Newsy paper today.

As promised, I’ve written two articles in today’s issue of the Wildcat.

News
‘Sons of Tucson’ gets key to the city’. This is the story about Justin Berfield and Tyler Labine’s visit to the UA campus in an effort to advertise their new Fox sitcom “Sons of Tucson,” a show that takes place in Tucson. Oh, and they received a key to the city from the mayor. Good stuff.

Everyone has a story: Mark Finelli is my story on Mark Finelli, an Iraq veteran, 9/11 survivor, and UA MBA student. The director of Arizona Student Media said that this was probably the most interesting “Everyone has a story” interview so far. Let’s hope I can find more students and employees like Finelli for my future articles, although it’s unlikely that this will happen.

I’m pleased with these stories, but of course I would have like to have lengthened them. I’m a little sad that the Wildcat took out Labine’s hilarious quote, “Next time I come to Tucson, I expect to be invited to a beer pong tournament. And I play with vodka.” Labine and Berfield were all-around nice, well-spoken, down-to-earth guys, and the show itself was pretty funny. Let’s hope they really do return to Tucson and approach the UA campus for activity, because this university really knows how to have fun.

Read away!

The end of a very long week

It’s a relief to be done with some pretty major responsibilities! Spring Break, are you here yet? Two more days.

I have two good news stories coming out tomorrow, and apparently, a column and news story for Friday’s newspaper. That’s seven stories in one week! Every moment of it is fantastic.

I’ll link to the stories tomorrow, but I’ll give you a brief synopsis of what you have to look forward to.

I interviewed Mark Finelli, a 9/11 survivor, for my EVERYONE HAS A STORY piece. The assistant news editor told me that if I could find someone like Finelli every week, it would be the highlight of his editing week. Be sure to read that article when it comes out.

Today, I had the opportunity to interview Justin Berfield, a “Malcolm in the Middle” star that I was really obsessed with at age 11. Basically, I had no life in middle school. I had stringy hair, a rolly backpack, two friends, and was the target of constant bullying. With that, I threw my life into “Malcolm in the Middle” and spent all my time thinking about the show and the cute actors.

A decade later, Justin Berfield, who played Reese, came to my university to publicize his new show “Sons of Tucson.” My 11-year-old self would have screamed for ten minutes straight at the chance to chat with Berfield.

I’d like to think I’ve grown up in the last ten years.

Anyway, I was sent by the Wildcat to cover the free screening of “Son’s of Tucson” in the Student Union Memorial Center.

“Sons of Tucson,” starring Tyler Labine, is a new Fox sitcom about three boys who hire a crook to pose as their father because their real dad has been sent to jail and they don’t want to be turned over to child protective services. The show is similar to “Malcolm in the Middle” and will definitely attract the same sort of audience.

Berfield and Labine were available for interviews before and after the screening.

The mayor was also there to present them with a key to the city.

Labine and Berfield were really nice and helpful, and I enjoyed chatting with them. Unlike his obnoxious bully character Reese, Berfield is extremely soft spoken, calm, quiet, and mellow. It was really unbelievable that Berfield could play such a callous, mean-spirited, loud, menacing brat since he’s actually the exact opposite in real life. I guess that’s what you call a good actor.

I really liked talking to Labine, who mentioned that he expects to be invited to a beer pong tournament on his next trip to Tucson.

A lot of audience members brought up “Malcolm in the Middle.” One girl asked Berfield, “What would Hal and Louis (his MITM parents) think of you right now?”

“Um, they’d be proud. They want the best for their kids,” Berfield said, and everyone laughed.

Berfield will be on the final episode of season one of Sons of Tucson. “Malcolm in the Middle” fans will be pleased to know that Berfield’s role will be a “reprise of Reese’s character.” The name will be different, but the character will be the same.

Stay tuned for my story on the showing.