The cover story in the Humboldt County North Coast Journal's Oct. 5 issue profiles The Union's former editor R.S., who was here from fall 2002 through December 2004.
Last week one of the reporters sent an email asking what, as a reader of The Union, I had observed during this period.
...it is very interesting now, to be in this position in the journo 'manufacturing' process ... usual position is standing outside pointing finger and saying 'why don't you get the real story?'
A difference of perspectives can do wonders for understanding... My first impulse was to mutter "why me" and hastily redirect her elsewhere.
if I'm not comfortable with how the story comes out, I'll want to post the gist of [my response]* on my blog. ...
May end up posting it, or some of it, on NC Documents within the next day or two. Not because I'm unhappy with the outcome, really, just that it's so...incomplete.
[RS on the newspaper building] "...we can put skylights in there and maybe shed some light on things. So that would be great. At least we would get some sunlight in."
Skylights? The anecdote seems telling, but it's hard to say what it tells. There are several potential Somervilles it indicates, each of them with some precedent in the man's career...
"...I was getting the itch to go back in the newsroom again. I was looking for a paper that was looking for an editor that wanted to do some of this stuff. And I preferred a smaller paper. A community paper."
At that time, The Union, a 140-year-old paper in Nevada County, Calif., was undergoing tremendous change. ...
For now, an observation (which doesn't exactly pertain to this article; the NCJ reporter's question was open-ended) from Language Log:
The journalists already know what the stories are. Their questions are not designed to discover any new facts or ideas, but rather to get quotes that will fit in to designated places in the frameworks of logic and rhetoric that they have already erected.
The selection of different parts of my response to quote would have made for a dramatically different end result.
Stories are much cleaner than realities. But maybe the writers have to shape the realities, else the stories would be too pointless and painful and sprawling to read. Our minds want/need a nice spiffed-up interface to reality.
Deciding what to say in response to an open-ended interview question is like deciding which direction and how sharply to turn the wheel, when you're driving blind - you know (or at least retain the illusion) that what you say will affect the outcome, but you don't know how to orient your contribution, to keep the result on the road.
I thought the story'd be heading into the gully, so was pulling firmly to the left, and when it came to a stop the story was over on the left shoulder.*
To my reader who's come flooding in from Eureka: hello, and if you prefer gore and dismemberment to balance, try the "some of my many gripes about the paper" links near the bottom of the sidebar, on your left; this post gives an overview.
I never met or spoke to him while he was editor of The Union, but we did correspond a fair amount by email (not printed in story: "like I said previously, S was orders of magnitude more communicative than others..."); on 3 occasions since then, we've met for coffee at my request and discussed journalism, readership, the paper etc, though not in great detail.
Speaking of which, the attitudinous Capt. Buhne of the Buhne Tribune weighs in. NCFocus's milquetoast blog monopoly on this story will not be challenged.
West Hartford 13, Enfield 3. West Hartford defeated Enfield behind the pitching of Bridget Garach, who allowed four hits and struck out ten in five innings of work. Alisha Collazo had three hits for West Hartford while Garach, Jamie Lohneiss, Sarah Hamilton and Caitlin O'Meara had two each. Lisa Lusardi pitched well for Enfield and Casi Delorge drove in a run and had a good game defensively at shortstop.
West Hartford 22, Northwest 2. Sarah Hebb pitched a complete game for West Hartford, allowing just two hits over five innings. The offense was led by Hebb (3 hits), Caitlyn O'Meara (3 hits), Sarah Hoisl (3 hits, 4 RBI) and Sabrina Carreira (3 hits, 4 RBI). Brianna Schlosser did a terrific job behind the plate for Northwest and Kara Deming had a double and scored.
West Hartford 5, Ellington 4. West Hartford needed a three run rally in the bottom of the 7th inning to defeat a tough Ellington team. Lauren Catalano led off the 7th with her second hit of the game. Sarah Hebb followed with a single and Jamie Lohneiss drove in the first run of the inning. With two outs, Sarah Hamilton drove in the tieing run with a bloop single and Kathleen Yorio singled to left to end the game. Anna Zinzarella added a triple for West Hartford and Charlotte Leyland played fantastic defensively. For Ellington, Sarah Riley was very effective in the circle, pitching a complete game. Kayla Buffington drove in a run with a double and Emily Breen stood out on defense.
West Hartford 10, Windsor II 2. Lauren Catalano pitched four strong innings to pick up the win for West Hartford with relief help from Kathleen Yorio. Sarah Hoisl pounded two triples and Sabrina Carreira, Caitlin O'Meara and Keleigh Brown each added two hits. Amanda Dillon had two hits for Windsor II, while Sam Visone pitched a complete game, keeping it close until the later innings.
Enfield 5, Ellington 0. (from 6/24) Enfield took both games of the doubleheader behind the pitching of Lisa Lusardi. Hitting stars for Enfield in the twinbill were Casi Delorge, who had four hits, including a double and a triple, and Jillian Lapponese with four hits, including a triple. Jordan Fritz added three hits and had two putouts behind the plate. Ellington received strong performances from Kelly White, Rachel Stone and Kelly Gorman.
Windsor I 3, Northwest 1. Windsor I bested Northwest 3-1 in a defensive battle. Lucia Barresi pitched six strong innings and Renate Tomkiel pitched a solid 7th inning to close it out. Alize Aquilar had a great game in centerfield. Paige Tambling drove in two of the Windsor runs. Monica Swartley also pitched a strong game for Northwest. Sarah Hale drove in their run.
Stafford 4, Vernon White 3. In a well-played game, Stafford edged Vernon White in the 8th inning of an international tie-breaker game. Pitcher Onie Tumel and catcher Jailene Rivera teamed up for a total of eleven strikeouts. Jasmine Murray made outstanding running catches in left and second baseman Alexis Szewezyk made a hit-saving catch. Maddie Szafir drove in a run to make the score 2-2 and Keighlee Szafir hit a walkoff single to bring in the winning run. Vernon White played a tight defensive infield game. An outstanding double play was made by pitcher Morgan Bolduk to shortstop Sarah Silver at second to first baseman Shannon Skivington. Sarah Silver had seven assists at shortstop as did pitcher Morgan Bolduk. Silver, Bolduk and Maddy Hernes scored Vernon's runs in the first, fifth and eighth innings respectively.
Enfield 14, Windsor I 4. Enfield notched a 14-4 win over Windsor I with Keelie Gianonne leading the offense with three hits, including a home run over the fence. Lisa Lusardi pitched another gem, also adding two hits, and Mackenzie Vermette contributed two bunt singles and another hit.
Stafford 8, Windsor II 7. Stafford edged Windsor II 8-7 as pitcher Onie Tumel and catcher Jailene Rivera held true to seven strikeouts and held Windsor after the second inning. Jasmine Murray robbed a batter of a double with a catch in the right centerfield gap and left fielder Megan Fonicello made an outstanding catch. Bats came alive in the fifth inning to assure the win. Windsor's pitcher Sam Visone recorded four strikeouts in six innings. Alex Conner stopped numerous runs from scoring with her fine defensive play in left field.
Enfield 7, Coventry 4. Lisa Lusardi pitched Enfield past Coventry, recording twelve strikeouts. She also had two hits on offense. Casi Delorge and Sara Aube both had good nights at the plate.
Hebron 4, Glastonbury II 3. In a well played game by both teams, Hebron defeated Glastonbury II at home. Glastonbury II junped out to a 3-0 lead, but Hebron's offense came alive in the fourth inning to tie it up. In the 6th, Caitlyn Lovejoy drove in Emily Pintavalle for the winning run. Hebron was led by solid pitching from Caitlyn Lovejoy and Marissa Caron. Glastonbury II's offense was led by Gabby Gineo, and Brittany Damone pitched a strong complete game.
Glastonbury II at East Hartford (5:30PM)(2 games; one suspended from 6/24) - postponed by weather to Thursday, August 8th.
Enfield 11, Windsor II 0. Enfield blanked Windsor II 11-0 behind winning pitcher Lisa Lusardi's 13 strikeouts and two hits at the plate. Jordan Fritz also had a pair of hits and Jesse Baker drove in four runs.
Windsor I 11, Windsor II 7. It was fitting that Windsor I and Windsor II play each other in an emotional game on the evening that longtime Windsor resident, youth sports volunteer and softball pitching coach Bill Walsh was remembered. Following a moment of silence, Windsor I defeated Windsor II 11-7 in an exciting back and forth game. Windsor I went up quickly 4-0, but Windsor II battled back with six runs through four innings. With timely hitting and solid defense, Windsor I was able to keep the pressure on and prevail with an 11-7 victory. Windsor I was led defensively by Makenzie Devine (1B), Emily Bernstein (RF) and Rebecca Hockenberry (SS). Offensively, Windsor I was led by Hockenberry, Paige Tambling, Sarah Gegetskas and Alexis Capuano. Windsor II standouts included Emily Kopacz, Alex Connor, Kelly Shannon and Kate Schofield. Lucia Barresi (I) and Sam Visone (II) both pitched complete games.
Ellington 5, West Hartford 2. Courtney Fitzsimons struck out five West Hartford batters and scattered six hits, leading Ellington to a 5-2 win. Ellington's defense was solid throughout the game with great performances by Rosemary Francolini (3B), Bri Deland (C) and Kelly White (SS). Enfield turned a triple play to extinguish two runners with nobody out in the bottom of the second inning.
Saturday and Sunday, August 10th and 11th 2013 High School Division Tournament at Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Club Fields, East Hartford