The Olympian posted a news report yesterday that Olympic Outfitters will be closing. This has gotten the 101 Fighting Keyboard Brigade unusually excited. A handful of comments are under review as I write this, but so far the Simple Human Decency Award goes to gottacomment, who stated: “Joe Hyer’s dream…up in smoke…ha ha.” A special… [Read more…]
December 31, 2011
This blog has been the site of recent debates over whether hyperlocal media can have a real impact without professional journalists (“A brave new journalism, Take 1” and “Take 2“). I thought I’d add to the discussion with some new links and thoughts. I’ve already mentioned the Columbia Journalism Review’s national database of new media. An… [Read more…]
December 30, 2011
And not just one face. In front of me is a photo essay with the faces of 10 suicide victims or surviving members of their families. Granted, the emotional impact of such a presentation is lessened by the advent of the Internet, with websites such as the Faces of Suicide. The photo essay on my… [Read more…]
December 29, 2011
The New Republic has an interesting itemization of important national and international stories that have received inadequate coverage by the mainstream media. Perhaps the most relevant nomination from a local perspective might be Jon Cohn’s discussion of budget slashing by state governments. What would be included on an “overlooked stories” list if we came up with… [Read more…]
December 28, 2011
Rob Richards’ latest blog entry, “The painted bunting,” discusses the pain of a relationship’s end. In the quarter century I’ve lived in Olympia I don’t recall ever having read a similar essay in a local “political” publication. Why is that? My guess: We activist types like to say that the personal is the political, but… [Read more…]
December 27, 2011
I had only heard roughly 30 seconds of ranting by some Fox News commentator as I was standing in a hospital corridor waiting for an elevator. Didn’t even catch half the words. Yet the overheated rhetoric quickly pumped up my adrenalin. That brought me to wonder whether right-wing “hot talk” programs are about more than… [Read more…]
December 25, 2011
Goodbye stories can be awkward. The journalistic tendency is to end on an upbeat note even when an outgoing elected official has been hotly controversial. And what if that official served as The Olympian’s right-hand man in its crusade to create Tacoma by the Capitol? Something more than the perfunctory peck on the cheek is… [Read more…]
December 24, 2011
The 15th anniversary issue of Yes! magazine profiles “The Breakthrough 15” — a group of “extraordinary” people who are “transforming the way we live.” I’m typically skeptical of such publishing gimmicks but Yes! did a good job of transcending the tendency to enable personality cults. The magazine also presented an admirably diverse range of people… [Read more…]
December 24, 2011
The trouble with building a subdivision on a hill is that no one has any privacy. The neighbor up the hill can see every misplaced garden tool in our backyard. No nudity here. By the same token, we have such an unobstructed view into Mikey’s house that we could wave at each other from our… [Read more…]
December 23, 2011
I must admit a certain quiet disappointment with our local government officials. To a person they dress and speak well. I’m sure they are very kind to their pets. But with all due respect, they haven’t done squat to diversify the local economy. Hello? We may very well be entering an era of chronic state… [Read more…]
December 31, 2011
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