{"id":4007,"date":"2012-05-14T10:01:29","date_gmt":"2012-05-14T14:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yorkblog.com\/ydrinsider\/?p=4007"},"modified":"2012-05-14T10:01:29","modified_gmt":"2012-05-14T14:01:29","slug":"staff-qas-meet-entertainment-editor-pat-abdalla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yorkblog.com\/ydrinsider\/staff-qas-meet-entertainment-editor-pat-abdalla\/","title":{"rendered":"Staff Q&As: Meet entertainment editor Pat Abdalla"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pat<\/a>To help you get to know our newsroom staff a bit better, a series of question-and-answer posts with each journalist will run on Mondays. This morning, meet entertainment editor Pat Abdalla. He’s in charge of all things FlipSide-related<\/a>, but he also blogs about baseball via Southpaw<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Name:<\/strong> Patrick Abdalla
\nLives in:<\/strong> West Manchester Township
\nHometown:<\/strong> Moosic, Pa.
\nPosition at the YDR:<\/strong> Entertainment editor
\nYears with the YDR:<\/strong> Four
\nGraduated from:<\/strong> The Pennsylvania State University
\nWith a degree in:<\/strong> Journalism – minors in political science and American studies
\nTwitter:<\/strong> @ydrsouthpaw<\/a>
\nEmail:<\/strong> pabdalla@ydr.com<\/a>
\nGoogle+:<\/strong> Search for Pat Abdalla
\nWhatever you’d like to tell us about yourself:<\/strong> I’m a very lucky guy. I have a great wife and a brand new baby boy. I went to one of the best schools on the planet. I grew up in a great town with fantastic friends. I work with plenty of people who have a passion for this industry and service to our community. Lastly, I believe hearing Harry Kalas say “Ground ball to short. Rollins to Utley to Howard. Double Play,” was the closest man will ever come to perfection.<\/p>\n

1. What made you want to become a journalist?<\/strong> I love to ask questions and tell other people what I find out. It is a terrifically exciting career but can be terribly frustrating at times. You have the pressures of accuracy, fairness and deadlines, but you get to learn new things and meet new people every day. I can’t imagine doing anything else. Well, except playing professional baseball.<\/p>\n

2. How do you see journalism changing?<\/strong> I think we’re changing for the better by becoming more accessible to more people and more relevant in their lives. We’re doing this through new technologies and new ideas on how to report the news.<\/p>\n

3. What do you like most about your job? The least?<\/strong> I love nearly every aspect of being a journalist, but I have a lot of trouble keeping track of all the emails I receive.<\/p>\n

4. It\u2019s 9:30 a.m. on a day off. What are you doing?<\/strong> Sleeping or heading to the gym.<\/p>\n

5. What\u2019s been your favorite project or story recently? Why?<\/strong> I was able to edit a story Erin McCracken did about a young girl who is playing Cindy Lou Who. Erin did a great job on the story and the writing, yet it was still a challenge to work with because the story was told in a nontraditional format.<\/p>\n

6. The drink that\u2019s on your desk right now is:<\/strong> Apple juice.<\/p>\n

7. Your favorite journalism-related blog you read or Twitter feed you follow:<\/strong> I follow MSNBC’s Chuck Todd and Sports Illustrated’s Joe Posnanski on Twitter because I think they use it well to interact with their audience.<\/p>\n

8. What\u2019s the last movie you saw in theaters? The last book you read?<\/strong> I just saw, and loved, ‘The Avengers’and I’m reading Stephen King’s “Blaze” and John Feinstein’s “A Civil War.”<\/p>\n

9. What\u2019s your favorite place in York County?<\/strong> I love the YMCA in Hanover for playing basketball and eating Roburrito’s in West York.<\/p>\n

10. What\u2019s one piece of newsroom jargon that had to be explained to you?<\/strong> Editors here will often as for a story to be done in Alt Story Form or Alternative Story Form. These are stories that are told in a different format than normal. They could include vignettes. At the three previous papers I worked, we had other names for these types of stories.<\/p>\n

\n

Last week, we ran a Q&A with photographer Jason Plotkin<\/a>. To read all of the staff Q&A interviews we\u2019ve done so far, click on the \u201cStaff Q&As\u201d under \u201cAbout us\u201d at the top of the homepage.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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