Out of the Inkwell

Gosh, has it been almost a week since I last posted? This has been a brutal week at work and I've been incapable of summoning the time or energy to post anything.

There's a lot I'd like to write about, but for the sake of my employment I really can't. It's not that I want to defame my bosses or complain about works conditions, it's that I'd like to write about Springfield, Chicopee and Holyoke in a more candid manner. I can't though, as my comments would undoubtedly affect the way I do my job.

You see reporters and editors are forever walking a line between being insiders and outsiders. Yes, we know things, and folks like to treat us like best friends until of course we have to write something negative and then we're in the freezer. We're also quite jaded about the political process and yet we're True Believers as well.

There are many, many times I'd like to say what I really think, but as all journalists, especially ones in local markets, I must always exercise a certain level of restraint.

The level of ego-drive maniacs and morons in local governments is astounding. Statements any more specific than that become the subject of libel, though.

There's a lot of censorship I do to protect people from themselves such as the local mayor who dropped the "f" bomb a few times when describing certain members of that town's council. He did so during an on-the-record conversation. Now he knew the game. He could let me know what he thought without feeling threatened.

Let me say that in every town I cover there are some honestly good elected officials who are succeeding in making a positive difference. There are also in every town some first-rate chowderheads whose re-election to their positions defy all logic.

That's why I seldom write about local politics here – and if I did I wonder just how many people would give a damn.

I'm cleaning my home office as one book is now done and I've got two more in the hopper. For some reason I actually feel good about bothof them since both have received some initial interest from a publisher. Here is one of the items that has come to the surface....Charlton Heston's Christmas cards.

No, the acclaimed actor and conservative didn't send them to me. Max Fleischer's daughter Ruth gave them to me. She was on his mailing list as he had done several films directed by Richard Fleischer. She asked me if I would like them and I thoought it was fairly surreal thing for me to have so I took them.

But now what do I do with them? Would someone reading this post want them? They're handsome photos taken by Heston's wife Lydia.

© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs