover and Robert Ojeda. Tickets cost $20 for adults and $10 for students.

If you’re curious and want to know more, you check out the schedule posted by the TEDxTucson 2011 online ticket vendor or watch videos from other TED events.

What do you think? Do you plan to go?

NPR’s Fronteras desk has posted the Wikileaks consular cables relevant to the U.S.-Mexico border. The .pdf of cables emanating from the Nogales consular offices demonstrate mostly routine worries. A security check found the Consulate’s security to be adequate. The cables also contain a broad discussion of possible concerns and recommendations for travelers to the area. No safety-related information that is not already common knowledge was included, but the cables are from 2007-2008. It’s unclear how internal policies have changed since then.

The local Fronteras reporter is Michel Marizco. Follow him on Twitter @borderreporter.

What’s you take on these cables? Should they have been released? Do they match your reality? I’d love to know what you think.

It takes David Aguirre, the manager of Tucson’s Shane House apartments, a matter of hours to rent a place out. If a tenant gives him 24 hours notice before leaving, “No problem” is Aguirre’s response.

The last dozen or so times he’s had to find a new tenant for the Tucson Arts Coalition-owned digs, Aguirre has posted a Facebook status update notifying his more than 1,600 friends of the availability. He’s doesn’t want a deposit, but he does want a Facebook reference, a vouch from someone he actually knows.

“Instead of insurance, I’m getting assurance,” Aguirre said. “It seems to work. … It’s a much more personable kind of thing.”

Aguirre most recently posted a Facebook message about an open apartment Aug. 9. Within three hours, he was standing in front of the apartment with a Facebook friend who he didn’t know and one that he did. The deal was done.

“I felt comfortable with it,” Aguirre said. “It’s not a guarantee, but the second person takes some of the edge off. It could work the other way too. She (the tenant) might feel more comfortable with me.”

Sometimes one of Aguirre’s many Facebook friends replies to his posts. Sometimes the post is passed to a friend of a friend. Often he fills apartments by texting his current tenants a request for referrals. Craigslist, once the primo method of doing these things, is described by Aguirre as a “last resort.”

Why take a stranger when you could have a friend?

Let’s put the more dour economic news aside and focus on what we can do to improve things. Entrepreneurship surely can’t be bad for the economy.

Lucky for us, StartUp Weekend Tucson is coming up. On Aug. 19-21, local entrepreneurs will meet to pitch ideas and otherwise assemble the components of successful startups. The group’s email newsletter says that about half the attendees have a business background and the other half come from the tech side. Pitch night is Friday, the weekend is reserved for customer development, business plans and prototypes. The organizing sponsors are Arizona Technology Council, Arizona Center for Innovation and Desert Angels, a group of investors who say they have invested $15 million in more than 45 local companies since 2000. (Click here to review their portfolio.)

If you’ve been kicking around an idea for a while but have been looking for partners, investors or a more focused plan, StartUp Weekend Tucson could be worth your while. If you decide to go, don’t forget to register.

On a related note, the McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Arizona’s Eller School of Management is holding a free Get Ready Seminar on Aug. 11 to prepare entrepreneurs to present their ideas to investors. There’s more info on the McGuire Center’s website.

On another (more tangentially) related note, I went to Sparkroot this morning. The downtown coffee shop’s weekend soft opening was so successful, the shop was out of hot coffee. But don’t worry, another shipment of their Blue Bottle Coffee arrived today. The iced coffee was good, as was the freshly made coconut cashew granola bar. The design was beautiful, especially the steel work, and I promised to go back. Despite the lack of hot coffee, the experience was invigorating. How happy I am that downtown is blooming despite it all.

At 9 p.m., I received the following press release from a union that represents the interests of Arizona Department of Public Safety officials.

Officer Safety Compromised After Hackers Release Confidential DPS Information

Association wants individuals prosecuted to the highest degree of the law

Phoenix, AZ – The Arizona Highway Patrol Association (AHPA) was made aware that hackers, that identify themselves as LulzSec, released confidential information from the Department of Public Safety’s (DPS). AHPA is concerned that the files released could jeopardize the safety of many DPS officers and employees.

“Law enforcement officials go to many lengths to protect their identities,” states Jimmy Chavez, President of the AHPA. “These individuals maliciously released confidential information knowing the safety of DPS employees, and their families, would be compromised. A threat to release more DPS files demonstrates how heinous the hackers are willing to act. The AHPA would like to see the people brought to justice and prosecuted to the highest degree of the law.”

Founded in 1958, the AHPA’s mission is to promote the positive role of Law Enforcement Professionals, and to protect and secure rights and benefits for their members through effective representation with local, state and national governments.

What do you think?

TechCrunch is reporting that the hacker group LulzSec — whose Twitter profile calls themselves “the world’s leaders in high-quality entertainment at your expense” — has leaked a stream of Arizona law enforcement data. The group has framed the leak as a gesture of retaliation against SB 1070, which the state legislature passed last year. Many people protested the law on the grounds that it required police officers to engage in racial profiling. The provisions are largely on hold pending U.S. Supreme Court review. The Arizona Republic has a team working on the story.

From the press release:

We are releasing hundreds of private intelligence bulletins, training manuals, personal email correspondence, names, phone numbers, addresses and passwords belonging to Arizona law enforcement. We are targeting AZDPS specifically because we are against SB1070 and the racial profiling anti-immigrant police state that is Arizona.

The documents classified as “law enforcement sensitive”, “not for public distribution”, and “for official use only” are primarily related to border patrol and counter-terrorism operations and describe the use of informants to infiltrate various gangs, cartels, motorcycle clubs, Nazi groups, and protest movements.

Every week we plan on releasing more classified documents and embarassing personal details of military and law enforcement in an effort not just to reveal their racist and corrupt nature but to purposefully sabotage their efforts to terrorize communities fighting an unjust “war on drugs”.

Hackers of the world are uniting and taking direct action against our common oppressors – the government, corporations, police, and militaries of the world. See you again real soon! ;D

I’ve downloaded the files, and they appear—at least at first glance—legitimate, though all I’ve read so far are dispatches from supervisors working the Wallow Fire. Nothing incriminating there. Just a few phone numbers that at an earlier point in the reporting of the fire would have been helpful. I’ll keep you posted as I wallow in the docs.

Here’s the link to the torrent file if you’re interested in wallowing yourself.

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An interesting observation from one pertinent Department of Homeland Security document, though it’s hardly sensitive information:

Despite the rising tide of murders in Sonora, analysis of FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCR) data indicates that no widespread violence has spilled into Arizona; indeed, overall violent crime is down in Arizona. Homicide statistics from 2006 through 2009 show that homicides trended downward in Glendale, Mesa, Phoenix, and Tucson; remained flat in Nogales; and increased slightly in Peoria and Yuma. While some of these deaths may be drug-related, available information does not attribute any of these murders to Mexican drug-trafficking organizations.

Also, from a bit later in the same document, “Mexico: Sonora-based Threats to U.S. Border Security,” from August 2010:

Drug and alien smuggling from Sonora, along with drug-related violence, almost certainly will continue at current or even higher levels over the next several years. Attempts to counter corruption and professionalize police forces may eventually pay dividends, but improvements will require years of sustained effort.

And

The vast resources of the cartels—estimated by U.S. authorities at $18-38 billion a year—dwarf those of government entities, which are playing a catch-up game in improving technological tools and building effective institutions.

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My impression thus far is that the source of much of this information is the news media, Mexican and American.

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It’s interesting that there are at least a couple of documents warning officers about iPhone and Android apps that could be used in crime or used against them. Who knew you could use an iPhone as a digital scale?

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FoxNews.com is reporting an interesting dynamic—another hacker group trying to expose LulzSec, which also claimed responsibility for, among other things, the recent hacking of the PBS website.

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The LulzSec website is down.