Final Rambling
Today brings an end to an era. It was the day I put out my final newspaper and published my final Idle Ramblings column. I had wondered how I would feel once I put out my final paper. The answer, as it turns out, is I didn't really feel anything. There was no drama. No emotional pangs as I sent the last page to press. It was just over and the countdown of my last few hours in this career began.
I described it to Rebecca as how it must feel to end a long-term (16 years total, DM and Monroe County) relationship. The honeymoon's long-gone. The good times and the bad times are gone too. It's just time to call it quits. The newspaper business and myself have gone our seperate ways and I'm now free to date other careers.
After a lot of consideration, I'm retiring the Idle Ramblings name. I've used it for about 15 years now, ever since Rodney Crouther threw out the suggestion for a column name back at the DM. (I'm pretty sure it was Rodney. Even if it wasn't, I like to blame him for it.) I felt since this was a break from the newspaper business, I would make it a complete one. That will include this blog as well. I haven't decided if I will continue blogging under a different title or do something different like set up a web site. Once I get settled in I'll begin to ponder on the matter.
But for now, to all my vast Idle Ranblings readership, online and off, here is the final column I published in the June 16, 2004 Aberdeen Examiner:
After this week, Tuesdays will just be another day of the week.
For the past 11 years, Tuesdays have meant one thing - deadline day. It’s the day we put the finishing touches on The Aberdeen Examiner and The Amory Advertiser, and send it to Tupelo to be printed. For the past 11 years, it has effectively been the end of one work week and the beginning of another.
Now that’s changing.
This is my last week with The Amory Advertiser and The Aberdeen Examiner. After 11 years here in Monroe County working in the weekly newspaper business and 16 years total in the newspaper business, I’m moving on.
Next week, I return to my hometown of Water Valley where I will take over the reigns of the public library.
Anytime you leave a place after so many years it’s a big change. But I think the biggest change for me will be returning to my hometown after so many years.
The last time I lived there for any length of time was in 1990 just before I finished my undergrad degree and started graduate school. It was just for a month or so during the summer. Since 1985, I spent the occasional summer living in my parent’s home while in school, but this will be the first time I will be a member of the community as a full fledged “grown up.”
It will be an adjustment. If nothing else, I’ll have to spend time reattaching names with faces. I recently ran into a classmate of mine while visiting back home and while there was an spark of recognition, it took a while before the name and face came together. It hit me then just how much people can change over a couple of decades. I know I have.
When I left Water Valley to start my freshman year of college, I swore what most youngsters swear when they finally leave their hometown - I’ll never come back and live here. Surprise!
Like I said, people change and in the intervening years I’ve come to learn that it’s not where you live but how you live. When you’re 18, you’re chomping at the bit to experience life and when you come from a small, rural town, by the time you’ve hit 18 you feel like home has done about as much for you as it’s going to do.
But give it a couple of decades and you might find what you once found painfully dull brings on a new attractiveness and a place you once thought was too confining might one day give you the freedom you’ve been longing for all along.
Looking back over the past 19 years since I left high school, life has been constant progression and change. The eight years my wife and I have spent in Aberdeen have been the longest time we’ve lived anywhere since we left our parents’ homes. Before that, we lived in four different cities in four years. The longest time we spent in any one place before moving to Aberdeen was the three years we lived in Amory.
Our lives have always been about change. First my wife decided to change her career. She left teaching and is now enjoying success in law school at Ole Miss.
Now it’s my turn.
I’ve had a number of people ask if I’ll miss the newspaper business. After all, I have a lot invested in it. Some people tell me I’ll miss it enough to go back to it eventually. Some people who have been out of the business for a number of years say I won’t miss it at all. Honestly, I don’t know. Twenty years ago I said I’d never return to my hometown.
As for now, I’m looking forward to embarking on this new journey and being surrounded by a place that is familiar, but completely new at the same time.
In leaving Aberdeen, Amory and Monroe County, I am leaving places where I have experienced a number of firsts. When I came to The Amory Advertiser in 1993, it was my first “real” job after I left graduate school. The house in Aberdeen was the first home we owned. All our pets came from here in Monroe County.
Leaving Monroe County is like leaving anywhere else. There are things I will miss. There are plenty of people I’ve come to know over the years I will miss and, to be honest, there are a few I’ll be glad to never have to see again. But the nice thing is over time I will remember the good folks and good times and forget the rest.
There are a couple of last thoughts I have before I go. Aberdeen, Amory and Monroe County, together and individually, have a lot going for them. The county is beautiful, the people are hard working and the location is ideal. I’ve lived in both Amory and Aberdeen. Both communities have major differences, but both have a lot to offer each other. I hope the spirit of co-operation the people of the county have shown, especially the people in Amory and Aberdeen, will continue to grow. This county has a bright future and a rich history. This should be celebrated by every one here.
The people of Monroe County are also fortunate to have two of the best weekly papers in Mississippi. I’m not saying that because these are the people who have been paying my salary for the past 11 years. The Amory Advertiser and The Aberdeen Examiner have a rich, long history. They have a history of excellence in serving their respective communities and Monroe County as a whole. Today, they continue that tradition.
Over the years, I’ve looked back through the pages of the papers. Going back to the earliest papers, the two papers have always excelled in providing the people of Monroe County with the news and information they need.
You’d be hard pressed to find better, more dedicated people than those working at The Amory Advertiser and The Aberdeen Examiner. Each week, they put countless hours into each paper. The hard work and dedication shows. It’s been a pleasure working with all of you and a great experience to be able to work for two excellent newspapers. Monroe County is lucky to have these newspapers and these people. Be sure you continue to show them your support.
I’m not too good at saying goodbye. When I leave somewhere I usually just mumble something remotely related to the act of leaving and walk away. If what I say is understandable, it’s usually something like “See you later,” “I’ll see you,” or “later dude (depending of course who I’m talking to.)
“Goodbye” is too permanent sounding. “Farewell” is overly dramatic. “See you later” can be deceiving because you might not actually be planning to see the person again. “Talk to you later” is much the same. “I’m outta here” just sounds arrogant. “Bye” is short, to the point, but still sounds pretty permanent.
So, to me, there just really isn’t a good way to vocalize a parting of ways. The words and phrases we use either express more than is intended or don’t even scratch the surface.
With that in mind, I’ll just wrap it up like this......................
Latest obsession
A lot of times I tend to start obsessing on a TV show long after it's debuted, The X-Files for example, it was almost an entire season before I watched the first episode. But, I think the time I've waited before watching my latest obsession might be a record - 7 seasons.
A couple of weeks ago, I was too tire, to lazy or too bored to change the channel, so I sat on the couch and watched a Stargate SG1 marathon. Though the Sci Fi Channel shows 30 or 40 episodes a day, I've never actually watched the show. The four episodes I watched that evening tweeked my curiosity and so I set the Tivo up to start recording. I admit that I am a fan of the original movie. It wasn't rocket surgery, but it was a fun movie and I've found that the series is much the same. After watching it the past couple of weeks, I'm still not completely sure what all is going on because the episodes tend to bounce around from season to season. Some episodes are pretty good, some are so formulaic you can guess what's going to happen after the first five minutes, and there are a lot of flashback episodes. Overall, I'd say it's just as good as Voyager was, so what the hell.
More moving
The walls are mostly bare and the boxes are stacking up. And as I go though the different rooms, I find plenty of stuff that has been long forgotten. I discovered a box of comic books that probably hasn't been opened since I moved from Oxford 12 years ago. Don't know what all is in there, I'll wait until I get settled and see what there is.
One thing that is a lot different with this move is my willingness to go ahead and throw stuff away. I'm a pack rat by nature, but I'm also realizing that by moving from a house that's about 2,700 square feet to one less than 1,500 square feet, something's got to go. Plus, I'm beginning to realize that I'll probably never finish that thesis I started in graduate school 14 years ago.
This weekend will be the major part of the move. We'll rent the truck, load as much as possible and hope that the forecast rain holds off long enough for us to get the furniture in the new house. This means I'll spend next week basically camping out in an empty house as I spend my last few days at the paper. It'll be just like roughing it in the wild. I'll just have a mattress, a TV and my computer. It'll be tough, but it's no more of a hardship that endured by our ancestors who set out in covered wagons to settle this great land, equipped with meager black and white televisions, no cable, no Tivo, and primitive dial-up 1200 bps modems.
Isn't this just fascinating.
Fables from the mid-80s
This past weekend while going through the CD section at Sam's, I came across a 3 CD collection from R.E.M. Oddly enough, though I have most of their albums from the 90s, I've never gotten their first albums on CD. I have them on vinyl, which means I haven't listened to the probably since well before I left college. The set contained Document, Life's Rich Pageant and Fables of the reconstruction (or, as the box read Reconstruction of the Fables.) These albums are some of the best of the eighties...Period. It also reminded me of how unsatisfying a lot of today's music really is. I'd love to see them in concert again. (for the third or fourth time, I can't remember how many times they played in Oxford during the 80s.)
Making the move, Part 1
Even though I have been slowly getting ready for a move for the past several months, I really hadn't done much more than thrown some things in some boxes. This past weekend, we did our first real moving. We packed as much stuff as we could into the back of the truck and the car and hauled it to the Valley. This week, while Rebecca finished cleaning and painting our new house, it's my job to try and get as much stuff ready as possible. This afternoon, I decided to tackle the bookshelves. For most people, packing up and moving books is not a big deal. If they have any books (I know several people who, other than cooks books and some magazines don't have a single book in the house), a box or two is enough to take care of the problem. Rebecca and I, on the other hand, have greatly added to our already substantial collection during our past eight years in this house. In addition, about four years ago, I bought out the used book collection from a junk store here in town that was going out of business. By the time I finished loading up the books, the bed of my truck was level full and the front seat was piled full, save a little room for me to drive. If I had the time, I'd go through all these books and get rid of anything I was sure there wasn't even a remote possibility I'd read or need at some point. But that takes some time and effort, and, after all, I might some day have a need for a 1957 guide to selling upholstery.
I think what I will finally end up doing is gathering the vast majority of the collection in one room and making a special trip to load them up and haul them either to the new house or to one of the storage buildings my mother has at her home next door. In the meantime, I have several more shelves to unload.
Summertime movie viewing
I have yet to catch any of the summer movies, or any movie since Return of the King came out in December, so if any of you have seen any of the big releases so far, let me know what you think. I know I'll see the new Harry Potter, but I'll wait a few weeks so there won't be so many damn kids in the theater. So far, it seems some of the block busters failed to bust the block. I haven't heard much good news about anything unless you want to go drool over Brad Pitt for a couple of hours. And if you do feel the need to drool over Brad Pitt, just watch Kalifornia, and that image of Brad will stick with you forever.
Will there be slam dancing at the GOP convention?
This article "examines" the so-called "conservative punk" movement which seems to be emerging in response to similar "liberal punk" sites popping up on the internet. After spending a little time browsing though the sites on both sides of the ideological spectrum of "punk," I'd have to say they are both pretty lame. My problem with either of these is not with the political leanings, real punk rock has politics at its very core, but more the fact that these kids today don't really have an idea of what punk is all about. It's more than having weird, spiked hair and wearing Doc Martins. It's more than having a Sex Pistols CD mixed in with your collection of Creed CDs. Punk was never about liberal or conservative, and definitely isn't about Democratic or Republican. Real punk rock, the kind which hasn't been made since The Clash disbanded, tears all of them to shreds. It puts a mirror up to society's inequities and injustices, no matter where they come from. It doesn't care who it rips up or pisses off, whether it's the Queen, the President or the preacher.
Not only that, but I have to wonder what kind of research the guy who wrote the article did on the history of punk when he describes it thusly: "Punk, however, was as much lifestyle as music. Spawned in the mid-70s, punk rock began as a reaction to bland, homogenized musical fare and a rising tide of music industry commercialization. Punk evolved into its own celebration of anarchy and independence; groups like the Clash, the New York Dolls, Iggy and the Stooges, and the Sex Pistols punk's enduring archetypes ushered in the movement that inspired Rizzuto's Web site."
That is true of the musical style of punk, but not the lyrics, lifestyle or punk attitude. It's like describing rap as "a reaction to the music industry's focus on slick, overly produced pop music in the late 70s and early 80s." In fact, punk and rap, socially have a lot in common. They both originally gave voice to groups of people who didn't feel they had a voice in the political/social/economic arena, but could get their message across to people who felt the same way through their music.
I could go on, because these are two topics, punk music and politics, that I feel strongly about, especially at 1:15 a.m. when I realize there no chance in hell that I'll be able to actually sleep tonight.
Oh, and by the way, if you really want to piss me off, group the Ramones in with The Clash, The Sex Pistols and other groups that were actually punk rock groups.
Playing politics
I can't wait until this gets ported to the Mac.
I'll put it right next to Hillary's
I know all of my blog fans are just as anxious to get this one and read it as I am. But for those of you who may not be as big a fan of our former president as I am, or just find books by former (or current) political figures insanely boring, you might try this one instead. Haven't gotten it yet, but Rebecca said she's going to pick it up soon.
Tuesdays will simply be Tuesdays
Some big news on the homefront. In two weeks, Tuesdays will simply be another day of the week and not press day for the first time in the past 11 years for yours truly. Today, I accepted a job as the new Director of the Blackmur Memorial Library in my hometown of Water Valley. This will end my 17-year run in the newspaper business, the past 11 here in Monroe County. I will miss it, but I look forward to having a job with regular, reasonable hours, no long night time meetings or ballgames and no weekly deadline pressure. But most of all, I am glad to have the opportunity to be on the same side of the state with Rebecca on a full-time basis. This past year was a tough one with her in law school at Ole Miss and me two hours away in Aberdeen.
We already have a place to live in the Valley. It still needs some work, but it's a nice small house with nice low ceilings. It will be a nice change from the 12-foot ceiling monstrosity we have now. (BTW, anyone want to buy a house cheap?) For years, I had issues about ever returning to my home town, but in the past few years, the prospect has grown more and more attractive. I don't know if I'll want to stay there forever. I might. I don't know if I'll ever want to get back into the newspaper business. I might, especially if a nice small weekly paper came up for sale some years down the road. But for now, I'm looking forward to the change.
My last day here at the Monroe County newspapers will be Friday, June 18 and I will start my new job around the first week of July. I will probably be moved to the Valley soon after the 18th. It just depends on how much of the house Rebecca will have painted by then.
The job will take up a lot less time than being the ME for two weekly newspapers. I might even have time to update this blog more than once every two months. After all, there is a lot of bitching to do about Star Trek and Dubya (it's an election year people, and Enterprise, for good or for bad, has been renewed), and I could sure use more time to obsess on GarageBand. (BTW, anyone want a ME job?)
More to come on the change as it happens...
Speaking of bitching about Star Trek
Ok. I finally got around to watching the last two episodes of Enterprise, and I must say that I thought the conclusion of the Xindi arc was probably one the highlights of the series so far...
...until...
...about the last 15 minutes of the season finale.
Sure a lot of the entire Xindi arc was borrowed from previous Trek series. Sure it was just a pale comparison of the Ward with the Dominion. Sure they had to include stupid time travel episodes. (Have I ever mentioned I hate the way Trek handles time travel.) But the series definitely got better and this past season was pretty fun.
All I can say is that the alien Nazi cliff hanger better pay off. And maybe with the reshuffling that's being done within Viacom and its companies, some of the stale folks in charge of the Trek franchise will be distanced from the show. If not, the new Battlestar Galactica series starts early in 2005, 24 has been renewed for a fourth season, and I've finally started watching Stargate SG1 after eight years on the air and it ain't too bad. (Most of the time, anyway.)
