Seeing smoke

Yesterday, the mainstream media once more revealed just how low journalistic standards have sunk in this hour of 24/7 spin and obfuscation.

While driving to Boston and MIT to watch my son and his Wheaton College mates do battle on the baseball diamond with the Engineers, I decided to disengage my brain and listen to sports talk radio. In all fairness, I shouldn't be so dismissive of the format, as some of the analysis is quite detailed. For me, I am so tired of the daily drumbeat of half-truths and political grandstanding coming from both the right and the left. In my book, Al Franken isn't much better than Rush Limbaugh; oh, and have I mentioned that Air America now has Jerry Springer hosting a show?

While listening to Boston's WEEI, the quintessential sports talk station, detailing all things Red Sox, I couldn't escape the intrigue of the Pope's election, as even Dale Arnold (a former Mainuh) mentioned that he was watching Fox News (Dale, say it 'ain't so!) and the smoke coming out of the Vatican stovepipe appeared to be white. Well, that was all I needed to desert the sports talk to seek my scan button and get some "hard news" about the goings on in Rome.

From NPR, to talk stations like WBZ in Boston, the commentators were engaging in their best imitation of news caricature. From the rampant speculation about the color of the smoke (is it white; it looks white Tom, but it's a cloudy day here in Rome and its hard to tell), the fact that if it's white, then the bells hadn't chimed, etc., etc. God forbid that these supposed journalists would just let the story unfold at its own pace. For Christ's sake, the Vatican sends up smoke signals, like they have for 800 (?) years! Why do these condescending media whores think that the news has to cater to their own sense of soundbite reality?

Salon's Heather Havrilesky writes about the coverage (you can view it by signing up for a free site pass) that is quite accurate. As Havrilesky writes, "From the second the white smoke started to rise above the Sistine Chapel, the network talking heads were working themselves into a lather over the announcement of a new pope. But even after spending several minutes analyzing the color of the smoke wafting out of the chimney at the Vatican, NBC announcers were still skeptical. "Vatican radio has pronounced this smoke black," one commentator said, "but the crowd is cheering as if the smoke is white." But if the smoke was really white, weren't they all promised that there would be bells, too? Why were there no bells?"

The commentators were all pretty miffed that the smoke was white, but the necessary bells were slow on the toll. ABC's Charles Gibson, a media empty-suit if there ever was one, got visibly agitated because the damn uncertainty stretched beyond 10 minutes. Showing his absolute lack of journalistic credibility, Gibson was heard saying, "I must say, they're going to have to work on this." Yes, Charles, we all must work on making your high-paying, pseudo-journalistic gig easier than it already is. Why must Gibson and his lot of poseurs insist that every news story to be turned into another media event the equivalent of the O.J. Bronco chase!

With most mainstream journalists (I hate to even use this term in their vicinity) and their Columbia Journalism School pedigrees behaving so poorly, it makes me proud to be an outsider, with my lack of credentials, irreverent attitude and much better understanding on what investigative reporting used to be, and still is in some quarters.

The blogging bandwagon continues to grow

When I first started blogging, I viewed it as an opportunity to write regularly on a variety of topics, many that might lack an outlet via more traditional options, namely the print media. For much of the first few months, I found that I had alot to say and felt like I was writing an op ed per day via my blog(s).

While many Americans still don't know what a blog is, much of the media has latched onto blogging and there are countless articles on the subject. While there has been some credible writing on the blogosphere (Pressthink comes to mind) and whether it deserves to be considered journalism, much of it has been typical of the usual handwringing that accompanies most attempts at creating new vehicles for communication. With much of the old media (print and television) jumping on the blogging bandwagon (MSNBC's Keith Olbermann for instance) to try to ride the newest wave onto the beach, most don't offer much that's new or terribly groundbreaking. Actually, I'm being unfair to Olbermann, as I have found some decent writing at his blog.

For instance, there are a growing number of stories carried via mainstream outlets talking about books about bloggers, bloggers and the media, and the meanness of bloggers. What does it all mean? I don't know and I personally haven't found the analysis terribly penetrating.

I'll continue to blog, although it's not as important to me as it once was. Various bloggers will continue to attain some measure of celebrity, less for their writing ability it seems, and more often for the same shallow reasons that much of our popular culture is lacking in much, if any substance.

I read fewer blogs now than I ever have. What excites me about blogging is less the usual "cut and paste" of many of the more popular blogs, and more often, hearing a writer's voice coming through telling me something new; a new book, movie, band, or providing analysis that's not part of the same old dog and pony show.

Thawing out

When you live in the northeast part of the country, that first warm day of the spring is magical. Being able to go out without a sweatshirt or jacket and feel the warmth of the sun on exposed skin is something you wait for during the interminable bleakness of winter. Like the apology that melts the firmest of resolves, the first warm day makes all the snow, arctic blasts and trips to the woodpile rapidly fade to memory.

If you live in a southern climate, I don't know what would be tantamount to this slow exit of winter from a northerner's bones?

While the temptation was there to engage in the bountiful cleanup that accompanies the slow retreat of winter in my neck of the woods, I decided to just enjoy the day without clouding it with work. I spent a good portion of the afternoon engaged in the guilty pleasure of a good book, massaged by the sun's welcome rays.

It's only April and today is but one tease of many, but it's an indication of the coming temperate days of May and then, Maine's all-too-short summer.

Blogging goes literary

While the concept of the co-op has been around in various incarnations, a group of bloggers have embraced the idea in hopes of ramping up promotion for books. With the world of literature an incestuous world of parochial protectionism, anything that gets the word out about small presses and writers outside of the mainstream is a good thing, in my book (no pun intended).

A group of 20 bloggers hope that through their weblog, the litblog co-op, they can draw attention to the best of contemporary fiction, the writers producing it, as well as the presses who publish this genre.

This group has instituted a quarterly selection they call Read This!, which will consist of five works which they will promote via their blog. LBC member Dan Green hopes that their cooperative venture will have the effect of “influencing readers.”

Said Green, “I think that all of the participants believe that litblogs have reached an untapped, or at least under tapped, source of readers for both contemporary fiction and (in my case, at least) the critical discussion of literature more broadly. I also think that most of us hope that our quarterly selection and, if it catches on, the popularity of same, will serve notice to publishers and to the editors of book reviews and magazines that this audience exists. I myself don’t have any illusions that serious fiction of the sort we’re promoting will suddenly become very popular, or that the litblog co-op will begin to wield enormous influence, but I would hope that our selections would bring additional attention to worthy books from smaller or less well-endowed presses. Probably everyone would agree that that is the main goal.”

The idea has generated enough of a “buzz” to get a mention from the Associated Press, which ran an article about the co-op.

While this won’t make a huge splash in the world of publishing, it might cause a few ripples and bring attention to writers who otherwise would be overlooked, and the small presses who labor to put out books that don’t pander to the lowest common denominator, presses like Soft Skull and others.

Mark Sarvas, a Los Angeles blogger, who runs The Elegant Variation site and conceived the idea for Read This!, remains disappointed by the "pack mentality" of mainstream media outlets, which tend to give much of their attention to the same titles. There has also been criticism about the "sameness" of National Book Award nominees.

Here’s hoping that online communities like this one can begin to make a difference and bring some welcome variety to the stodgy world of publishing.

Students!! Opt Out!!

Under the No Child Left Behind Act, if you attend a public high school, your school system is required to turn over your private information to the US military unless you opt out.

By printing out the form, having it signed by a parent or guardian and taking it to your school principal or administrator, you will make sure that military recruiters are not given your private information that they have no right to receive.

Find out more about Anti-Flag's campaign to stop military recruiters from being allowed open season on high school campuses across the U.S.