That’s why I got such a kick out of Sarah Palin’s keynote address at the latest Tea Party Convention.  The sassy Alaskan was caught studying notes written on her hand during a Q&A session.  

It was a pretty simple question, too — all she had to do was name what she thought were the country’s three biggest issues.

FENLON

Now, I’d never criticize someone for having speech notecards, or for using prepared notes to keep the facts straight. Being an eloquent, effective speaker is no easy task.

But if I were a major politician — say, a former governor, vice-presidential candidate and potential future presidential candidate — I’m pretty sure I’d be able to name my top three issues without a cheat sheet.

Yeah, if I were Sarah Palin, I’d be red behind the ears if I couldn’t remember what political topics were closest to my heart.  And I’d be embarrassed right down to my toes if I used a cheat sheet after smarmily referring to President Obama as a “charismatic guy with a teleprompter.”

Sarah Palin may be a preeminent politician — in the realm of all flash and no substance — and a great speaker who can rally the crowds … so long as she doesn’t have to do much serious thinking. I’m amazed she’s become such a popular political figure. But this latest faux pas, at least, presents an educational opportunity.

The more than 1,500 students in the University’s School of Public and International Affairs now have a perfect example of how not to handle a public speaking event. Or, the lesson might be that if you must use a crib sheet, make sure to avoid hypocritically mocking the competition.

The Palin method guarantees headlines and attention, but respect is something else entirely.  The controversy surrounding her covert palm reading has increased since the Tea Party convention. 

Her zealous supporters may follow her to the ends of the Earth, but the rest of us have to wonder if Palin knows where she stands on major political issues.

If our political science students avoid the Sarah Palin route and back up their work with emotion and conviction, they’ll go on to great things.  But others also can learn from Palin’s mess up.

I am a journalism major and making speeches hasn’t been a big part of my education. But presentations invariably pop up throughout high school and college and I’ve approached nearly all of them with trepidation. I hate public speaking.  Merely the thought of it makes me nervous.

Thinking of good old Sarah, though, helps put things in perspective. When I make a presentation, knowing my facts backward and forward helps my confidence immensely. If I know my stuff, it’s no longer about reciting some canned material I’ve been assigned to speak on.  The presentation becomes a passionate conversation.

It may still be a conversation I’m eager to have over and done with, but that’s a step up from hating the entire process.  

And I can only imagine how much this perspective will help me in the future — whether it’s a business presentation or a story pitch, a degree of studied confidence is a tremendous asset in any situation.

We all can look to Sarah Palin for tips on how to pander to an audience.  But when it comes to actually knowing our issues … well, maybe we should figure that out all by ourselves.

— Wesley Fenlon is a senior from Clarkesville majoring in magazines

When Apple recently unveiled its long-rumored iPad tablet, I was afraid the technology was going to be irresistible.

A device that blurs the line between a smartphone and a laptop is more than a little tantalizing for a tech geek like me.

But my wallet can breathe a sigh of relief for now.

FENLON

Apple’s iPad may look sleek, but it’s missing the most compelling parts of portable phones and powerful laptops.

We see Apple products all over campus — if you’re in a public place, take a quick glance around. I bet you’ll spot at least one person with an iPhone, iPod or MacBook in hand.

They’re popular, and for good reason: Apple has shrewdly married solid technology with slim, sexy exteriors.

Motorola, Dell and all the rest are still playing catch-up to match the narrow profiles of the iPhone and silver unibody MacBook laptops.

Steve Jobs and company have applied the same concept to the new iPad, a brand new tablet computer running on the iPhone’s operating system. A gorgeous 10-inch screen, 10 hours of battery life and a powerful new processor makes the $499 iPad a souped-up, oversized iPhone.

Sure, it sounds pretty awesome. But I’m far from sold.

Everywhere I go, I carry my netbook (that’s geek speak for a small, cheap laptop) with me, and I use it every single day.

It has a real keyboard, a 10-inch screen, and can run any program I choose to install on it.

It’s not very powerful, but it still has no problem running Photoshop, a Web browser and Microsoft Word at the same time. Quite handy for a $400 device.

That’s where I run into a problem with the iPad. My netbook offers the functionality of a computer; the iPad offers the functionality of a big, pretty smartphone. Let’s break it down:

— The only apps the iPad can run come from the iTunes App Store or from Apple itself. That means it can’t run any software designed for computer operating systems.

— Like the iPhone, the iPad can’t run applications in the background — this may be the most discouraging fact about Apple’s tablet, because it means multitasking is pretty much a no-go.

— The iPad doesn’t support Flash. Like the iPhone, it supports YouTube, but anything else on the Internet that uses Flash is out. No Hulu and no FarmVille on Facebook. Ouch.

— There are no USB ports. Better get used to syncing everything through iTunes.

— Unlike the iPhone, the iPad won’t fit in your pocket, and it doesn’t have a camera or a webcam for video conferences.

Not everything about the iPad is negative. There are about 140,000 apps in the App Store now, according to Apple — and the iPad can run all of them out of the box.

Unfortunately, they’re designed for the iPhone’s much smaller screen, and it will be awhile before iPad-specific apps really take off.

No doubt the iPad will sell in the millions, anyway. The new iBook Store is a powerful threat to Amazon’s Kindle.

Apple may well change the way e-books are sold and read, just like they upended the music world with iTunes.

It’s just a shame they missed out on the convergence that made the iPhone such a revolution: it combined a camera, Internet and e-mail functionality and an MP3 player into a phone better than anything else on the market.

The iPad offers less versatility than my netbook, so it’s not going to replace anything I carry around on a daily basis — even if Steve Jobs loves to call it “the ultimate browsing experience.”

It’s a cool device, just not a very necessary one.

Sorry, Steve. I think I’ll wait for the iPad 2.

— Wesley Fenlon is a senior from Clarkesville majoring in magazines

That’s the entire run of “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.”

Wesley Fenlon

After a 16-year relationship with Jay Leno as the host of “Late Night,” the network gave Conan only seven months with “The Tonight Show” before deciding to take it all back.
NBC is playing it safe.

Apparently there’s an audience out there for Leno’s brand of mild head-bobbin’ humor, but as a long-time fan of “Late Night,” I was thrilled when NBC announced Conan as the “Tonight Show” successor.

In fact, everyone I know with a hint of interest in late-night television preferred Conan O’Brien’s self-deprecating style and eclectic gags to anything Jay Leno had to offer.
After five long years, Conan took the reins of “The Tonight Show” in May 2009.

My friends and I were preoccupied celebrating the end of the semester, but we took time out from partying to watch Conan’s first episode with delight.

Conan’s off-the-wall comedy has made him a favorite of the young demographic, but hesteadily lost viewers over the next few months.

But firing Conan was the wrong choice.

In their desperate move to grab for a little ratings security, NBC may get back some of the audience Conan lost, but what about the audience of the future?

Even if Jay Leno is a safe bet with older audiences, his clock’s ticking. He’s turning 60 this year — how much longer will he want to host a nightly television program?

NBC shouldn’t have worried about O’Brien losing some of the traditional audience in his first seven months.

Though Leno’s show took two years to reach top ratings, Conan’s “Tonight Show” was not given time to get into a groove of its own.

By trying to win back the audience of the past, NBC has alienated the younger viewers who love Conan — and we are the audience of the future.

As short-term hits like “Heroes” and “Deal or No Deal” are shedding audiences in primetime, paying Conan $33 million — his generous chunk of the last week’s $45 million “Tonight Show” settlement — can’t be the smartest long-term plan.

Considering NBC has been struggling with ratings across the board, putting Leno back at the helm of “The Tonight Show” seems like a $45 million way of saying “we are hopelessly outdated.”

The Internet is where NBC should be focusing. “The Tonight Show” is available for free, with barely any advertising, on Hulu.com and NBC’s official Web site.

When more and more of the precious 18-49 year old audience is watching TV online, what do you do? You figure out how to make online more profitable.

Last fall, I made the big switch to an Internet-only household, shedding the expense of cable television. Why pay when I can stream?

I’d gladly sit through a few more commercials if it made the difference between failure and profitability for a program like “The Tonight Show.”

Plenty of people will still pay for the convenience of cable, but young viewers are going to continue to migrate to the easy availability of Internet TV.

And we’re the ones NBC should be catering to with “The Tonight Show,” because we’ll be watching television for a long, long time. We may just be watching Conan on another network instead.

One thing’s for sure — when Jay Leno takes his show back after the Winter Olympics, I won’t be watching.

— Wesley Fenlon is a senior from Clarkesville majoring in magazines.