4/24/09 April 25, 2009
Earthday is here in Ashland. My 6-year-old wants to be in the earthday Trashion Show at scienceworks on Saturday. The good part: he’s using discarded items to make a costume to help show one of the many ways we can save mama earthball (as he refers to her majesty, Gaia, mother of us all). The better part: He’s making a costume of a bloodthirsty Spartan warrior. If all goes well, he’ll have a helmet with a crest, a spear and a shield. Too young to see the film “300” or even read the comic book it was based on, the boy has latched on the cool outfit and stories I and his grandfather have been telling him. Like the little Spartan boy who had a fox hidden under his shirt and wouldn’t admit he had it or show any discomfort when questioned by his elders, even as the fox clawed and bit at the boy's belly. Real story. Look it up. “And that was just spartan kid, Dad!” boy said to me. “Spartan teenagers were even tougher!” My pop told me the same story when I was 6. I’m curious to see if anyone at earthday will appreciate the truthiness behind a little boy clothing himself in destruction and violence in the name of a better, greener world. It’s not such a stretch, really. Spartan mothers and wives encouraged conservation of resources. They’d tell their lads before a big fight: “Come home with your shield – or on it. Whatever you do, don’t just leave it lying around on the battlefield. That would be littering.” 2/16/09 Feb. 17, 2009
Our homeless journalist F.B. Drake III is no longer homeless. First, an Ashlander stepped up and offered Drake the use of a room in his home. A second person may have a permanent place for Drake. While his situation is far from ideal, he’s off the street and in a warm, safe place. He’s still looking for a job and writing for us on the side, but freelancing for a small newspaper will never bring in enough to pay the bills. That’s just reality. Drake has expressed amazement at the kindness shown to him by Ashlanders who were concerned after reading his pieces in the Tidings. I’ve witnessed that firsthand, as well. Just today, three people brought notes for Drake into the Tidings, and so far one other has called to check on him. At one point last week my desk was piled high with donated food, clothing and an extra sleeping bag, all left here by people for Drake. His first-person description of his situation really touched people, and it left a glow in the newsroom that I hope lasts a long time. Whenever anyone says “that’s sooooooo Ashland,” this experience will be the first thing I think of. 2/10/09 We're running this ongoing thing by F.B. Drake III ('Rusty' to his friends around the newsroom) in the Tidings in which Drake tells simple, short stories about his experiences since becoming homeless. His "Street Stories" column is straight-forward, gritty, but not overblown. He's just describing his situation. With his experience in journalism, he's the perfect person to really tell how an average human can fall between the cracks. People are responding in typical Ashland responder fashion: some ignorant, some angry, some ugly, some understanging and some approaching angelic. I don't respond to responses on stories. ever. So I might as well start now on some of the things people have commented on Drake's first story:
On Feb 9, 2009 at 01:55 PM, LMTEE said:
So...explain the "situation" that forced you to leave on short notice. My bet is that YOU did something stupid to cause it. Prove me wrong. Before you ask us to understand your hardships, tell us how they came about.
my response: Everybody does stupid things all the time. the homeless experience is not linked to doing stupid things, or we'd all be on the street. And nobody is asking you to understand drake's hardships. that's your own conscience tweeking you. try listening to it.
On Feb 9, 2009 at 02:20 PM, Zak said:
A curiossity question to the DT. How much will F.B. receive for this article. Or does freelance translate into unpaid?
me: look up "freelance" in a dictionary.
On Feb 9, 2009 at 02:36 PM, iamyou said:
I've been a homeless Tribune/Tidings employee. Their wage really didn't help, but it kept me from starving. Eating the stale donuts and other empty calories in the office, I was able to save a few coins for a beer at the end of the day to drown out reality.
me: just weird. but honest. I like it, unless it's a fiction, in which case I love it. good comment.
On Feb 9, 2009 at 03:47 PM, wegngis said:
So the dude maintains his cell phone and uses his last nickels on a Coke. Wow, talk about priorities. He could have bought a taco at "the Bell" and gotten a little protein at least. Oh, and caffeine is a diuretic, that Coke most likely robbed you of water while falsely quenching your thirst.
me: Glass houses! Glass houses!
On Feb 9, 2009 at 10:49 PM, PaulKay said:
It takes balls to write about hard reality, intimately so, knowing that you'll be judged, cruelly so. Please keep writing, wherever your path may go. Thank you.
me: Yes. being homeless is not a source of pride. takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there like drake's doing.
On Feb 9, 2009 at 11:09 PM, dandelion said:
The Ashland community must come together to help this productive yount man. With food, dough and a place to live. His situation touches us all in this shaky economy.
me: that would be great. But remember, he's just the homeless guy in the public eye because he's writing for us. Many others also are in need.
On Feb 10, 2009 at 07:50 AM, nontribal said:
If wholly true, F.B.'s account has a lot of potential to inform, dispel negative attitudes, and of course, to entertain. Hope we get to read installments on this reality-account. Life has a way of eating people's lunch and we all can stand being reminded that we are not in total control.
me: this person gets it.
Drake's words are clearly getting people to think, and that's the important thing. The Tidings will continue to run his daily entries barring any unforseen changes. If he finds a place to live, that won't be the end of the story, but it will likely be the end of Street Stories. I'm grateful for the chance to get a glimpse of his experience, but I hope it doesn't drag on too long. I look forward to the final entry: Rusty comes home.
2/5/09 Feb. 6, 2009
Wrestling with mouse clicks
A dozen kids on a wrestling mat going crazy sounds like pure gold for our internet site. Who wouldn’t want to spend hours clicking from picture to picture on our great photo gallery of wild little critters jumping all over each other doing cute kid things?
Just about everyone.
Though the story and photos of the children’s after school wrestling program in our sports section this week were exceptional, very few people checked out the photo gallery on the web. That’s too bad, and it had us scratching our heads. Cute kids are the meat and potatoes of your typical community newspaper.
What did go off the charts on the web was a photo gallery and video of Southern Oregon University junior Flamur Vehapi, who writes poetry about his experience in Kosovo. That was very popular.
Who knew?
Sure, it was topical, poetic, thought-provoking. Even inspiring. But more popular than wrestling kids?
I’m thinking maybe the meat and potatoes for the Ashland Daily Tidings is sometimes more along the lines of braised tofu and organic asparagus spears. Or maybe you can think of a better food analogy? 1/30/09  The unstoppable superjournalist Jan. 31, 2009
Go team
The Tidings has a very small staff. We get a lot done in a limited amount of time working as a team. one entity. A many-armed multiple personality journalism juggernaut. Three writers, a couple of designers, a web guy and a one-person sports department. Sprinkle in a few stringers and photographers and that’s it. In the past week, we had nearly 70 local stories, columns and guest opinions in the paper, written by staff, local freelancers or submitted by members of the community. That’s not counting police reports, births, letters to the editor and community announcements. We filled in the cracks with barely 40 pieces taken from wire services. That’s a pretty typical week. I’m proud of the people here who make that all happen, and grateful to the residents who help out by letting us know what’s going on. That said, what if there really was just one superjournalist putting it all together? Wouldn’t that be great? At first I thought so, but then I imagined what that would look like. It’s a little scary, as you can see from the morphed photo of our entire staff, above. This came out of the experimental wing of the tidings where we try out new “out-of-the-box” concepts. One look and I knew this was a no-go idea. But hey, we were just spitballing. I’ll stick to our regular staff of superjournalists. | |
