As with so many things these days, the skilled practice of a craft (profession) is more valued by the practitioners than the public. At least in the form that the practitioners are used to. New forms are emerging, like this one. The engagement is real, and, importantly, visible.
Do we have a national treasure program like Japan? I doubt it. We don't seem to put a value on the skilled practice of crafts, if they can be done much more cheaply in inelegant ways that suit the purpose. I found a man recently to replace a spindle on our staircase. We live in an old house, these were complicated spindles and had to be done on a lathe. He may be the only one in the area who does such work, and he manages to make a living, because he lives in Saratoga Springs, which has a lot of ornate old wood buildings. But he's in his 60s. He showed me the "imperfections" in the other spindles, the way some were flat where they were supposed to be round, and so each was individual, impossible to duplicate. This is where beauty comes from.
I love the story of the egg Lady, and the story about the decline of local news reminds me of a most interesting bit of history. Years ago I found a bound copy of a large format volume that contained every copy of the Troy Record from the year 1935. In one of the issues I found an entire page of rather small print detailing the entire proceedings of the 1935 meeting, in Stockholm, of the executive committee of the Olympic Council. What intrigued me was that it gave details of why Lord Burghley and Jack Kemp had deliberately eliminated Ireland from competing as a nation in the 1936 Olympic Games which was to be held in Berlin. It was ostensibly the political situation that caused their decision. However I found it ironic that Lord Burghley, chair of the committee, once the world record holder for 400 meters hurdles, had been beaten in the 1932 Olympic (Los Angeles) 400 M. hurdles final by an Irishman, Robert Tisdall, who not only won the gold medal but had also beaten Burghley's world record time. .
I was astounded that an American local paper offered me a detailed explanation of an international story that I had never found in the Irish papers in Dublin.
Thus I was deeply impressed by the high quality of American local journalism. How sad it is today that such newspapers are so pitifully devoid of such thorough journalism.
Yes, Patrick. And what you stumbled upon was another delightful reality of long-ago American journalism that's now endangered: the serendipity of coverage priorities. Who knows why an editor in Troy considered that account newsworthy? So much of today's journalism reflects generic decision-making about content, rather than an editor's awareness of a local readership's idiosyncratic interests.
Our local news outlets, the weekly Hill Country News and the print/monthly and digital/daily Community Impact are very much appreciated in our house. There isn't that much in each issue, but we know something in each one will affect us.
The Hill Country News! I'm so glad to know that it's still around. I stumbled upon it when I was a college student in Texas in the 1970s. It was fat with advertising and full of local news. Between The Hill Country News and The Highlander, in Marble Falls, there was some fine non-daily local reporting going on in south Texas.
Thank you Rex for covering the decline of local journalism in our country. How insightful to link this decline to the rise of Trump. My view and I am sure the view of many others is the awesome responsibility of the press to hold Trump accountable.
Besides still having a family-owned, independent newspaper, The Seattle TImes, we in West Seattle are blessed with the West Seattle Blog, which started more than 10 years ago. It reports everything about West Seattle--traffic, crime, lost dogs, parades, a daily listing of events, free obituaries, business closings and openings--and very importantly, public meetings. The blog sends its editor to community meetings, and she records everything, then summarizes the main points, making the entire record available. The comments follow. At first we in the community didn't understand how such an enterprise (a couple and their son, basically) could survive and make a profit, but it has, and it is self-sustaining from business memberships. Whenever something unusual happens--what is that smoke? why is our power out?--we go to the blog, and there is an answer. At times it is a 24-hour operation. The blog does not investigate, however, just the facts as they are presented. It also does not offer editorials or opinions. The in-depth reporting comes only for those willing to read or listen to the long minutiae of civic engagement.
Thanks for this insight, Judy. Yes, Seattle is lucky to have a strong newsroom in the Times -- though I'd bet that its editors would agree that even its capacity is diminished from what it was a decade ago. And I think the region is poorer for the loss of the second powerful voice that was the Post-Intelligencer in its prime.
A for-profit hyperlocal blog -- how terrific! That is something other neighborhoods would envy, and which places less economically vital than West Seattle will find hard to emulate. As a committed optimist, I do think these sites will develop, though in challenged rural areas they will need some sort of taxpayer support (which seems unlikely in the short term, given the current political environment).
Thanks, Will. This speaks to a topic you and Ken Tingley address so thoughtfully all the time. I worry constantly that local media seem unable to help us bridge the gaps that are widening in our communities. If we can't do it, how will we mend the tears? (I mean "tears" as in "rips," but I guess it could be "tears" as in "weeping," as well. English is so difficult!)
As with so many things these days, the skilled practice of a craft (profession) is more valued by the practitioners than the public. At least in the form that the practitioners are used to. New forms are emerging, like this one. The engagement is real, and, importantly, visible.
Do we have a national treasure program like Japan? I doubt it. We don't seem to put a value on the skilled practice of crafts, if they can be done much more cheaply in inelegant ways that suit the purpose. I found a man recently to replace a spindle on our staircase. We live in an old house, these were complicated spindles and had to be done on a lathe. He may be the only one in the area who does such work, and he manages to make a living, because he lives in Saratoga Springs, which has a lot of ornate old wood buildings. But he's in his 60s. He showed me the "imperfections" in the other spindles, the way some were flat where they were supposed to be round, and so each was individual, impossible to duplicate. This is where beauty comes from.
Sadly, we continually dismantle, deny or destroy our heritage, as fits the current fashion.
I love the story of the egg Lady, and the story about the decline of local news reminds me of a most interesting bit of history. Years ago I found a bound copy of a large format volume that contained every copy of the Troy Record from the year 1935. In one of the issues I found an entire page of rather small print detailing the entire proceedings of the 1935 meeting, in Stockholm, of the executive committee of the Olympic Council. What intrigued me was that it gave details of why Lord Burghley and Jack Kemp had deliberately eliminated Ireland from competing as a nation in the 1936 Olympic Games which was to be held in Berlin. It was ostensibly the political situation that caused their decision. However I found it ironic that Lord Burghley, chair of the committee, once the world record holder for 400 meters hurdles, had been beaten in the 1932 Olympic (Los Angeles) 400 M. hurdles final by an Irishman, Robert Tisdall, who not only won the gold medal but had also beaten Burghley's world record time. .
I was astounded that an American local paper offered me a detailed explanation of an international story that I had never found in the Irish papers in Dublin.
Thus I was deeply impressed by the high quality of American local journalism. How sad it is today that such newspapers are so pitifully devoid of such thorough journalism.
Yes, Patrick. And what you stumbled upon was another delightful reality of long-ago American journalism that's now endangered: the serendipity of coverage priorities. Who knows why an editor in Troy considered that account newsworthy? So much of today's journalism reflects generic decision-making about content, rather than an editor's awareness of a local readership's idiosyncratic interests.
Our local news outlets, the weekly Hill Country News and the print/monthly and digital/daily Community Impact are very much appreciated in our house. There isn't that much in each issue, but we know something in each one will affect us.
The Hill Country News! I'm so glad to know that it's still around. I stumbled upon it when I was a college student in Texas in the 1970s. It was fat with advertising and full of local news. Between The Hill Country News and The Highlander, in Marble Falls, there was some fine non-daily local reporting going on in south Texas.
Thank you Rex for covering the decline of local journalism in our country. How insightful to link this decline to the rise of Trump. My view and I am sure the view of many others is the awesome responsibility of the press to hold Trump accountable.
Besides still having a family-owned, independent newspaper, The Seattle TImes, we in West Seattle are blessed with the West Seattle Blog, which started more than 10 years ago. It reports everything about West Seattle--traffic, crime, lost dogs, parades, a daily listing of events, free obituaries, business closings and openings--and very importantly, public meetings. The blog sends its editor to community meetings, and she records everything, then summarizes the main points, making the entire record available. The comments follow. At first we in the community didn't understand how such an enterprise (a couple and their son, basically) could survive and make a profit, but it has, and it is self-sustaining from business memberships. Whenever something unusual happens--what is that smoke? why is our power out?--we go to the blog, and there is an answer. At times it is a 24-hour operation. The blog does not investigate, however, just the facts as they are presented. It also does not offer editorials or opinions. The in-depth reporting comes only for those willing to read or listen to the long minutiae of civic engagement.
Thanks for this insight, Judy. Yes, Seattle is lucky to have a strong newsroom in the Times -- though I'd bet that its editors would agree that even its capacity is diminished from what it was a decade ago. And I think the region is poorer for the loss of the second powerful voice that was the Post-Intelligencer in its prime.
A for-profit hyperlocal blog -- how terrific! That is something other neighborhoods would envy, and which places less economically vital than West Seattle will find hard to emulate. As a committed optimist, I do think these sites will develop, though in challenged rural areas they will need some sort of taxpayer support (which seems unlikely in the short term, given the current political environment).
Such a good piece. Thank you, Rex
Thanks, Will. This speaks to a topic you and Ken Tingley address so thoughtfully all the time. I worry constantly that local media seem unable to help us bridge the gaps that are widening in our communities. If we can't do it, how will we mend the tears? (I mean "tears" as in "rips," but I guess it could be "tears" as in "weeping," as well. English is so difficult!)