Here are summaries of some of the questions or email comments that I’ve received recently. There is no particular theme to this assortment. They’re summarized, but accurately reflect the questions and my original replies.
Why are you publishing drink recipes? Do you drink a lot? No, that’s too funny. I don’t drink much at all. In fact, it’s because I drink so little that a single drink from a recipe for a Pickleback or Michelada seems so much the treat.
Whitewater is always on my mind, and thinking about the recent fuss over a possible establishment along Main Street (more on that tomorrow), really brings home how poorly Whitewater’s supposed elites present this city to the world beyond. When I wrote a sketch-post entitled, How to Make Whitewater Hip and Prosperous, the mediocrity of the city’s and the Community Development Authority’s efforts to promote Whitewater hit home.
It must seem more than ironic to Whitewater’s governing class that it’s a critic who’s mentioning as much. Still, all these years, all these supposed grand projects, but there’s still worry over a license here or there.
Many (but not all) of the people who run the city manage it as though Whitewater were a perpetual Stick-in-the-Mud convention. It’s all what someone can’t do, shouldn’t do, dare not risk, etc. There’s a rampant, unjustified fear of disorder, a defensiveness that’s unattractive to the tourists and newcomers worth attracting.
Simultaneously, there’s much that’s quaint about rural life, but no one will come here for a Fifth Annual Butter-Churning and Hog-Grooming Festival, for example. (Actually, tourists would, if townspeople presented that festival as a spoof, but they would never do that.)
Deadly earnest is deadly dull. Deadly dull is dead-broke.
This municipal problem can be fixed, and by the end of this week I’ll re-organize my blogging to begin the very project to fix it. One can easily demonstrate how Whitewater should present itself, and how it should not.
If no one in authority will help make this town hip, I’ll do it myself.
Do you dislike/hate people in government? No, of course not. At the same time, I don’t care what they think of me. A smaller local government would suit us, but with only one definite exception (now long gone), people in local government aren’t somehow bad. Many are wrong about the reasonable exercise of public authority, however. There’s much too much over-reaching, and few are coached effectively against that over-reaching. Mistakes are met with lies or flimsy excuses – proof that coaching is poor throughout government.
Does Whitewater have any future at all? Yes, certainly, and I think — in the end — a bright one. It will take years to get there, but when the current generation of leaders retires, we likely will get there.
A New Whitewater is worth fighting over. I think we’ll have one — there’s reason for long-term optimism.
Who’s been the best politician in town? I answered this considering officials in government, from among leaders in the (1) municipal administration, (2) common council, and (3) school board and district.
There have been many fine leaders who have, and still, serve the community. I will admit, though, that I came too late to see the obvious talents and insight of former District Administrator Suzanne Zentner. I was a critic at the beginning of her tenure, but very much an admirer by its end. Even in a city filled with thousands of accomplished people, she was exceptionally well-educated, intelligent, and creative.
Is there a secret to blogging? Perhaps only one — write about what interests you. Observe, read, and then write — that’s a good order. For every word written, there should be many words read, many spoken in conversation, and more time still in observation of ordinary conditions.
On Romney, poverty, and the middle class (from an exchange with a sharp reader). I have just the place for a post on Romney, poverty, and the middle class.
On the supposed TSA air marshal arrested at Occupy Boston. Follow-up is on the way, later this week.