....Leo
---------
>I don't think you are out of character, Susan. It's good to defend what is
>good in a community, and I agree, the paper has improved a lot with Mark
>Trahant. Some policies I still question, of course, like WHY, since good
>sports coverage contributes so incredibly (to me) to newspaper sales,
>wouldn't the DN send their own photographer to the Apple Cup and the Rose
>Bowl and cover community participation at these milestones? But never mind
>that and the other questions of similar nature that jump out from time to
>time -- in general, the story choices and community coverage seems much
>more balanced and sensitive to area interests than they ever have been in
>the past. And just as it is fun to watch student performers at UI and WSU
>mature in the course of their four years (or more) at either school, I do
>watch bylines and enjoy watching the writers and photographers mature or at
>least get bolder and tackle more complex issues with greater and greater
>perception and depth, even if this maturity eventually takes them on to
>bigger markets.
>
>In a similar, but maybe unrelated, vein, I think it's only fair NOT to
>generalize that Moscow's culinary choices are completely gone with the
>closing of one popular hangout on Friendship Square. Not too far from the
>square, there are still several welcoming and delicious restaurants on Main
>Street that are definitely NOT just "fast-food" factories, one more on
>Washington, and two on Sixth Street. We should be thankful for the
>opportunities these offer to sample alternative cuisine and in several cases
>to get to know hosts, families, and cooks from other lifestyles and
>cultures. The restaurant business is not an easy one, and all the
>proprietors of the restaurants I refer to work terribly hard and take pride
>in their service, menus, and the unique ambiances they have created. While
>the same could be said for the proprietors of the dissembled "hotel"
>businesses, I believe we are bordering on disrespect and insensitivity not
>to look around at those restaurant owners who are hanging in there, thank
>them for adding interest and choices to the Main Street culture, and take
>advantage as often as we can of the new (or tried and true) tastes and
>hospitality they offer. K. W.
>
>
>At 08:12 PM 12/11/97 -0800, Susan Palmer wrote:
>>Visionaries,
>>
>>I'm going to go out on a limb here, and pick up on a thread that has
>>come and gone...the Daily News. Counter to popular opinion, I
>>think that the Daily News is the best I have seen it in my 10 1/2 years
>>in Moscow. Although I am confident that it has a tremendous
>>amount to do with the leadership, it also has much to do with the
>>staff--their morale, talent, commitment, and so forth. Those things,
>>from my vantage point, are the highest they have been (overall) in a
>>decade. Specifically, I find the stories by Dan Nailen and Dustin
>>Solberg, among others, to be intelligent and well-written. Murf's
>>Biz Bits and Vera's Ink are a joy to read. The photographs by
>>Geoff Crimmins and Steve Martine are stunning. And the letters
>>FROM the editor, Mark Trahant, are worth reading...twice.
>>
>>I don't count how many stories are about WSU vs. UI, or Pullman
>>vs. Moscow. I read a story if it grabs me, and more of them grab
>>me now than in the last 10 years.
>>
>>When arrest reports in the past were printed, they fed my perverse
>>curiosity about local gossip (I'm not proud of that), rather than
>>inform me about whether the prosecutor was pursuing cases
>>adequately.
>>
>>My memory of the unmistakably Nazi billboard on Jackson (Anglo
>>boy posed with a "Heil" arm extended) advertising the DN that
>>read, "We deliver to discriminating doors everywhere," is still fresh.
>>And that was BEFORE the Napoleonic Frisch arrived on the scene.
>>Although I'm not a psychologist, the mega-control and paranoia he
>>exhibited was certainly diagnosable. (I had a birds eye view on the
>>advisory board.)
>>
>>My mother, who only recently moved to the Palouse, has a mini-
>>conniption every time she sees a typo or blundered headline. I try to
>>remind her that this is a farm-team newspaper, likening it to our
>>hometown baseball team, the Toledo Mud Hens. Just as the Mud
>>Hens will never look like the Detroit Tigers or Cincinnati Reds (our
>>teams back when--I'm just starting to warm up to the Mariners), the
>>Daily News will never be the New York Times. And like the Mud
>>Hens players, when someone notices how good they
>>are...POOF...they're gone!
>>
>>On the list server, I've noted an ample amount of bashing of the
>>Daily News. I believe that it comes from one (or more) of three
>>sources. First, this community is so accustomed to dissing the
>>"Daily Snooze" that it is, in the Fiddler on the Roof sense,
>>TRADITION! We take for granted that the local rag must be
>>bad...it always has been, according to local legend. Second, as
>>social scientists attest, revolutions occur NOT when things are at
>>their worst, but when there are rising expectations and hope! I think
>>that Mark Trahant has given this community both, and
>>consequently, the unified response is...we want more NOW! The
>>third has to do with change. As my screen saver still reads, "If you
>>want the times to change, you have to change with the times." That
>>is far easier said than done, and I am confident that Trahant's
>>philosophy and vision challenge and change traditional journalism.
>>
>>To conclude, although I understand that Hagadone may have
>>backed out of purchasing this paper, the threat to losing what we
>>have is still there. Butch Alford has new competition to contend
>>with. (And I haven't even begun to express my kudos to the LMT,
>>which I also subscribe to!)
>>
>>I know the bottom line is the $$$$. No amount of discourse is
>>going to salvage the ownership issue. So...Butch, I'll contribute my
>>measly $200 bonus pay to your effort to buy these papers, provided
>>that its current relative autonomy is preserved.
>>
>>I know this post is inconsistent with my customary critical persona.
>>I haven't lost my mind completely. I DO think "Jumble," as well as
>>"Sally Forth" would enhance the Daily News considerably.
>>
>>Best,
>>Susan
>>
>>
>>*-----------------------------------------------------------------*
>> Susan Palmer Phone: 208-885-6616
>> Women's Resource Specialist FAX: 208-885-6285
>> for Education Outreach, Gender Equity, and Research
>> Women's Center e-mail: susanp@uidaho.edu
>> [Lecturer, Sociology Dept.]
>> University of Idaho
>> Moscow, Idaho 83844-1064
>> "People convinced against their will,
>> hold the same opinion still."
>>*-----------------------------------------------------------------*
>>
>>
>>