Knowing a little bit about a lot, collecting information and the definition of lugubrious

Part of being a journalist is knowing a little about a whole lot of things. 

Sure, some journalists get to specialize in a subject, work on the same beat year after year. Those journalists don’t work for nonprofit community newspapers. 

I and my reporters are quick studies. We have to find, analyze and absorb new information quickly and then synthesize it into something that is (hopefully) entertaining and edifying to read. 

We benefit from interviewing expert sources, but those folks have their own biases and shortcomings (as do we). So we try to balance those sources with other sources and our own research. Public records, documents and data come in pretty handy, too. 

I’ve covered everything from NBA playoff games (I once had to wait as Steph Curry and Klay Thompson finished a meal of chicken and rice in styrofoam to-go containers before I could interview them and file my game story) to the first civil opioid trial in the U.S. to city council meetings in Commerce, Texas (population 8,089). 

Each of those stories took at least a little bit of prep, several interviews and plenty of agony over choosing just the right word (the difference between the right word and the almost right word is like the difference between lightning and a lightning bug, or so Mark Twain once reportedly said).

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I collect bits of information. Those who read this column with any regularity may appreciate those pieces when I’m able to weave them into a somewhat cohesive column. 

I’m always on the lookout for new nuggets. If I’m reading a book and I don’t know a word’s definition, I pause and look it up (this week’s word was lugubrious, courtesy John le Carré. Look it up!). If I watch a TV show and vaguely recognize an actor, I have to dig through their filmography until I figure out why I recognize them. I like to memorize where NFL players went to college and how many times in a row Adam Dunn hit 40 home runs (four). Those random facts can come in handy for Thursday night trivia at Just Tap’d.

Sometimes, I get lots of pieces of new info at once. Monday was one of those days.

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What do you think is Georgia’s No. 1 export? 

Despite our Peach State moniker, Georgians know our production is far behind California’s. There’s pecans, as made famous by former President Jimmy Carter. Pine trees, poultry, etc.

But none of those were No. 1. That belongs to, of all things, aerospace products. Some $11.1 billion worth were shipped in 2023. 

That was just one of the pieces of knowledge bestowed upon the Rotary Club of Macon Monday afternoon by Adon Clark, the dean of Middle Georgia State University’s School of Aviation. 

Here are a few other important takeaways from the Air Force veteran’s presentation:

The school is the only four year public aviation institution in the state and one of only nine in the country that offers airplane maintenance, flight training and air traffic control training. 

Most of the instruction takes place at MGA’s Eastman campus, although the school also has a presence at Macon’s downtown airport.

The school flies so much that the Eastman airport is the third busiest airport in the state. Flights in one of the school’s 57 aircraft and four helicopters take off routinely, with planes in the air from 4 a.m. to midnight-2 a.m. the next day.

Enrollment has grown from 320 in 2014 to 1,600 this year, in large part because of the high demand for skilled mechanics, pilots and air traffic controllers. Program graduates often have their pick of jobs and average six-figure salaries. There is a projected shortage of pilots, mechanics and air traffic controllers. The FAA extended the mandatory retirement age for pilots to 67, but Clark noted that just kicks the can down the road, so to speak.

The school has a research and development arm that specializes in composite materials. The R&D arm has worked on NASA projects – including the James Webb Space Telescope that launched in 2021 – and projects for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Those R&D projects are education focused, Clark said, and are cost-neutral. For instance, for the James Webb Space Telescope, MGA’s Institute for Applied Aerospace Research fabricated radiator panels on which some of the telescope’s computers are mounted. The institute worked on their portion of the telescope for eight years, with some 30 students participating over the years.

Useful information? Certainly could be, if you or a loved one are considering a career in the aerospace industry. Or if you just want to understand our corner of the world a little bit better, the value of a public school education, the impact Middle Georgians are making on the rest of the world.

Or maybe you don’t find it very useful. Oh well. I’m going to keep collecting it.

Caleb Slinkard is the managing editor of The Macon Melody. Email him at caleb@maconmelody.com.